Alan Murray and Janette Murray-Wakelin, originally from New Zealand, are internationally acclaimed endurance athletes and inspirational speakers and have traveled and lived worldwide. Alan and Janette are now living a conscious lifestyle near Melbourne, Australia, with their son and daughter-in-law and three of their grandchildren. Alan and Janette have many stories to tell about their very diverse, adventurous life. Their personal lifestyle throughout 45+ years of marriage and raising a family, having a successful business partnership, and extensive world travel, has always been centered around health and wellness and a conscious lifestyle.From sailing in their 40′ sailboat with their two young children throughout New Zealand, the South Pacific and Papua New Guinea, to working their 400-ton freight boat on the inland waterways of Europe; from traveling in their converted bus from Holland to Portugal while home schooling their children, to residing on Vancouver Island Canada while their children furthered their education; and from operating a 100′ hotel boat in France taking guests on health oriented canal cruises, to running the length of New Zealand with the support of their two (adult) children, Alan and Janette enjoyed a physically active, healthy lifestyle throughout their traveling years with their family. Alan and Janette have collectively participated in 60+ international marathons and ultra runs, and to celebrate the year 2000 and Janette’s 50th year, they ran the length of New Zealand covering 2182 km running 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days. The next chapter in their lives created the biggest challenge. At 52, Janette was diagnosed with breast cancer and the prognosis was only 6 months or possibly a year with conventional chemotherapy and radiation treatment. The natural path that Janette chose to take with the support of Alan and her family, resulted in an inevitable journey to healthy living and the passion to share their (extensive) knowledge and experience with others. They founded a Centre for Optimum Health in Canada, where their focus was on encouraging healthy lifestyles through living nutrition and exercise for the mind, body and spirit. Their vision was to share their knowledge gained through their multitude of life experiences, and to encourage natural, healthy lifestyles within their community. Alan and Janette established a highly successful Living Food & Conscious Lifestyle Course and have shared their secrets of good health through a series of inspirational presentations internationally during the past eleven years.
Throughout the year 2013, to inspire and motivate conscious lifestyle choices, to promote kindness and compassion for all living beings and to raise environmental awareness for a sustainable future, veteran raw vegan athletes Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray ran together around Australia, 15,782km, 366 marathons each in 366 days.
YOU MIGHT ASK – “WHY RUN AROUND AUSTRALIA?”
WE ASKED OURSELVES – How can we share the information and experiences we have gained through conscious living during the past decade, so that others may make their own informed lifestyle choices that will make a difference to their health, the health of their family and future generations, the health of their community, the health and well being of the animals, and ultimately, the health of our precious Earth where we live? What can we do to inspire and motivate conscious lifestyle choices, to promote kindness and compassion for all living beings and to raise awareness for a sustainable future?
THE ANSWER – 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. While we were Running around Australia during the year 2013, we had the opportunity to show that by eating raw living plant-based foods, we are healthier, more physically fit and have unlimited energy at beyond 65 years of age than in our earlier years, including when we ran the length of New Zealand 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 also had the opportunity to raise awareness and funds for selected charitable groups instrumental in making a difference to the health and welfare of the people, animals and environmental sustainability within Australia and worldwide. We believe that the survival of our (humane) 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.
RunRAW2013 raised awareness and funds for the following charities
