S2 Ep2: Rallying The Troops

SHOW NOTES

So registrations for the 2022 Run Against Violence Virtual Challenge are open and pouring in.

Teams are being registered. People are looking for teams and teams are looking for people. So let’s chat to 3 people about how they rally the troops. In this episode, you’ll meet Sammy Bruderer, Mark Grima and Natalie Bartolo and hear as they share their experience with the Virtual Challenge, how they find and organise their teams and how they keep themselves and their teams connected and motivated during the challenge. 

Also in this episode:

  • Sammy shares her advice on how to respond when someone discloses their experience of family violence with you,

  • Natalie shares the story of her friend Greg who will inspire you to get out the door and get your kilometres done,  

  • meet Debbie from the Garmin Groupies in our Team Spotlight, and

  • hear a special message and get a sneak peek of next week’s episode.

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).

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TRANSCRIPT

Jen: Welcome to the Run Against Violence Podcast for 2022 where 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'm Jen Brown and I'm so honoured to be the host of 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 as teams of walkers and runners virtually chase each other from Broken Hill to Sydney, covering a distance of 1,300 kilometres - that's 32 marathons over 19 days.

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we 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. 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 to the second episode of the podcast for 2022. So last week we heard from the co-founders of RAV Kirrily Dear and Brad Smithers is all about the history of RAV and the virtual challenge. Registrations are now open and pouring in.

So I thought this would be a great week to talk about how to rally the troops, how to find and organise your teams, how to convince people to join, especially those who might think they're too old or too unfit, or they just don't have the time to do it and how to stay motivated and help your teammates stay motivated both now in the weeks leading up to the challenge, as well as during the challenge, when the initial motivation is gonna fade, the aches and pains are gonna kick in and some (including yours truly) we'll probably wonder how on earth we got talked into doing this and how on earth we're gonna get it done. Anyway, to do that, I wanted to pick the brains of three experienced RAVs and team captains. Mark Grimer, Sammy Bruderer and Natalie Bartolo. Here they are

Mark Natalie Sammy. Welcome to the podcast and thank you for being here. So excited for this one. So we are recording this, it's the first week of July. Registrations are open. Teams are being registered. People are looking for teams and teams are looking for people. So I wanted to pick your brain and hear about your experience of rallying troops for RAV. But before we get into that, I'd love to hear. And love to start with you, Natalie. How, and when did you first become involved with RAV.

Natalie: So the first time I've put teams through was actually last year. I had a team of 15 and a team of 18. The funny thing is the team of 15 finished before the team of 18 because there are a few ultra-marathon runners in that one. But I'd known Kirrily since about 2014. When she did her first run from north to south, it was about 890 Ks or something in New South Wales. So I'd known of Kirrily for a while. But yeah, last year was the first time we'd had some teams.

Jen: And when did you first do the challenge yourself?

Natalie: It was actually last year as well.

Jen: Oh, was okay. You're like me. And what was it about RAV? Was it just Kirrily's passion and persistence?

Natalie: Oh, absolutely. I mean, when I met her and she was training for the first event that she did and why she was doing it, you know, we had conversations around that and we talked about, uh, I think there was a particular town that she'd crossed through twice. So she'd crossed through this town nor when she went north to south. And then when she did steps with me, I think that was 2017. She crossed through that town as again, and, um, apparently it's a high instance of domestic violence in that town, and that's why she did that. And it just sort of sits with you. And even though we didn't really live in the same city, I kept in contact with Kirrily and up with what she was up to. And I always said to her, yeah, I wanna be a part of this. And last year presented an opportunity where I could get some people involved cause you do really need that team environment.

Jen: Nice. And what about you, Mark? You know, how, and when did you first become involved with RAV?

Mark: Yeah, so I've done each of the virtual challenges. Uh, so is that four now? I've done each of them. Just got asked in the first one by a friend to join a team and I said, yes. I didn't really consider what the challenge was about or anything like that. I’m like, yeah, I'll do that. I'm a runner. So it's another really chance to get another medal type thing. 
Then this will be the third year that I've been the team captain, organise the team and then, and enter the team. So I don't know, Kirrily but obviously over the last few years we've had many conversations. But yeah, I wasn't sort of involved in her original run from Broken Hill or her run from Broken Hill or anything like that. But yeah I’ve has become more involved with the challenge and what it's about and racking up some more running kilometres.

Jen: did, was there a point at which, you know, you've gone from being a participant to a captain, was there a change in how you connected to the cause that that made you wanna step up into that team captain role?

Mark: No, not necessarily. So I guess my team is a team of runners. We always have a team of 20. Um, And in the first year I was the captain all 20 were ultra marathon runners.

Jen: That's cheating.

Mark: Um, yeah. So I guess I approached setting, becoming a captain and setting up a team from doing the 1300 Ks on the very first day of the challenge and setting our own team challenge around that. So purely from a running point of view, that's how I promote it a little bit, from a running point of view and then let each individual team member resonate and sort of promote the cause however they see fit on their own personal level. Purely initially from a purely running point of view, let's set ourselves this impressive challenge of, of knocking the 1300 Ks off on the very first day of the challenge. And then how far can we go sort of after that in, in the 19 days.

Jen: Awesome. And Sammy, what about you? I think you're a bit of an insider on this cause aren't you?

Sammy: I am. It's, it's a natural fit. I'm a social worker by trade and have worked a lot in the domestic and family violence and child protection industry um, so this was a cause close to my heart. But we were introduced to Kirrily and RAV because I used to work for NAPCAN. Um, so I did my first challenged last year, and that was really to lead by example because obviously RAV's a big supporter of Love Bites and respectful relationship education.

So it's something that our entire organisation got involved in, which was fantastic to see. And then I’ve now moved across to the corporate world and work for EY and decided that they have a lot of values around social justice and making the community better and getting behind really good causes to combat big social issues. So this was something that EY wanted to support as well.

Jen: Oh, that's brilliant. So let's talk about the logistics of it in terms of how you find and organise your team, Sammy, starting with you, this year, for example, you're inside EY, rallying the troops there. How do you find people in such a massive organisation and how do you convince them to join?

Sammy: I think coming from the corporate world, I do capitalize a little bit on the natural, competitive nature of people. So I have harnessed that and we are getting our team together within Consulting. And then we are going to challenge other teams within the Brisbane Consulting, but also nationally as well.

So get some of that competition going. And because May was the domestic and family violence prevention month, we were lucky to hold an event which Kirrily actually spoke out and we focused it around prevention and how people could actually get involved. So it brought them into the cause as well. And then RAV starting in August, gave them something to be able, tangible, to be able to get involved in

Jen: And if, if someone listening to this was thinking about putting a corporate team together, as opposed to a team of friends or a team of runners that they know, what advice would you have for them?

Sammy: I think it really was about for me and getting the team involved, it was making sure that people felt like there was a purpose behind it and they could relate to that purpose, but also having that sense of accomplishment. So, and I think that's where RAV does really well is that there is a bigger issue that lots of people wanna get involved in, but often feel like they're not, they don't have the expertise or their powerless. They don't really know how to get involved, but this gives them a way to actually feel like they've done something and a personal challenge to themselves as well cause some people don't think that they can run or walk for the 19 days. And it brings that team energy together as well. So, once you bring them on that journey and bring in a little bit of that competitive nature, once you get sort of five people, it just, the ball starts rolling and, and others go, yep. I can do that. And they jump on board as well.

Jen: It is a bit of that snowball, isn't it?

Sammy: Yeah. Well, we went from, I didn't think I would get many people. Um, and now we've got a team of about 19 at the moment.

Jen: Oh, excellent. Excellent. The EY challenge is on.  I'll message someone I know at EY and get them on board as well.

Mark: Yeah. I think that's a really good point. If I can just quickly jump in there about once you get a little bit of momentum and I don't know, four or five, however many participants, the next 15 seem to come really easily. Once you get that ball rolling, um, whether it's a corporate team, a group of friends, or reaching out through RAV and, and looking for a group of individual or individual runners that are looking for a team, it's really not that hard. Um, and then just seems to evolve itself. It certainly my experience,

Jen: Mark, it sounds too like what Sammy was saying about competitiveness, tapping into people's competitiveness has been your secret to rallying your troops over the last couple of years.

Mark: Yeah, definitely. So, um, as I said in the first, the first year that I was the captain, so three years ago now, um, it was, I just had this crazy idea. I wanted to get 20 people together to run the 1300 kilometres of the challenge on the very first day of the challenge, which thankfully was a weekend or Sunday that day so it was somewhat logistically possible. I knew being a runner in Canberra that there's a fairly strong ultra running community down here but then I needed to kind of realise that I was asking basically 20 people to run a minimum of 65 kilometres, uh, in a day, which you know, is a lot, whether you've done it before or not is, is, it's still a lot of, a lot of kilometres. And you're dealing with, you know, people that might not be in the middle of a training block. So I was asking a lot of people and I needed to be a lot of people, um, and sort of needed to be aware of that. But everyone knew what they were signing up for everyone, obviously. And that in turn leads to them talking about what they're doing, and we're running as a team, 1300 kilometres in a day, and that no doubt asks questions. Why are you doing that? And then, you know, people can talk about that.

Jen: I love that. And what about you, Natalie? I like how, as I understand it, some of the people in your team were people that you had never met. Like you somehow they had stumbled across you or your mission, your cause. How did that come about?

Natalie: I was fairly lucky in the beginning. Actually I worked with, I think it's Brad, Brad rang me from the Run Against Violence team. I was actually out on my first run on the first day and, and I was a runner then, I'm not now. And he rang me and he says, oh, it sounds like you're out running. And I said, yeah, hi, uh, who is this? And he said, it's Brad. And then he goes, oh, it's Brad. I'm from the Run Against Violence team. And he said, look, I've got this person who is looking for a team. And I said, I will take yes. Any of them. Absolutely. So he gave, he did give me two people and because I had two teams, they fit in nicely. So the person that was from overseas was roped in, he was a partner of one of my girlfriends who lives in Rome. So that's how we got that man to join our team.

Jen: I mean, if you're gonna do your kilometres, you may as well do them in Rome, hey?

Natalie: Exactly. And, and they would send us photos where they are. And I had a friend in Munich who did some traveling. And she sent us photos from where she was running and it would, yeah, it was a little bit more beautiful.

Jen: it's funny listening to each of you. What I'm hearing you say too, is that it's really about sharing the challenge. Perhaps why it's important to you, but if you talk about it, you'll find people who either resonate with the challenge itself, you know, especially for example, in Mark's case with all the runners, or there'll be people out there who resonate with the cause more and the challenge is, you know, the way that they support the cause. Would you agree with that?

Natalie: Yeah. I, I definitely agree with that and really bringing it back to people can get involved and they can feel like they. To, to do this because they can run, they can walk, they can do whatever they want. It's not about speed. It's about putting in enough and being part of a team. But there is a really clear purpose and a big thing that people want to prevent domestic and family violence. A lot of people either have their own kids or they know other young people and they wanna make sure that they're in respectful relationships and never have to experience any fear or violence, but they may not know how to do that. So this gives them a really tangible thing that they can do and get involved in. And it's something that, you know, it brings teams, it brings people together and it creates that momentum to keep that conversation going. This also allows a certain amount of connection. We had a WhatsApp group page, so both teams, the Globetrotters one, and Globetrotters two were all involved in this page and we would spur each other on.

So they got to see who each other were and photos of where each other were running. And then they were able to, if they couldn't get their kilometres in for the day, or if it was raining or something, they could just reach out to anybody. And they were reaching out to strangers who they may not meet and they got the support they needed.

So just having that, I think really spurred people on as well.

Sammy: Mm-hmm, definitely, and I think it's that feeling as well of being in it together. I know when we did the last challenge, our team wasn't quite making it to the end and we are going, we have to, because RAV is donating to our course specifically so it was really like the last day everyone was walking or running. We did all our meetings. I had a rule that if you wanted to have a meeting with me, you were out walking or running because I'm out there as well. So everyone really banded together and we ended up like absolutely crushing the kilometres because everyone decided they're gonna get out and help push it over the line.

Jen: Oh that great. That's it? I'm that's okay. I'm making a note of that. That's it. If you want a meeting with me, I won't podcast while walking, but just for anything else… Sammy another question for you given your background with NAPCAN and as a social worker too.  One of the things I've heard from others new to the challenge is that they're a bit scared of talking about the cause, because it might open a door or someone might share their own experience with family and domestic violence and they don't know how to respond in that situation. When someone shares with them, what advice do you have?

Sammy: Yeah, definitely. It can be really confronting. I think the best thing that you can do is listen, you don't need to have the answers.

You don't need to solve a problem. It's really about listening to them about their journey and having that genuine connection of how actually privileged you are that someone felt safe to connect with you and to share their story with you and, and making sure that they know that, that they are really courageous and that you feel privileged to be able to listen to their story.

I think the best thing then what you can do that some of these conversations are going to come up is to know what support services are available so you can help people access those support services and get any sort of crisis or counselling and ongoing therapeutic support they may need, but may not actually know how to access.

Jen: Oh, that's a great point. Note to self. I wanna do that. thank you. Um, going back to the virtual challenge, I think there are three common fears, well three common objections that people have with the challenge is that they think they're too old, they're too unfit or too time poor to do this. Mark, what advice do you have for someone who is a bit concerned with doing the challenge for one of those reason?

Mark: I think we just had it come out. And that is just incorporate the movement into your daily life somehow, if that's through a forced meeting with your boss and they make you walk, then that's great. But I certainly know I've got team members that have done that as well. And especially in the last couple of years through COVID, you know, they harness that they'd have their team meetings out, walking around the local lake, and that would get them kilometres or, you know, it could be getting off the bus or the train stop early to incorporate that because an extra kilometres in its own, right. Doesn't necessarily sound like much. But if you do that a couple of times a day for 19 days, then you've found 38 kilometres that you don't have to think about. And especially if you're in, well, you know, it doesn't matter what size team there is, but if you're in a bigger team, that's a huge percentage of what your personal contribution would be.

So as far as finding the time, I just try to incorporate it some way in your day. It's called the Run Against Violence, but I don't see it as a running challenge. And, and for me with my team background to say that probably a little bit left to field, but any sort of, you know, walking and, and slow jog or whatever it is. To me, that’s what it’s all about and anyone is able to get out there and walk around their local park or however slowly, it doesn't matter. Because at no point, do you have to upload how long did that activity take. It’s not how fast did you run or walk or whatever. It’s not a time based thing. It's not a fitness based thing. And, and, as simple as it sounds, it's just about getting out there and, and doing it.

Jen: Natalie, what would you add to that? Do you have busy mums that you know, who are participating, who are worried that they don't have the time to squeeze it all in?

Mark: Um, there's actually, I will love to talk about my friend in Merimbula, who a couple of months ago had a stroke. Now, this is a man in his fifties and he's working his way back to he's actually now riding a bike cause he rides mountain bikes And he does, he is walking with his dogs and things like that. And I've been out at Merimbula surfing with him on a break there called the bar.

It's really fun actually. Um, and I rang him the other day and I said to him, how's your training going? Cause he trains every day because he's just trying to get his body back and he can't understand like he said, I know it's my brain, but how did I lose all my fitness? And he said, he's up to walking two kilometres a day.

And I said, well, Greg. And I told him about the Run Against Violence and we talked about it and that sort of thing. And he said, well, I can give you two kilometres a day. Oh. And I said, well, that will be amazing. I'd love those. And I kid you not, I reckon. And I'll be watching him. I think those kilometres will go up in 19 days because he'll have the support of our globetrotters and everyone will be cheering him on.

And we’re actually in a group chat with him in a separate sort of group, cause we are surfing buddies. So we'll cheer him on in that group as well. So I think he'll exceed his own expectations. So in terms of rallying troops and talking to them about how hard this might be. Then I'm gonna throw a Greg at them and to say, well, if Greg can give me two a day, you know, I'm pretty sure you can get out there.

SoI try to do that in the most diplomatic way possible because, and I do not like to push my agenda because if people really do have busy lives, I just step back and they've gotta just do what they need to do. But where people just sort of, um, if they're single or if you know, love their video games, which I've got a few gym buddies that love video games, I'll be talking to them about Greg for sure.

Jen: Oh, I'm gonna remember Greg. Okay. Greg's gonna be my inspiration. And again, to that point too, about, um, the idea of this is not necessarily that everybody does the same amount of kilometres. The idea is that you all work together to get it done.

And there will be the Greg’s of the world who do two kilometres. And then there'll be the Mark’s of the world who do 65 kilometres in one day. It all adds up, and it all matters.

Mark: Yes, absolutely. And, and that's what it is. It's a team challenge and it's everybody together to get to get to that 1300 kilometres. That 1300 kilometres sounds pretty big when you say that cause it is. But not when you divide it by, you know, 10, 15, 20 people. Yeah. Yeah.

Sammy: And when you tackle it as a team . Yep. And I think it's reminding that, sorry, Mark. What you were saying is true, when you look at the number it's huge and really daunting, but then when you actually break it down for people, they go, oh yeah. If you have a team of close to 20, I can do three or four kilometres. Or even if they're starting out at one or two, it's okay because I know that I'm gonna run extra, so I will do your kilometres. If you can give me one or two. No one's gonna let anyone fail in the team. And then casually remind them that Kirrily did it by herself.

Jen: Between Greg at one end, and Kirrily at the other, it just goes to show you that every kilometre is the same and they all matter equally.

Sammy: Yes. And some hurt more than others there are always ones that hurt more than others.

Jen:  Oh yeah. So registrations have opened, we've got lots of people who have registered already. At the time we're recording this .it's six weeks out from the challenge. So a two part question for you, Sammy, I'll start with you, how do you maintain enthusiasm? You know, we're all highly motivated when we sign up for something. How do you maintain, you know, enthusiasm. And motivation both personally and within your team in the six weeks leading up to the start of it. And then particularly at that 10 day mark or the middle of something really hard where the motivation starts to fade the aches and pains kick in and you start wondering like, what the heck you've signed up for um, how do you manage that?

Sammy: Uh, I think it is really difficult because people are really excited at this point. So you have to plan out how am I gonna make sure that this excitement doesn't wane. And this is my second year as being a team captain. And I think the first thing that I learned was to really set up a page. We used Teams mm-hmm um, so we've already set up a team site. I make sure that you post something there even, um, ridiculous with meme just to keep people engaged. I'm also quite self deprecating, so there's like usually a lot of jokes at my expense on there. And and then it's just because it was a little bit different with NAPCAN because we knew the organisation, we knew, why the cause was so important, but with EY that aren't so engaged with domestic and family violence prevention, it's about educating them along the way.

So showing them some of the really inspirational stuff of what Kirrily has done and sharing with the documentary, sharing the podcast with them as well has been really important. And then we are going through and mapping out how can we actually stay engaged as a team? So EY already has a bit of a run club in the morning. So we're gonna make sure that the team can actually run together sometimes. So, especially in that 10 day mark, where you're hurting, it's, everyone's gonna hurt together and get through it. And just having those activities and having something at the end as well is a bit of a celebration too seems to get people through.

Jen: That's awesome. And what about you, Natalie? Cause your team sort of scattered largely aren't they? So how do you maintain that motivation and enthusiasm now and through that, through the tough times?

Natalie: Uh, so I started contacting everybody through our WhatsApp page. So I actually do selfie videos which is not something that I do in my normal life. I don't really do selfies, but social media or anything like that, but I make a video sometimes while I'm out walking and talk to them about what the next steps are. So I keep them really involved in what I'm doing. So if I've been on the website and if we have captain meetings or something like that, um, but I also try to keep the connection going.

So really nice news that I come across then I share it with everybody, like one of our walkers, she's passed her exams to become a registrar, like a neurosurgical registrar which is really difficult. So I share news like that.

I talk about people's accomplishments just so that they can connect with those people and feel that before they go into the run. And while we're doing our runs, I do regular video updates, I ask them to send me photos of where they are and what they're doing. And we often send lots emojis out, you know, or go girl, especially for pinky, you know, she is really amazing. And this year I have a couple other marathon runners as well. So those sorts of things, just keeping that connection going, I think, and also incorporating other news, you know, and making a bit more personable, I guess. Mm. So yeah, celebrating little wins in other areas.

Jen that's awesome.

Sammy: That's that just reminded me, Natalie. I used to send pictures of my dog as well. And then everyone sort of piles on and it ended up a theme of my dog, hating me towards the end. It's that thing of bringing everyone together through those photos, like where you're running, who's with you and everything worked really well.

Jen: I am taking notes. Um, yeah, Mark. What about you? What about your team?

Mark: Uh, I guess our motivation isn't about the distance, because you know, that's a bit of a given. I guess the motivation's even changed a little bit in that first year where we got the distance on the first day, it was, for me, it become very much about, well, how far can we go? I think maybe some people were initially like, oh, we've got it. It's a one day thing we're done. And I'm like, yeah, no, let's let's go back. And then try to get back to Sydney again.

Sammy: Now you're just showing off mark.

MarkSorry. That's okay. We love it. We love it. But this year and like last year, we won't do that 1300 Ks in the first day. It’s midweek, it's just logistically not so possible. So we've got conveniently got a hundred kilometre event here in Canberra, which is the second weekend. I wanna say about the, the 10th, 11th, something like that. So I'm trying to get everyone to do a run at that event. It’s a 100km event, but you can run it in up to teams of four. So basically run 25km to 100km.  So I kind of want everyone to do something there. That's not entirely possible. We do have a team member overseas this year as well and one or two that just will be interstate and it's a really, really awesome event that everyone just sort of loves. So that'll be pretty easy motivator this year.

Sammy: That'd be amazing.

Jen: Yeah, that'd be incredible. That's so cool. All right. I need to let you all go, but I've got three last rapid fire questions. One a different question for each of you. Now, Mark. The question I was going to give you, you've just answered. So I'm gonna give you a different one. Mark, what advice do you have for someone who's doing the challenge for the first time? She says somewhat selfishly

Mark: yes. Just enjoy it. Just involve yourself in the cause I guess, to the extent that you want to talk to your team, communicate, with each other, um, and just enjoy the time to get outside with an actual excuse where you say, no, I need to go and do my kilometres today.

And if one day that's a half an hour walk and on the weekend, you can stretch that out a little bit longer, then that's great. But, um just use the time to get out, have some fun, cause ultimately having fun is gonna create those conversations that that sort of need to be had and maybe those conversations a little bit easier. And and remember why you joined the cause and that'll be different for every participant.

Jen: Mm, great advice. Thank you. Sammy, what are you most looking forward to for this year's challenge?

Sammy: Oh, pressure’s on. I think what I'm looking forward to this time, apart from getting people involved that wouldn't necessarily get involved, so stretching that messaging kind of into a bit of a different world as well, which is exciting. I am doing a personal challenge of taking on the gold which is petrifying, um, but it's also exciting to be able to push myself a little bit further.

Natalie: Mm. Amazing. You got this Sammy?

Sammy: Well, ask me at the end of it.

Jen: that's awesome. Mark, are you going for gold as well?

Mark: Yep.

Natalie: I'm a silver and I'm a silver because actually when we begin this, I'll be in Melbourne competing in a very, very different sport. I will be walking, so I just the 130.

Jen: Yeah, I'm a silver and walking. So you and I will stick together.

Mark: Excellent

Natalie: yes. that will be hard enough.

Jen: Oh, yeah it will be. Um, and Natalie, the last question's actually for you, what do you love most about the virtual challenge?

Natalie: Oh, just the most, the one thing.

Jen: Well, you can have five if you want.

Natalie: I can have five, five, most top five. I just love getting out. I love getting out because I don't get out cause I have to, I get out cause it frees up my brain space. I can listen to podcasts and whatnot. I'll be listening to this one, Jen. I really love seeing all the photos come through. I love seeing all my teammates cheer on my other teammates and I know they don't know each other. So I really, it just warms my heart. My boss was in the last comp and she'll be in this one again, and she's keen as she, she rings me while she's walking and she gets uphill and she's puffed out, and she will increase her distance for the time that she runs and she loves it. And she always comments about how good the teams are. So those three things I think are my top. So, um, yeah, those are the things I will love the most.

Jen: Oh, well, I am looking forward to it. I'm a bit scared. I won't lie, but you have all like boosted my mojo for this so much. So thank you personally and thank you for sharing your experience and, uh, all the best for your virtual challenges this year. Thank you for being here.

Mark: Thank you very much.

Natalie: Thanks so much, Jen. Good luck guys.

Jen: I won't lie. I took a few notes during that conversation as someone who's doing the challenge for the first time and being team captain as well. So I hope you enjoyed that conversation and took something away from it. And as I said, in episode number four, which is gonna come out in a few weeks, we're gonna talk about training tips. How to prepare for the challenge, how to survive the challenge and how to fit it all in. So stay tuned for that episode.

Jen: Now, coming back to the topic of our extraordinary teams in each episode, we're going to highlight and hear from one of the amazing teams who are participating in the challenge this year. And this week we have Debbie who is based in Canberra and is from the Garmin Groupies. Welcome, Debbie.

Debbie: Uh, my name is Debbie. I'm the team captain of Garmin Groupies. We originally started via another lady who's in a Garmin challenge group that we have called Tammy. And she's an amazing lady who is in Not Fast, Just Furious and she's inspired me to create our team. And so I'm based in Canberra and I've got a few team members who are in Canberra, but mostly we're kind of pretty spread out. We've got quite a few in Sydney and we've got some in Brisbane and South Australia and Victoria. The team dynamic is really amazing leading up to it and during the challenge. We have a Facebook group. So I find that really good to keep everyone motivated and to sort of inspire each other, to get out there and RAV, I haven't had personal experience with domestic violence, fortunately for me, but the abundance of the cases that we're seeing in the media lately and just how prominent it's becoming, I think is quite, is very sad, but it's also good that we're talking about it and it needs to be not a taboo topic and victims need to know that they can talk about it. They can come forward and there is a safe place in their options for them to get help.

Jen: And what do you love most about the challenge?

Debbie: Um, just the motivation of it. I find that I do more in those 19 days than I do at any other time of the year. And if I have any opportunity at all to get out and go for a run or go for a walk, then I'll take it. And just seeing the kilometres tick by as everyone in the group is adding more runs and we seem to reach a new town pretty much every day in the last challenge last year, which was pretty amazing. We got to Sydney really quickly and we got back again as well. So just seeing that is just amazing. I just really love this challenge and I just think it's an amazing cause. So it's just a great group that Kirrily is created and yeah, I just think it's the best challenge of the year.

Jen: Thanks Debbie. So if you wanna join the RAV challenge, don't forget, registrations are now open and will be up to the second week of the challenge, which is in September, but I am sure you don't wanna wait that long. So make sure you register your team and organise a few friends to join you. But if you don't have a team and still wanna be involved, as Brad said during our episode in week one, just register on the website and the amazing people at RAV will help find you a team now to wrap up today's episode, I have a sneak peek for you. A special message from my guest who will join me during next week's episode.

Sandy: Hi, I'm Sandy Suckling. I'm a domestic violence survivor and I ran from Broken Hill to Melbourne. You need to listen to the next episode and hear all about 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.

K A Dear