Janette Murray-Wakelin and partner Alan Murray have followed a 100% raw vegan lifestyle for the last decade, ever since Janette was diagnosed with stage-3 breast cancer and given six months to live.
She opted to use nutrition and naturopathic methods rather than the recommended chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and when the six months were up, not only was she still here – all traces of the cancer were gone. Read her story here.
During 2013, the couple, both in their sixties, will run around Australia – a distance of 15,500 kilometres.
It will involve running 365 marathons in 365 days. Yes, that’s a marathon every day – for the full year.
The pair have spent the last two years in training for the extraordinary feat.
And it’s not their first, either. When Janette turned 50, they ran 50 marathons in 50 days – the entire length of their native New Zealand.
This year’s challenge, though, is much greater. Why are they doing it?
In order, they explain, to raise awareness about conscious living, to promote kindness and compassion for all living beings and to raise environmental awareness for a sustainable future.
“We can lead by example – walk (or in this case run) the talk. By running a marathon distance together per day, every day for a year around Australia, we hope to inspire others to believe in themselves, to follow their dreams, and to achieve their goals through making more conscious lifestyle choices.
“We can be living proof of what can be achieved by making conscious life choices.
“We will have the opportunity to show that by eating raw living plant-based foods, we are healthier, more physically fit and have unlimited energy at beyond 60 years of age than in our earlier years, including when we ran the length of New Zealand [fifty marathons in fifty consecutive days] 13 years previously. Inspiration is what motivates people to ‘Never Stop Pushing’ for what they believe in and for what they want to achieve.
“We will also have the opportunity to raise awareness and funds for selected charitable groups instrumental in making a difference. We believe that the survival of our (human) species is dependent on our kindness, compassion and caring for all living beings, and that this is achieved by making conscious lifestyle choices. By doing so, we can make a difference.”
Find out more, and/or make a donation, at the Running Raw Around Australia website.
To raise awareness is of course the only reason to be undertaking such physical activity…And good luck to them.
However, I am not a fan of pushing the body to extremes.
I work at a posh school and know of people who have trained for and rowed in the boat race amongst other very physical pursuits and have lived to pay the price. Hip replacements and very bad knees amongst other things.
I hope common sense kicks in or enough publicity is achieved long before they are crippled.
Neil.
View Comment100% raw vegan, got the Vibrams, love running, now all I need is enough time off to do what they’re doing! What an inspiring couple!
View CommentI commend your friends, both for the cure and the methodology. That said, please refer to Dr Mercola’s article on the dangers of the very type of exercise in which they are about to engage. She could very well “un-do” all of her successful healing. The consequences of over-running actually came to light years ago by Dr. Cooper of the famed Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas, who noticed that his friends and clients who ran excessively were getting cancer.
View CommentThanks, L.B. – and Neil. Undoubtedly a physical challenge of this magnitude will take its toll on anyone who undertakes it. I can’t speak for Janette here but do know she is extremely knowledgeable about health and healing, and will have carefully considered the pros and cons. She has also been cancer-free for 10 years now.
Regarding a potential link between long-distance running and cancer, I’m not dismissing it, but as I understand it, it hasn’t been definitively established to date? This Runners World article – not a fully unbiased source, granted – provides a (very) brief overview of the issue: http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/can-running-cause-cancer
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