APRIL was a big month for Penola runners Justin and Kate McDonald.
The couple looked to raise money for a friend’s daughter Tilly, who lives with autism.
The main aim was to help Tilly’s father Craig Vickers with the purchase of a specially trained assistance dog for Tilly.
Craig had planned some runs during April – autism month – and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the plans changed.
He then designed a virtual option, where runners could simply cover their distances in isolation during the month.
The challenge included a five-kilometre run, 10-kilometre run, half marathon and full marathon.
It seemed a reasonable challenge for the McDonalds who are currently well over 1200 days of consecutive five-kilometre daily runs, along with other longer distances they have covered, such as the gruelling Guinness Book of Records effort which saw the couple cover a total distance of 1647.8km over 77 days.
However, despite the best laid plans, Justin said time escaped them and suddenly the month of April was almost over.
“During Autism awareness month people across the country generally raise money for an autism charity or a family that may be affected by it,” he said.
“Craig had created some virtual runs because of everything being cancelled, with distances that would appeal to most people.
“We had planned to do the runs and the month kind of got away from us.
“Then I remembered there were only four days left, so my wife and I thought ‘we have four days to do four different runs’, so we just picked them off in the last four days of April.”
Justin said they started with the 10-kilometre run, followed by the half marathon, then the full marathon and finished off with the five-kilometre run on the last day of the month.
He said it was a tough slog over the four days, especially since he had not completed any long runs other than one 20-kilometre effort since the Melbourne Marathon in October last year, which he ran with Craig.
He said Kate handled the distances better because she had been doing longer runs more consistently.
“We have run five kilometres every day consecutively for 1220-odd days, so we do have a bit of base fitness,” Justin said.
“But when you do not do those long runs for a while then go out and do them it is still somewhat difficult.”
Despite competing in various events over the years, including the Blue Lake Fun Run, Justin said this one was a bit more special.
“The more running we have done, the less it has been about us,” he said.
“You like to get your PBs and go as well as you can in events like the Blue Lake Fun Run, but when you raise money for someone and you see the difference it has made, it is much better than anything else.”
Over the four days Justin said completing the marathon was the biggest relief.
“When we did the marathon it was a miserable day,” he said.
“We set off at six o’clock, it was windy and raining, everything was against us.
“Motivation is hard when you start running in the rain, you’re two kays in, you are dripping wet and you have 40 to go.
“We got about 17 or 18 kilometres out and were a bit down, but we just reminded ourselves why we were doing it.
“Kate said ‘we are doing this for Tilly, keep going’.
“It is amazing what the body can do sometimes with a bit of encouragement and a reason.”
Justin said overall he believed Craig had raised around $8000 at this stage.
However, he needs $25,000 to purchase the dog.
Craig said it had been an ongoing battle which started about a year ago.
“It is a lot of money to find,” he said.
“We were approved for a dog this time last year and have raised about $8000 – we still have a long way to go.”
Craig said the non-profit company which provides the dog – Dogs for Kids – raise, teach and match the dog with Tilly.
“The dog has to be trained specifically for her needs,” he said.
Anyone interested in helping the family raise the much-needed funds can donate at mycause.com.au and search for Tilly.
A Facebook page has also been created called Tilly the Bug.
