Franceys Running for M.E – Over The Finish Line
 |
| Eve of the Gold Coast Marathon Weekend |
In reality, we were over the finish line over a month ago, however, it’s taken me all that time to recover from the Marathon.
And to be clear, it was my husband who ran the marathon, not me.
Earlier this year, Andrew decided – out of the blue – to run his first marathon and fundraise for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. I was really touched by his thoughtfulness and the HUGE commitment he was making, considering all the hard physical training involved. Even my GP said he was NUTS. Not because she thought he couldn't do it, but because she believes middle-aged, any-aged, marathon runners are nuts in general. I tend to agree, I mean, who would want to run over 40km? The pain! I enjoyed going for a very slow jog with my late labrador cross – prior to motherhood and M.E – but 40km? OUCH!
Within a day or two, Andrew and I began setting up our first everydayhero fundraising page – and with the help from Emerge – we had the page up and running within a week or two. By this time, our children were keen to join in the fun and signed up for the Saturday Gold Coast Marathon events.
We set our goal at $2000 and pledged if we reached that number, we’d donate $2000 of our own savings directly to biomedical research happening on the Gold Coast with Griffith University’s National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED) AHMF donors, which stands for Alison Hunter Memorial Fund (Alison Hunter was a young Australian who tragically lost her life due to complications of having ME).
In less than three weeks – we raised $2000 and donated our own $2000 to biomedical research – and as we were the only team running for Emerge this year, we raised just over $8000! Thanks to the generous support from everyone who donated and shared our page.
I’m really proud of my boys, 16 and 14 years, running the 10 km run on Saturday. They started early Saturday while it was still dark and it rained right before the race began, just to make everyone’s clothes feel a little colder and heavier.
My daughter, 12, was planning to do the 5 km fun run with Andrew, but she was very miserable with a head cold, so we thought it wise for her to stay warm and dry. The fun run wouldn’t have been much fun on a freezing bleak morning with a head cold.
Then Sunday came and Andrew was all set for the full marathon. This would be the first time he’d ever run over 40 km in one go and I didn’t want to miss it. I was up early, allowing a few hours to get through my daily painful process of transforming-into-a-half-functioning-human, then organised myself and the kids to be ready on time to walk down and cheer Andrew on at the side lines. It was time to leave the apartment and I was all ready and feeling good…
"Where are the keys?"
Ok… I had a brain fart and forgot where I put my set of apartment keys, so in the photo below, where you see that line of people standing near the runners, was right where I should have been cheering on Andrew with my kids. But – without the keys – I wouldn’t be able to get back into the apartment and rest after the short walk and standing around for a period of time. So instead, I did what any responsible parent would do and let two teenage boys loose on Surfers Paradise, to chase after their dad, cheer him on, hop on a tram and see him cross the finish line. I was reassured as I looked over the balcony to see my boys were at least walking in the right direction when they left the hotel.
Anyway, I could have sworn I’d zipped my apartment keys safely in my handbag pocket. I specifically remember zipping them in a pocket… er maybe it was my jacket pocket?
Oh yeah… that’s where they were… I realised 30 minutes too late. Oh well, on the bright side, there was an ongoing show of rainbows on the Gold Coast that morning.
Thank you all for your amazing support for our Gold Coast Marathon. Your support has meant we have raised over $10,000 in total for Emerge and Griffith University. The funds are going directly to raise awareness for ME/CFS, medical research into causes, and to help others with this condition.
Some stats:
Earlier this year, Andrew decided – out of the blue – to run his first marathon and fundraise for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. I was really touched by his thoughtfulness and the HUGE commitment he was making, considering all the hard physical training involved. Even my GP said he was NUTS. Not because she thought he couldn't do it, but because she believes middle-aged, any-aged, marathon runners are nuts in general. I tend to agree, I mean, who would want to run over 40km? The pain! I enjoyed going for a very slow jog with my late labrador cross – prior to motherhood and M.E – but 40km? OUCH!
Within a day or two, Andrew and I began setting up our first everydayhero fundraising page – and with the help from Emerge – we had the page up and running within a week or two. By this time, our children were keen to join in the fun and signed up for the Saturday Gold Coast Marathon events.
We set our goal at $2000 and pledged if we reached that number, we’d donate $2000 of our own savings directly to biomedical research happening on the Gold Coast with Griffith University’s National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED) AHMF donors, which stands for Alison Hunter Memorial Fund (Alison Hunter was a young Australian who tragically lost her life due to complications of having ME).
 |
| Andrew and I were thrilled by the generous invitation to visit the research centre for a tour and update by the professors. However, I wasn't well enough to travel down the coast in June. |
Then Sunday came and Andrew was all set for the full marathon. This would be the first time he’d ever run over 40 km in one go and I didn’t want to miss it. I was up early, allowing a few hours to get through my daily painful process of transforming-into-a-half-functioning-human, then organised myself and the kids to be ready on time to walk down and cheer Andrew on at the side lines. It was time to leave the apartment and I was all ready and feeling good…
"Where are the keys?"
Ok… I had a brain fart and forgot where I put my set of apartment keys, so in the photo below, where you see that line of people standing near the runners, was right where I should have been cheering on Andrew with my kids. But – without the keys – I wouldn’t be able to get back into the apartment and rest after the short walk and standing around for a period of time. So instead, I did what any responsible parent would do and let two teenage boys loose on Surfers Paradise, to chase after their dad, cheer him on, hop on a tram and see him cross the finish line. I was reassured as I looked over the balcony to see my boys were at least walking in the right direction when they left the hotel.
Oh yeah… that’s where they were… I realised 30 minutes too late. Oh well, on the bright side, there was an ongoing show of rainbows on the Gold Coast that morning.
My boys successfully caught up with their dad at the finish line.
Andrew's thank you letter...
"Hi everyoneThank you all for your amazing support for our Gold Coast Marathon. Your support has meant we have raised over $10,000 in total for Emerge and Griffith University. The funds are going directly to raise awareness for ME/CFS, medical research into causes, and to help others with this condition.
Some stats:
- Over 100,000 Australians have this condition; whilst research funding equates to less than 0.01%.
- For every four steps ran in the marathon, we raised $1.00.
- Yes I was counting to keep me going when it was a little tough in the last 10km. 1,2,3,4 1 Dollar; 1,2,3,4 1 Dollar…
- Tom’s 10k was the equivalent to running over 500 singles of the cricket pitch!, or scoring 5 centuries.
- Both boys ran PB’s on the 10k , and I ran my first 42.2km.
- Of the 255 fundraisers, we would have been third on the fundraising leader board! (had Emerge been an official charity of the race).
