Dare. Become. Australia.: Bennies and Johnnies Run for a Reason

This past Sunday, May 27th, 10 Bennies and Johnnies got up at 5:30 AM to head to Perth for the annual HBF Run for a Reason 4K/14K race. It all started when one of the house members expressed interest in running a race in Australia. Who knew that so many people wanted to also run a race!! We decided that since we hadn't been training we should just all run the 4K together. Since we all have varying paces, we'd just set a nice gentle pace and run the entire thing, together. Well, at least the girls did!

At 6:30 AM we boarded the free train to Perth for the big race!! There were over 20,000 competitors running that day and we were all very excited and nervous for the race. We checked our bags and then had to wait 15 minutes in line to use the toilet! Then it was race time. The 14 K start was first and as the horn blew there was a constant stream of competitors for a solid 10 minutes!! SO. MANY. PEOPLE. It was amazing to see how many people, both competitors and supports, got up for the big day. The 4K was next and the boys were in the Start Set B, and the girls were in the Start Set C. Had we known more, we would have chosen to be in Set B because the Set C was a lot of parents with strollers and people walking. We were like a line of ducks weaving our way through the walkers to try to find a patch where we could all stick together and run with each other. After a little bit we finally worked our way up to the start (yes, we hadn't even started the race at that point) and then we started our run!

As we ran down the hill at the start of the race we could see a Joe, Kelsey, and Annie cheering us on! They had woken up early on one of the rare sleep-in days to come cheer us on and I could not have been happier. As we all stuck together we got towards the end of the race and heard some of the race music playing. They must have known we liked to have a good time because Teenage Dream was blasting and there was a giant Red fuzzy heart on the side of the road. As we ran down the final hill we were all dancing and singing at the top of our lungs. People probably thought we were crazy, but hey, we were having the time of our lives!

As we neared the finish we all held hands and crossed together. If we're gonna look to the papers for the photo finish results, Riley would be the technical winner; however, we all crossed relatively together in our bright Bennie RED attire! (We definitely stuck out amongst the sea of blue HBF shirts).** My time ended up being 28:06....not bad for a 4K that I ran at a VERY slow pace for myself so we could all stick together! It was such a rewarding day and we even got free fruit and Powerade at the end!

**We were supposed to get free HBF Run For A Reason shirts but since we registered too late we missed out....until we may or may not have taken some from the Lost and Found section after the race, thanks to Danny's bravery in starting the trend!

All in all, it was one of the coolest experiences we've had here in Australia!! I love races like that!! Here's a few pics from the event!