Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Territory runner Allirra Jennings, who’ll soon become the first Aboriginal woman to run all of the world’s major marathons shares her story

Transcript

Territory runner Allirra Jennings, who’ll soon become the first Aboriginal woman to run all of the world’s major marathons shares her story · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, I love hearing about territorians that are doing great things.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Anybody that listens to the show knows that.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: But I particularly love hearing about people running, playing different sports,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: all sorts.
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  Speaker 2: Of stuff, no matter what it is.
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  Speaker 1: If you know somebody that's doing something incredible, please do
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  Speaker 1: make sure that you make me aware of it.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: And well.
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  Speaker 1: Right now joining me in the studio is a woman
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  Speaker 1: who is set to become the first Aboriginal woman to
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  Speaker 1: complete all six major marathons. So I'm talking Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin,
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  Speaker 1: Tokyo and London, and she is a local girl.
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  Speaker 2: Her name is Aleira Jennings. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming in and having a
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  Speaker 1: chat with me this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I love a run, but I've never run a
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  Speaker 1: marathon and I'm very keen to try and do one
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  Speaker 1: this year. So when I heard that you are set
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  Speaker 1: to run, well, you're seventh, but you're sixth major marathon,
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  Speaker 1: I thought I need to find out more about this.
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  Speaker 3: Where definitely a rare breed runner.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's like breaking through this pain barrier. I
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: think that most people, just you know, I probably don't
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  Speaker 1: ever want to have to do.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: You know what my trick is, Katie, I just keep
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  Speaker 4: on running until something else starts hurting.
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  Speaker 1: You know. I was talking to a friend of mine
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  Speaker 1: who does a lot of sort of longer distance triathlons,
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  Speaker 1: and she said to me that someone had told her
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  Speaker 1: you're not living unless you wake up in something sore
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  Speaker 1: in the morning.
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  Speaker 3: That's very true.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Alia, tell me, how did you start running?
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  Speaker 3: I wasn't always a runner.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I had a little bit of a kick in the guts.
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  Speaker 4: Ten years ago I lost my grandma to diabetes. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 4: I was in the hospital with her when she was
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  Speaker 4: told that she was going into hospice, and I was
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  Speaker 4: there when she begged and bartered for her life, And
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  Speaker 4: it was a kick in the guts to me, because
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  Speaker 4: I was almost one hundred and ten kilos weighing down
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  Speaker 4: the end of her bed and just hearing her and
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  Speaker 4: fighting for her life, and knowing that I was just
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  Speaker 4: blowing mine away was a real kick in the guts.
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  Speaker 4: And I had to have a good look at myself,
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  Speaker 4: and I decided from then on not to waste my
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  Speaker 4: health and to use my body to do great things.
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  Speaker 4: And running just came naturally yeah, I kind of fell
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  Speaker 4: into it by accident.
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  Speaker 2: It's incredible.
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  Speaker 1: It is absolutely incredible to go from that point, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're like you'd seen one hundred and ten kilos and
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  Speaker 1: hearing what your grandma was going through, and then to
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  Speaker 1: get to the point where you're not only running, but
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  Speaker 1: you're running marathons. I mean, how did you sort of
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  Speaker 1: make that massive step.
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  Speaker 3: To start off with?
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  Speaker 4: I could literally only shuffle how don't use the word
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  Speaker 4: shuffle it.
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  Speaker 3: It definitely wasn't a run fifty meters.
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  Speaker 4: I lived out in Catherine at the time, and there's
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  Speaker 4: power poles that I would run along, like along the
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  Speaker 4: pathway and back then I thought that the power poles
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  Speaker 4: were two hundred meters apart, so I would run from
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  Speaker 4: one to half way thinking that it was one hundred
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  Speaker 4: meters but.
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  Speaker 3: Fifty meters.
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  Speaker 4: But from there I just kept on going, kept on training,
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  Speaker 4: kept on running. The weight was coming off, naturally, cleaned
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  Speaker 4: up my diet, and just found that I had a
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  Speaker 4: real knack for running long distance.
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  Speaker 1: And then when did you decide, Okay, I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: go from running between power poles to running a bloody marathon.
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  Speaker 4: This also had and by accident, I was up visiting
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  Speaker 4: my dad in Darwin, and his place in malacc is
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  Speaker 4: about a kilometer away from North Lakes.
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  Speaker 3: So I'd woken up early.
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  Speaker 4: Everyone else in the house was asleep, and I said, oh,
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  Speaker 4: I'm going to be a good daughter and go and
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  Speaker 4: get my daddy's iced coffee and anti Newesa love it
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  Speaker 4: breakfast champions, yea.
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  Speaker 3: The breakfast. There's a territory and breakfast.
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  Speaker 4: And so I went for my little shuffle up to
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  Speaker 4: North Lakes. And I got there and I felt quite nice,
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  Speaker 4: felt good, and I said, I'll just keep on running
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  Speaker 4: to the next set of lights, you know, And off
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  Speaker 4: I trotted, and then I got down to that was
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  Speaker 4: Marara lights. Yeah, and so I went, I'll just run
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  Speaker 4: to the airport lights. And then off I went. And
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  Speaker 4: I was doing really good, which was because it was
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  Speaker 4: mostly downhill. Yeah, And I got to the airport lights
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  Speaker 4: and I went, ah, you know so much family I
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  Speaker 4: have at the cemetery there, so I'll just run past
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  Speaker 4: and you know, pay my respects. And so I ran
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  Speaker 4: past there and I went, you know what, I'll just
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  Speaker 4: keep on running to bag It road.
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  Speaker 2: How incredible. And then did you think, oh, no, I've
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  Speaker 2: got to get home.
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  Speaker 4: Now oh yeah, yeah, definitely, I got to bag it road.
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  Speaker 4: I stopped because I hadn't stopped running. I just kept
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  Speaker 4: on shuffling along. As soon as I stopped, every single
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  Speaker 4: muscle in my body seized.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was like the tin man. Oh.
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  Speaker 4: And then I realized that I hadn't told anyone where
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  Speaker 4: I was going. Laura hadn't taken my mobile with me,
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  Speaker 4: so it was a bit of a long walk run
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  Speaker 4: back home.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: So I ended up driving the distance and it turned
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  Speaker 4: out to be twelve kilometers.
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  Speaker 3: So a bit before that, after the.
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  Speaker 4: Run, I'd kind of stumbled into the house, into my
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  Speaker 4: dad's house, no ant news the wives, and must have
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  Speaker 4: looked like death because my dad goes to.
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  Speaker 3: Me, where did you just go?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: And I was so out of breath.
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  Speaker 2: I was I just ran up to bag a road.
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  Speaker 4: And then I said at that moment, I said how
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  Speaker 4: many kilometers in a marathon?
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  Speaker 2: Dad?
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  Speaker 3: And he said forty two?
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  Speaker 4: Love, And I guess just from there, I knew if
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  Speaker 4: I could do that distance with no program, no training coach.
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  Speaker 4: I knew that I could do a marathon.
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  Speaker 2: How incredible.
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  Speaker 1: I just think it's wonderful that you had the mental
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  Speaker 1: strength to be able to do that as well, and
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  Speaker 1: to be able to, you know, to really turn your
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  Speaker 1: life around at that pivotal moment as well with your grandma,
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  Speaker 1: because not everybody can do that. Not everybody has got
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  Speaker 1: that strength of mind to be able to go all.
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  Speaker 1: I've got to make some life changes here, and not
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: only make some life changes, but make really drastic and
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  Speaker 1: dramatic changes where you're kicking their massive goals.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you've got four kids.
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  Speaker 1: They must look at you and think, well, look at
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  Speaker 1: my mum, that's incredible.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think they're at that stage yet.
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  Speaker 4: Kids always think that their parents embarrassing.
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  Speaker 2: I've got to know, I know what they're like.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I think it came down to doing I
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  Speaker 4: don't like doing things for myself. I like doing things
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  Speaker 4: for my family, for my family, name for you know,
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  Speaker 4: for the better of my children their health improving. So
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  Speaker 4: to do it for her and I'm really stoked to
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  Speaker 4: get my six star on her tenth year.
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  Speaker 3: So since her passing, so all in her honor.
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  Speaker 1: So tell me as well, you know what has it
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  Speaker 1: been like for you over the last ten years to
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  Speaker 1: your life around in terms of your health to that
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  Speaker 1: degree you are raising you know, you're raising children as well,
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  Speaker 1: trying to get all that training done and competing in
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  Speaker 1: these massive races that do have a lot of They
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  Speaker 1: do cause a lot of stress to your body too.
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  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, definitely.
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  Speaker 4: I I have pairing my training in with the kids
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  Speaker 4: when they're training, so even if it's three thirty in
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  Speaker 4: the afternoon, you'll see me doing laps around Marara. And
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  Speaker 4: I have the support and love of my husband's family
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  Speaker 4: and my family as.
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  Speaker 3: Well, so it does take a village.
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  Speaker 4: I have unfortunately missed birthdays being away, missing my kid's birthdays,
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  Speaker 4: but yeah, I have the love.
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  Speaker 3: And support of my family and friends.
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  Speaker 1: I just reckon, it's wonderful. Tell me which marathon has
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  Speaker 1: been the hardest.
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  Speaker 4: The hardest was definitely Chicago. I was quite sick in
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  Speaker 4: the lead up, so I didn't have a lot of training,
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  Speaker 4: and I'd come off the back of having a really
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  Speaker 4: nasty cold. The hardest part about it mentally was that
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  Speaker 4: the course started in the center of town, and my
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  Speaker 4: hotel was in the center of town, and the course
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  Speaker 4: was a sloppy eight I'll call it a sloppy eight.
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  Speaker 4: So at the twenty one kilometer mark I was dying
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  Speaker 4: quite early in the race for listeners who don't know,
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  Speaker 4: a marathon is forty two kilometers. So I came back
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  Speaker 4: around at twenty one kilometers and I could see my.
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  Speaker 3: Hotel were like, what to stop? That was really tough.
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  Speaker 4: It was cold, it was windy, I was really undertrained,
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  Speaker 4: and I really wanted to go and have a hot
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  Speaker 4: bath and a hot chocolate.
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  Speaker 3: I just had to.
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  Speaker 4: Play mind games tricks on my mind and just say, well,
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  Speaker 4: if I run for another ten kilometers, then I just
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  Speaker 4: have to run back back home, which ends up being
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  Speaker 4: another twenty one kilometers.
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  Speaker 3: But you just have to trick your brain.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, what's been the funnest marathon or the most memorable
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  Speaker 1: New York?
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  Speaker 3: Hands down New York.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. I've run New York twice in twenty fourteen and
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  Speaker 4: twenty seventeen. And the crowd and it's just amazing.
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  Speaker 3: It is amazing.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like sixt deep on both sides and everyone's
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  Speaker 4: just cheering.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it would be absolutely incredible.
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  Speaker 2: Now tell me as well.
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  Speaker 1: I know, like I know that there must be some
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  Speaker 1: funny things that you see along the way. There must
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  Speaker 1: be some crazy stuff really that you see when you're
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  Speaker 1: part of a marathon. But also some really inspiring people.
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  Speaker 3: Oh yes, one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 4: I have been overtaken while running by people with prosthetic legs.
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  Speaker 4: And I actually I've seen this guy running a few times.
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  Speaker 4: He's an American lad and he is blind, so he's
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: tethered to another runner who can see, and they he
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  Speaker 4: runs tethered to his guide, but he can't see a thing.
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  Speaker 4: And I've seen him a few marathons.
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  Speaker 3: Now I think he's collecting his six stuffs. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 4: But it's just amazing because I think if all of
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: the excuses that I have of not to train, but
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: all of my training, I can get done by myself.
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  Speaker 4: Imagine having to imagine being blind and having to rely
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: on somebody else.
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  Speaker 1: To guide your spot on absolutely spot on. Now tell
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  Speaker 1: me you know this is going to be well, it's
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: going to be your seventh marathon, but it's just sixth
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  Speaker 1: major marathon. And it means, as we've discussed which that
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: you are going to get well, you're going to complete
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: your six stars. There's only one hundred and three people
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: who have them that are women in Australia.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: In Australia, Australian women, and you will.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Be the first Aboriginal woman, Yes, to do this. How
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: proud does that make you feel? Oh?
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: Very proud, very proud. Shout out to my Kumarican and
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  Speaker 4: GERINGI mo.
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  Speaker 1: I reckon, it's awesome. I just think it's an incredible
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  Speaker 1: thing to do. And there's another territory and on that
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  Speaker 1: list as well, isn't there?
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  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: So Charlie Maher is the first Indigenous Australian male who
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: has run all six He collected his six star in
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: London and I was lucky enough to see him.
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  Speaker 1: Now for you, you know, it is such a proud moment,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure, but I know that you also want to
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  Speaker 1: You want to do it to honor your grandma, but
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: also to make your pop proud.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, my granddad. My granddad's Vick Ludwig. Yeah, so
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: he's a little bit of an icon.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: I'm wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he and what do you reckon? What's he
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: thinking about all of this?
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Oh? I have breakfast with him on Tuesday mornings and
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: he loves I love listening to his stories and he
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: loves hearing of where I'm going next. And yeah, he says,
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  Speaker 4: my my grandma had I've got my running genes from
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: my grandma. But I do think it's the I do
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  Speaker 4: think it's a good mix, A good mix.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, Alira, It's so wonderful to hear from you.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's such a wonderful thing that you're doing,
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  Speaker 1: and you should be so proud of yourself, and you know,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: the way that really you've been able to do this
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: over the last ten years is incredible stuff.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: So I really appreciate you coming into the studio and
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: having a chat with us this morning. Please let us
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: know how it goes.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: Definitely well.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: We're very keen to see some photos and hear some more.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm more on Instagram if anyone wants
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: to follow, it's Aleira Underscore runs Ironic.
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  Speaker 3: I love it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'll check it out. It is great to speak
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  Speaker 2: to you this morning. Thank you so much for coming
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: into the studio for a chat.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie, thank you