S2 Ep3: Running as Therapy - Sandy's Story
SHOW NOTES
In April 2022, Sandy Suckling set out to run 1,100km from Broken Hill to Melbourne to raise funds for and awareness of the Run Against Violence. In this episode, Sandy shares her experience of escaping from family violence, what she’s learnt about the power of conversation and why she describes running as therapy.
Also in this episode:
meet Riana and Mel from SWAT (Sprinting, Walking and Trash Talking) in our Team Spotlight, and
get a sneak peek of next week’s episode.
You can support the efforts of Run Against Violence by donating at https://www.runagainstviolence.com/donate
If you or someone close to you is experiencing family violence, please talk to someone. You can call 1800 RESPECT (Australia only) if you would like to talk to a professional service or if there is an immediate threat to safety call the police on Triple Zero (000) (Australia only).
THE RAV PODCAST IS ALSO AVAILABLE AT
TRANSCRIPT
Jen: Welcome to the Run Against Violence podcast for 2022 we're together we'll listen, learn and talk about how we can all take steps to create respectful relationships in order to prevent family violence in our communities. Hello, I am Jen Brown and welcome back to the Run Against Violence podcast for 2022.
So this podcast covers the Run Against Violence, or as we affectionately love to call it RAV Virtual Team Challenge, where teams of walkers and runners will virtually chase each other from Broken Hill to Sydney, covering a distance of 1,300 kilometres - that is 32 marathons - over 19 days and it all kicks off on August 30. Not long now!
So I would like to begin today by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we all live. Our route from Broken Hill to Sydney crosses from the lands of the Wiradjuri Nation in the west of New South Wales to the Eora Nation in the east. And today I am recording this podcast on Dharug country. We pay our respects to elders past and present, and I extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are listening today.
So welcome back. I hope you enjoyed my conversation last week with Natalie and Mark and Sammy all about how to rally the troops, how to rally your team, for the Virtual Challenge. We kick off in five weeks time now. So I hope you are rallying all your friends and colleagues to get them involved. So this week I wanted to turn our attention to a remarkable woman who is part of the RAV community. Her name is Sandy Suckling. So Sandy is a domestic and family violence survivor who, as she talks about in this conversation, used running essentially as therapy as a way to cope with her experience and heal from it. She loved her running so much and the work of RAV that just a few months ago, she ran, wait for it, 1,100 kilometres from Broken Hill to Melbourne to raise awareness of and funds for rev. This is Sandy's story.
Jen: Sandy, welcome to the podcast.
Sandy: Thanks Jen.
Jen: Thank you. Well, thank you so much for agreeing to be here and to share your story and your truth in relation to family and domestic violence. But before we get into that, I'd love to know where do you live these days and what do you love about running in your local area?
Sandy: Uh, well, I live in, uh, Melbourne, uh, have forever in a day. And we live in a unit. So what, um, restrictions told me was that I love getting out from on the local bike paths and around, but I also love to get up into the Dandenongs, um, It's just beautiful up there. And, you know, we've got some beautiful national parks around and beautiful bike trails around.
And I found that, um, I really missed that. It wasn't until I couldn't have that anymore, that I realised how much I missed that. And I think we should appreciate our local areas and parks because they are just magnificent the world. The trees, everything. That's what I miss the most. Uh, so getting out in those local areas is just fabulous. So if you're a Melbourne person get out there and explore.
Jen: Yeah. You just inspired me to get out there and I'm like, I wanna lace some my shoes now. Um, so how long have you been involved with RAV, with the Run Against Violence?
Sandy: Um, probably it started off that I heard about it. And I thought what an amazing thing is because, and even from my own background, we don't talk about it terribly much and we shut it away. And I actually thought that was the right thing to do, to be honest. Um, and I think that when I heard about RAV years and years ago, and then when Kirrily did what she did, you know, running from Broken Hill to Sydney and then the documentary. And I watched that and I thought, wow, this is something to be involved with.
And I kind of sat on the fence for a while. And then when I was invited into it and through those years of restrictions, I decided that I'd never been into virtual challenges, but I thought that this was much greater than that. Mm. So once I looked behind that, I realised that I needed to be involved with that.
And when a friend of mine said, come and join our team, I said, yep, I'm in. And I must admit every year and even I think this year I'm going to be away, cause I can finally get to my son in Scotland. And I just said, I still wanna be involved. I have to be, I have to be there no matter what kilometres I do, if you're happy to have, and you're still in the team and I still want the same team, I'm happy to promote it, but I need to have that same team because they were the ones that, you know, pulled me through those restricted years.
Um, So I think that it's been quite a few years, but I still go back and look at that. And before I did the Broken Hill to Melbourne, I looked at that documentary again. And I think everybody should have a look at it and realise how inspiring that that is because that too can then help you on a different level to be involved with it.
If you don't like virtual runs, it's actually great to be in a team. If you love virtual runs, it's a thing you can get so many people involved. It's just an awesome cause.
Jen: Mm. Yeah, it is. It is. And it's interesting hearing you actually, we'll probably dive into this in a minute, but going back to what you said about how you thought not talking about it was the right thing to do which is the polar opposite essentially of RAV's mission so it's amazing to hear you recognise that the importance of that now.
Sandy: Mm. Yeah.
Jen: So what was, what is your story when it comes to family and domestic violence?
Sandy: Well, I was, um, look, I got engaged at 18 and married and had my three kids by 24, you know, lived in Melbourne and went down to the country, a very small country town and lived on a farm. And I guess they isolate you. And that's part of that. There's so many things that I recognised and everything seemed to be my fault and then the kid's fault.
And it was, you know, it was horrific and I lived that life and I reckon it would've been four years it took me before I actually could get away from that. And I, and I fled from that. And actually it became, it became something that. It was staying that was almost easier than leaving. And that sounds if you've never been in this situation, it's really hard to understand that because often past that I would hear people say, but why does she stay?
And I think, oh, if only you knew how hard it is to leave, it's impossible to leave. And so it's getting up that courage to leave. And also, I think I was of acceptance. When I finally fled and it was about getting up in the morning. He left for work at six 30. He was a boiler maker, and welder. He left to work at 6:30 AM.
I got those kids out of bed. I just said to them, take whatever you want, but we are leaving here and we are never, ever coming back. Now I didn't have one of the kids say to me, No mom, I don't wanna leave. No, nothing. All I got was I wanna take the cat with, and so it was priceless. They put in the car what they could.
We had a station wagon and I just kept driving and driving. I had no idea what I was doing. My life was in the car. It was the three kids, but I thought I can't do this anymore. And I was quite accepted of the fact he would probably try to hunt me down. He would probably try to kill me, but you know what, this life wasn't worth it anymore.
And I think I got to that point and it was a year of going from place to place, trying to hide. And it was tough. And we got through that and I, and I have a life after. So it's not easy and there's a lot of people out that will help you. And this was from quite a long time ago. Mm. So there is a point there's a breaking point in that.
Now some people might never come to that, but I had come to that realisation, but it still took me four years to actually almost think I was leaving and come back and leaving and come back. I just couldn't do it. Mm.
Jen: Hmm, what I'm hearing you say is too, is almost like there's the decision to leave and then there's the act of leaving and they're two very different things.
Sandy: Yeah, they are.
Jen: So you'd moved from Melbourne to a small country town. I'm assuming you didn't have sort of family around you? Where you were living?
Sandy: No, I left. I probably didn't recognise it. In some ways I was really naive. I think that my family, you know, I had a lovely family life and childhood upbringing and all that, and I just was unaware of all of that type of thing.
And you are convinced that things are your fault when you are very isolated and you are getting conditioned that way. And like I said, I was really naive and it was a very small country place. My family had moved up north from Melbourne, had moved up to Wangaratta and I never shared any of it with them.
Actually I think, I think it was a lot of guilty in all of it. You know, the kids and everything. Can I look back at that? And that's my, that's my biggest guilt trip and I still hold it. I did during the run, try to release some of that was that guilt of putting my kids through that. And yeah, it wasn't my me. But I stayed and those kids were hit and beaten. And I just think to myself, I look back on that now, and it's still, I get so upset about that, that they had to go through that and they actually missed out on a childhood. And I did try to rectify that and break that cycle. But I was really isolated. My family never really came down and he isolated me from all of them as well.
Jen: Did his, did his behaviour change over time? Like, did your relationship start like that in hindsight? Can you see it or was it something that evolved over those years?
Sandy: I think it got worse over the years. Mm. And looking back now, um, I think that I was very young and naive. I think I probably. Um, didn't recognise the whole lust love thing, mistook all of it.
And I realised that really early on in our marriage that something, perhaps wasn't quite normal about this, but was too naive and I'd had such a grand great family upbringing that I just thought, oh my God, I've gotta do better. Or he'll change. You know, it'll be right. He'll change. Um, I'll do better. I think that that progressively got worse. And I think when I had the children, it got even worse because in a lot of senses, he was still a child. He didn't drink and get violent. He was actually had almost like a, uh, a cord or something, a spring inside that you could see it around, you know, winding up and you'd come home from work and you'd tread on eggshells and fuss around and do everything and make sure everything was right.
And you'd tread around on those eggshells. And you'd say at the kids, go to your room and study and you do what you need to do and try to isolate. So I could see how that got worse and worse. And look, I'd probably be, you know, in looking back now, I didn't help cause I didn't, I couldn't recognise it as people don't and I just kept thinking he would change.
And so we'd kept evolving and got and getting worse and we're on a farm and he would just snap. So I think now when I look back, I think that wasn't even through drinking, it wasn't through anything. He would just simply wind up and snap. Mm.
Jen: Is it hard for you to talk about now?
Sandy: Um, I'm probably, I think since I've been involved with the RAV and the challenge and doing the running and running was my release. It was the thing that I took up to try to, to try to work through all of it. While I was in that relationship, I started running and I couldn't run 500 meters. Then I would try further and I would try further and the pain of being in the relationship and what I went through and the abuse, I think the running and the more pain I got in the running was almost sounds ridiculous. But it was like, that was the part I kept pushing past that and it helped me deal with it, but it helped me think about all of that and how to work through it all. And when I left, et cetera, I closed the door on it to me. It was like, I can't think about it. I can't talk about it. I need to close the door on it because I just can't deal with it. And I did that. Then when I got involved with RAV and all those years ago and hearing about it. It actually, it really helped me realise that we did need to speak about it, but even then I had trouble speaking about it. And when I did the first Virtual Challenge, it was like, I still didn't say anything.
It took me a few years. And that was one of the reasons of doing the Broken Hill to Melbourne. I thought I've gotta get past this, you know, there's people out there that are exactly the same. And it is difficult to talk about, but I have got, I have managed through RAV to talk about it and I've realised the importance of talking about it.
Whereas before to me, It was like people were gonna judge me and people didn't have never known until I did the challenge. People are like, oh, I never realised that that was part of your life. Well, of course they wouldn't have, cause I closed the door on it. I have a brand new life and I was really lucky to find Colin and we found each other and certainly not for wanting to.
Because I never wanted to be with another man, but it just happened to fall that way. And I have a lovely life and I think people look at it and go, oh, you've got everything and you're in love. And you do all these things and adventures. Yeah, that's true. But when I started talking about and doing the RAV and the challenges and speaking about it, it's really helped me actually. It's helped me heal.
Jen: That's interesting. Cause one of the questions I was gonna ask you is, um, well there's a few, I've got lots of questions for you right now. Um, actually let's go back to the day you left, you talked about how isolated you felt from your family. When you called them and said, I've left, like, did that come as a shock to them? Did they have any sense of knowing what was happening behind closed doors or were you so isolated or just didn't share what was happening that they didn't have much of an idea?
Sandy: So I believe they had some sort of idea, but they never knew how bad that was. I think they realised. No, never asked so effectively. He started isolating me. There was probably a five or six hour drive between us once I'd moved to the country and they'd moved to the country. So we, what, what happened was gradually, it was like such an effort for us to go up there or for me to see my parents or take the children up there because of the disapproval of that.
And he didn't wanna go and then he didn't want me to go. So it's completely, you know, he had complete control over my life and controlled me. And there was a lot of mental scarring from that too. But when I left and packed up the kids, I'd had a terrible night with him and he kept me up all night because I disagreed with him and I wasn't allowed to disagree with him.
So therefore, that control that he had in my life, it was like I got away from that. Even after I packed the kids up, we drove probably for an hour now. I found a phone box. I rang his work number. I was nearly vomiting in the phone box and I was shaking because I told I had to tell him that I was gone.
Sandy: So I told him I was gone and I was never coming back. And he told me I wasn't allowed to do that. And I just hung up the phone and I was shaking and I got in the car and I drove the five hours. I couldn't tell you how I ever got there. And I got to my parents and I rocked up. And when I rocked up, the first thing they said was, I won't say his name, but he had rung them.
And said, where is she? She said, she's left. Has she got to you? And they said, no, they hadn't seen me. And I walked in the door and I burst out crying and they said, what was going on? So, no, they didn't really realise to what I had been going through. And I had never shared that with them because I was embarrassed about it because I'd come from such loving family. And my sister was the one that stepped in and actually started to take over cause she lived up there near them. So I was very lucky that way, because I couldn't have thought, I couldn't think at all.
Jen: It's interesting to hear your ability to process the experience going from that point where you weren't able to talk about it through to these days. And what I love hearing too, is your perspective as a survivor about the impact of conversation and being able to talk about it. Do you think, maybe this is an unfair question to ask, do you think had you been able to talk about it earlier would that have changed things or, or had an impact for you?
Sandy: Yeah. Look, I have actually thought about that and I believe that it quite possibly would have. Because the thing is that what happens is you, I had normalised my life, my life of abuse and being with this man, and even the verbal abuse is it's still abuse, whereas I normalised it as this was my life and this is how it is, and I needed to do better in the early days.
So if I'd been able to communicate that with my family with close friends, but I had been so isolated that he had isolated me from that and I believe that's probably a pattern that happens. But I believe, but if I had been able to speak about it, I think then someone would've stepped in and said to me that's not normal.
Or in some way, especially, my family could have said, well, did we lead a life like that?
Jen: Yeah. Because I'm like, you didn't have a, a sounding board or a mirror to hold it up to you and say, yeah, that that's not normal.
Sandy: No. And I think that. It's a hard thing, isn't it? Because back then, I mean, we're talking back a lot of years, like I'm 62 now. And you know, I was married at 20 and that was in my late twenties, early thirties. I'm going through all this stuff...
Jen: We didn't talk about.
Sandy: Well, we didn't talk about those things and look, mobile phones might be a great thing now. And video calls and everything else. I'm sorry, we didn't have all that back then. And I'm not saying that that's any reasoning. There was other methods. I mean, I used to go down to the local phone box and use it because we didn't even have a phone at home. So life was very different on the farm and it than what it is now, but still the sign things are happening out there. Like I wonder, have we got any better?
Jen: It's funny hearing you talk about those days, because it certainly was and still is the culture in our country, not to talk about difficult things. You don't talk about what happens behind other people's doors and you don't talk about taboo topics. I think about my grandparents, you know, very much that stiff upper lip generation. Didn't talk about things outside your inner circle, and that sort of allowed this culture of family and domestic violence to potentially thrive. It still happens. Obviously not discounting that, but, um, it certainly, it certainly created a really strong foundation of silence and taboo and shame, which, from what I'm hearing you say is what kept you quiet for so long.
Sandy: Yeah. And I think the other thing is too, and perhaps people, anybody that hasn't gone through, it needs to ask themselves. If somebody came and told you all of these things, how would you respond? Would you actually turn around and go, oh gosh, that's no good. Is there anything I can do for you? Or do you not wanna know? Do you wanna brush it off? Do you actually wanna get involved with that? Or how do you help those people? Because a lot of the time, and even when I was out doing the run and people would come up to me, they probably felt like they were in a safe place to say something to me, which is why obviously Kirrily started everything, is that they feel like they're in a safe place and they can finally say something about it within that safe place.
But outside in the big wide world, even today, I do often ponder and think to myself, if I say that to somebody, how do they respond? Because a lot of people still don't understand it. And don't wanna talk about it.
Jen: Or are scared. Yeah. It's funny you say that. Cause I was talking to someone the other day. I was trying to convince them to join my team for RAV. And they actually said to me, essentially, that they were scared that, um, it would open a door to conversation. Someone would start sharing their story or telling them their experience and they wouldn't know what to say or that they might say the wrong thing. Um, so there is definitely still that layer of this uncomfortable conversations. It's such a great point, Sandy.
Sandy: And I get that and perhaps that's something that we need too within this environment and through RAV is to have, what would I call it? A toolkit? A tool, a toolkit that then goes, okay I dunno what to say to people. Give me some words or give me some phone numbers of people they could talk to or give a website. Yes. Or have something. And explore that in such a way that we all have a toolkit that whether we've been through it or whether we haven't. That we've got this toolkit. If somebody comes along that we can refer to this toolkit or put or give them the tool kit I'm I mean, I'm thinking outside the box here, is yeah what, what we could have to help those people out, cause that really at the end of the day is what it's all about. I mean, I'm here and I've got a fabulous life, but there's still people, as we know, we know what goes on. You only have to listen to the news.
Jen: Yeah. I love that suggestion of a toolkit. I think that is absolutely important, cause you're right. You need to be able to create a safe space and to respond appropriately. And respond in a way that, recognises where that person is at and makes it safe for them. In all respects.
Jen: So let's talk about running. So you talked about running. You started running while you were still in that relationship as a, the phrase that came to mind, as you were talking about, it was actually running as therapy. It certainly sounds like that was what it was for you?
Sandy: Yeah, it was definitely therapy. I mean, I still don't even call myself a, a runner. It's interesting. Isn't it? I'll get out there and I'll just give things a go. I love that. And, um, I think that's, what's important, you know, we don't have to be, we don't have to be somebody else.
We've just gotta be ourselves. And I think running was definitely my therapy. Um, actually, uh, in honesty, I believed if I hadn't have started running and working through those issues, uh, I wouldn't be here today because I think that the only thing that kept me alive and going from a perspective of, you know, committing suicide was the fact that I had those children.
And I looked at their faces every day and said, you can't do it to them. And I think on the other flip side of somebody else and where else, where our life would've gone is that running saved me. And in some ways it sounds like an easy option. Doesn't just go out for a run but running was definitely my therapy and continued to be until I got the love of running. I just love running.
I still do. People say to me, we need them to stop. You've done all these crazy things. And I go, I dunno that I ever will. It's just gonna, it's just gonna be in some different format. And now I say to people it's all right. It's just my grandma shuffle.
Jen: Ah, well, it's, it's a very effective grandma shuffle given that you shuffled and I'm gonna say ran, uh, 1100 kilometres.
Sandy: Yeah.
Jen: 21 days from Broken Hill to Melbourne which blows my mind, um, only two or three months ago now. So what, why? Why did you do that? Why was that run so important to you?
Sandy: When I got involved with RAV and I thought to myself, I could run from Broken Hill to Melbourne and a year went on and then the next Virtual Challenge and I went, I could run from Broken Hill to Melbourne.
I could touch all those little towns along the way, and did this thing over in my head. And then the old thing comes into the head and it goes, oh, that'd be stupid, Sandy, of course you can't do that. Gosh, you're getting older, you know, there's no way you could do it.
And then I'd go again in my head. Yes you can. And so this would go in and out my head till finally, one day I looked at Colin, my husband, and I said, what would you say if I said, I wanna run from Broken Hill to Melbourne for Run Against Violence. And he looks at me and he goes, you wanna do what ? And I said, I wanna run from Broken Hill to Melbourne for Run Against Violence.
You know, would you support me in that? He said, if that's what you wanna do, I'm all in. Oh. And that was all I needed to hear. And then I'd go through this for days. Oh, no, I don't, I don't know. Now I could, I really do it and he'd go look, are you all in or are you not all in? I'm all in, if you are all in, but if you're not all in, I'm not all in.
And it was just this really fun thing that went through until finally I just said, oh, that's it. I'm all in. I'm sick of, I'm sick of thinking about it. I'm gonna do the same thing next year. So once I'd spoken to Kirrily and all of that sort of thing. And I look for her and I just think to myself, she started all this off and if I can just be of some support in all of that and get that word out there and touch a whole lot of small places and towns and through Victoria and well, you know, New South Wales, but, particularly Victoria and I work at a special school at Ashwood and if I can run in and have that as my finish line, those kids there are gonna get so much out of that.
And they did. They came out on that last day and they, the cross country team. And those kids and they came out and they ran those last couple of kilometres in with me. It was incredible. And they ran me into the school. They were all lined up at the front of the school with their signs. Some of the things that the children had written on those signs, you know, what it was all worth it.
And when I started, I kept thinking to myself, oh my gosh, I have to be able to run at the end. I can't, I can't just be crawling at the end in cause those kids are gonna wanna run with me. Oh. And for some reason, every day I got up and I got out there, Col would push me out the door and I'd get out there and I'd be off running and the sun would rise and I would just think it's a new day. It's fine. And along the way, I actually felt like I got stronger along the way, because I think I was dealing with all the things in my head as well. So Kirrily started all of this. It's all her fault. It's her fault.
Jen: Kirrily. It is your fault. I know you're listening. Oh, that's funny. Um, I need to let you go, but I did wanna just finish by asking, is there anything out of your experience of being a survivor that are myths or stories that you've heard or things that you want people to understand better about what it's like to live through what you lived through? If we were myth busting, what myth would you bust?
Sandy: Well, when I hear, as I said before, when I hear people that have no idea. And they say, well, I don't understand why she just doesn't leave. And look, it can sometimes be it's he too, like, I'm not bringing this down to just females cause while I was doing the run, there's men out there, there's women out there. There's children out there when people say, I don't know why they don't just go.
It is not that it isn't that easy at all. It isn't easy at all. And it is a process. And also you can't, you can't do it for somebody. You can listen to somebody, you can put them onto people. I would have people come to me out there on the run, and I would always say to them, you know, you have to make all the decisions yourself because I'm not a therapist, I'm not anything.
If you need those sort of people, you need to go to them, but I can listen. And I think listening is one of the biggest things. If there's one way you can help people, it's just listen. Sometimes it's just a set of ears. You don't need to give them advice or anything. You just need to listen and be there for them. And if you are just that, that can be all. That's probably one of the biggest things that I never had anybody to listen.
Jen: That's really powerful. That is really powerful. Sandy, thank you so much for your time today for showing your story for trusting us with your story and, um, keep on shuffling.
Sandy: Yeah, thanks, Jen. And from this grandma to everybody, I'll keep on shuffling.
Jen: I'm gonna call it running, but you can call it shuffling if you want. Yeah.
Sandy: Thanks, Jen.
Jen: Thank you. How amazing is Sandy her experience? I think for me, certainly reinforces, the power of conversations, the importance of being open to having conversations in raising awareness and ultimately breaking the cycle.
Jen: If you or someone close to you is experiencing family violence, please talk to someone. You can call 1-800-RESPECT if you would like to talk to a professional service. Or if there's an immediate threat to your safety, please call the police on Triple Zero (000).
Jen: Okay. It is time for our Team Spotlight. In each episode, we're going to highlight and hear from one of our amazing teams who are participating in the challenge this year. And this week we have Riana and Mel from the fabulously named SWAT (Sprinting, Walking and Trash Talking).
Riana: Um, hi, I'm Riana. And I am from at Mount Gambier and also with us is Melissa.
Mel: Hi.
Riana: We are a part of the team called SWAT. So Sprinting Walking and Trash Talking is our team name. So what I love about RAV is, is, um, just the nature that we have around. Um, we've got a little, little wildlife sanctuary that I normally go to and I walk around that whole morning.
Mel: Unlike Riana, I actually live just outside of Mount Gambier in a place called Tarpeena and I actually live on two and a half acres. So, uh, if I'm not doing my Ks for RAV at work, I'm actually walking around my paddock or around the local back roads. And I usually got a greyhound or a pony with me.
Riana: The RAV community in the Limestone Coast over the years has just it's growing. Like when I first started, there was one team. And now, now I think there's like six teams. It's amazing. Like just to watch it grow over the years and become bigger. And like, I just want it to get so big that everyone in Australia is in it. Like it just needs to be at that point already.
Jen: The parkrun takeover, I hear, um, the idea originated in Mount Gambier as well.
Riana: Yes. So that is happening on the 30th, 31st of July of July. Yes. So that's coming up very soon.
Jen: And what is it that you love about RAV? Why is it so important to you?
Riana: Just the passion that everyone has who is in RAV. And just the drive that they have and, you know, being able to raise funds for a really good program to be able to prevent violence for kids in the future.
Mel: I just like the fact that everyone's actually so supportive. Cause most of us that are in it have experienced domestic violence. Like Belinda, when, uh, she first started, she actually approached me. Um, and it was perfect timing, but at the same time, so wrong, I had just got out of domestic violence relationship and my head space wasn't right. Then she approached me the next year and I said yep. And it's a freedom. It's a chance to concentrate and focus on something while you're healing. For me anyway. And now it's a drive to stop the cycle.
Jen: If you've heard something today that inspires you to take action, head over to the Run Against Violence website, that's runagainstviolence.com. Sign up to the RAV Virtual Challenge. Even if you don't have a team, but you want to be involved, we can find you a team. Or donate to RAV to help us break this cycle and protect our communities from the impact of family and domestic violence.
Jen: Now, to wrap up today's episode, I have a little sneak peek for you. Next week on the podcast, we are going to dive into the logistics of how to train for, survive, and maybe even thrive during the Virtual Challenge. So no matter your age or stage, no matter how fit you are, no matter how much time, how much or how little time you have, we are gonna have some tips for you. So here is a sneak peek from my chat with running coach Lyndal Maloney.
Lyndal: We're probably getting ahead of ourselves now, but that's the beauty of the team is that you have a mixed bag of athletes. And some will do a whole lot more than others, but as long as you have that team goal, and you also have your individual goal and you've planned that out. Then when we get to the end of the challenge and maybe things haven't worked out as well as they could have for you, and you're not quite going to get the kilometres, it doesn't matter because your team has, um, you know, everyone will rally at the end to get the Ks done, um, in my experience anyway, and really at the end of it all, it doesn't matter.
Lyndal: If you don't hit your target because you will as a team. And I guess the purpose of the challenge is the more important thing, the whole big picture. So, yeah, that's the reason why we're doing it.
Jen: So that's it for this week's episode of the 2022 Run Against Violence podcast. Thank you for being here. Don't forget to register your team and then we would love it if you would share this episode with one person or your entire team, I'm Jen Brown and I will chat to you next week. Bye.