Here’s a story that’ll either inspire you to explore the limitlessness of human potential, or make you feel like the worthless sack of crap you are.
For the entirety of 2013 — every single day of it — Janette Murray-Wakelin, 64, and Alan Murray, 68, ran a marathon. 366 marathons, come rain or shine, counting January 1, 2014. The sexagenarian Melbourne couple fulfilled the goal as a New Year’s resolution to see the country, set a positive example of being responsible for one’s own health, and to personally make me feel like complete garbage for being winded going up more than one flight of steps at a time. Did I mention that Janette was diagnosed with cancer 11 years ago and was given six months to live? They might as well have flight powers.
The video report shows the couple in action and sorta explains where they come from, and I’m sure their raw vegan diet will make some of you raise your eyebrows. And as a vegan myself I’ll be the first to admit that eating 20 bananas a day and having fruit salad for dinner doesn’t sound like the most pleasant way to live, but hell, I can’t run a marathon, much less 365 of them. In my sixties. After beating cancer. So enjoy the video, I’m gonna eat this crate of bananas and see if it works.
In all seriousness, this is an amazing story about amazing people and we thank Oddity Central for making us privy to it.
After they are done meeting with family, the Murrays will be busy with supporters, sponsors, charities (that they raised funds for), writing a book and producing a documentary. Later this year, they are scheduled to tour the country to talk about the benefits of a raw vegan diet.
[Their son] Kaje does worry a bit about his parents burning themselves out. But he has never worried about their fitness. “It’s not an out-of-the-blue thing,” he said. “They didn’t wake up on January 1 last year and say, ‘We’re going to run around Australia.’ They know what they’re doing, so you just have to let them go and do it.”