WHY I RUN
Hi! I’m Mel Warman and I am the founder and owner of Boobs on the Run. I wanted to share my running story and why Boobs on the Run means so much to me and the community of women we have supported in the past 2 years.
As a kid at Secondary School (High School) I used to love running. On sports days I would always be the one to run the 1500 metres and I was also a county runner at Cross Country. After school finished and college took over, running became less and less part of my routine.
I remember getting the call from my Dad asking me to come over to my parents place as they needed to talk to me. He sounded tense and not himself. My brother was overseas with the army at the time, so all sorts of negative thoughts were spinning through my head about what was happening. I had no idea it would be to tell me that Mum had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was only 49. It was so unfair.
A month later we received news that my Aunt (my Mum’s oldest sister) had also been diagnosed with breast cancer.
I started to run again. I just needed some “head time” and running allowed me to get that.
I joined a local running group and quickly became part of the community and eventually became a running coach through England Athletics. It became my sanity check.
During this time my Mum battled breast cancer, raise over $70k for cancer charities in the UK, which included having her hair shaved off in a middle of a pub. She did everything she could to beat the big C.
Unfortunately a year later we received news that the cancer had moved to her lungs. It was terminal. Mum still battled and continued to raise money during that last year, even though she was so tired. She lost her battle at the age of 52 and shortly after I lost my Aunt too who had developed secondary brain cancer.
I’m not one to wallow, and wanted to look on all the good things that my Mum had made happen. I decided on a “Year of Yes”. Every time an opportunity to learn something came up, I said yes. I learned to windsurf, volunteered for various charities, trekked across the Sahara (for a cancer charity), learned to kite surf, became a power kite instructor and mountain biked and ran as much as I could.
When I moved to Australia I was looking for a running club that was not just after “quick” times, but more of a community feel.
Myself and another Mum reached out to the community via Facebook groups and soon there was a following. The first run night, 6 women showed up…the following week 20.
Boobs on the Run has very much grown as a community in the past 2 years, from the very first course to the last one just completed. We have helped to many women regain their self confidence, energy, endurance, they sleep better, eat better and most of all feel better.
That’s why I run.
