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RUNNING FOR MUM, MS AND A CURE

Deb’s taking on an amazing feat of endurance on the 17th of September. She’s running 100km raising funds in honour of her mum, Monica, who passed away over 12 months ago from complications with MS.

My mum always thought I was a bit mad with the runs I used to do so it’s fitting I’m doing the longest one for her.

Deb Miller

“She was a bit of a character. She liked a good time and a party. She was always quite jovial; she was good fun and she loved her footy.”

Deb’s taking on 100kms in her memory, travelling around Sydney past special landmarks that honour her mum’s life.

“Some of the places we will run past are her primary school at Bondi Beach, St Anne’s… but it is now called The Galilee School.”

Deb will also run past the site of the old Saint Margaret’s Hospital, in Surrey Hills, where Monica was born, and where Deb’s brother and her were born also. Then she heads over the Harbour, to Seaforth, and goes past Saint Cecilia’s Church, where her mum and dad were married, and past their first home on Sydney Road, Balgowlah.

“From there, we head, past Brookvale Oval, home of her beloved Manly Sea Eagles, onto Collaroy, Narrabeen, past Mona Vale Hospital, where mum had her last baby, my sister Julie.”

“Then thru Warriewood Valley, and up the hill to Elanora Heights, to the house that we grew up in for over 50 years.”

“One of the places we run past is Brookvale Oval where many times as children we were dragged to the football. There mum would be cheering on Manly, and we’d be cringing she was so loud. That was every week we’d follow them around. She was very passionate about it all. Always the life of the party.”

Deb won’t be out there alone on her 100km run. She’ll have friends jumping in on short sections of the run to keep her company.

In the lead up to the big day, her training schedule is intense.

“I’ve been training for 14 weeks, running 6 days a week and gym work as well. The longest I’ve run so far is 5 hours. I head out on a Saturday morning with a training buddy, we have been going all over Sydney, exploring a bit with no destination in mind.”

Deb’s aiming to raise money toward vital MS research with the goal of finding a cure for MS.

“It’s been funny since I’ve started doing the preparation for this run, there has been people that tell me they know someone with MS – there’s obviously a lot of people affected by it.”

Through social media and word of mouth, Deb’s almost smashed her fundraising goal of $5,000 with just two weeks to go until her big run.

“My sister, Julie, is in charge of the fundraising she’s put up a Go Fund Me page. When I do my training runs, I post those on social media and link to the Go Fund Me page.”

On September 17th Deb will hit the pavement in honour of her mum and make a real impact for people living with MS.

“Mum died quite suddenly so it was a bit of a shock to lose her quite quickly. This one way of remembering her life.