The Young And The Restless | We’re all on the same team

Or maybe family members who prefer to explore new places on weekends above visiting the same sports fields week in, week out for a lengthy season at a time?

Running festivals might be your thing.

Most running festivals have races of several different distances to choose from, so if you’re not a serious runner you can choose a short one if it suits better.

Five-kilometre events are often touted as run/walks, so there is no pressure to run the whole way (or any of the way at all), yet they still give an opportunity to test yourself, or compete with your family for the best time, or with other contenders for a placing.

Being only 5km, they don’t take up much of your day or tire you out too much, which is perfect when you’ve travelled for the event because it means you can use the rest of the day or weekend to explore the area.

We had planned to go to Heathcote to see the magnificent autumnal leaves in the Valley of Liquidambers in their full glory before they all drop, and to wander around the monthly market there.

While I was researching times and locations earlier in the week, I discovered there was a running festival on at the same reserve at which the market was being held.

Pre-COVID-19 we entered quite a few running festivals, but to be honest they haven’t been on my radar since.

Not only did the pandemic take them all away for some time, it also robbed us of a bunch of cardio fitness, and running isn’t something any of us had reconsidered in our post-pandemic lives.

So the restless (me) did a quick ask-around of the young in my house and was pleasantly surprised they agreed to have a crack at it on short notice.

Off we went to Heathcote early Saturday, driving through rain and crossing our fingers we wouldn’t be running in it.

The event was called The O’Keefe Challenge and offered a full marathon and half marathon, as well as relays, plus shorter distances of 10km, 5km, 1km for the kids, and a superhero dash.

An earlier weekend also included cycling events as part of the same challenge.

We all entered the 5km run, which saw us travel on the local rail trail, up and down hills, on local streets, behind farmland, through the Valley of Liquidambers, across creeks — on dirt, rocks, footpaths, roads and wooden footbridges.

As I was running on a muddy path bordered by crimson fairytale toadstools beneath towering evergreens, while rosellas flitted in and out of the scrub, I reflected on runs we’ve completed in the past and how lovely it is to not only discover new places, but to also be off the well-beaten paths of the main streets and tourist hotspots.

We possibly never would’ve wandered down this or that path if we’d been exploring on our own, if race marshals hadn’t directed us down laneways and trails that we might not have even been sure we were allowed to travel on had we been flying solo.

By no means are we serious runners.

We don’t train for it, we don’t eat for it, we don’t have all the proper gear or preparation, we don’t live for it.

But we do enjoy challenging ourselves in these 5km events every so often, and of course we love adding new medals to our racks.

And as a mum of three (almost) teenage children, who have been known to huff if I don’t shut their bedroom doors on my way out of their rooms these days, I love how fun runs provide a sport where our entire family can play in the same team with our eyes on the same prize.

We can be on course together and every single one of us is getting something out of it.

There’s no-one sitting in a car beside an oval in the cold asking how long is left of their brother’s game before we can go, no complaining about being woken up early to go to their brother’s sport when they don’t even play themselves, no-one asking me for canteen money on the sidelines because they’re so bored watching someone else’s game they just want to eat and no-one feeling like their own time is being wasted.

And possibly the best part of a fun run is when you’re gasping for air because your cardio fitness went missing without a trace, you can always just walk in charming nature for the exercise, all the while taking giant lung-fulls of fresh air.

• Find running events at runningcalendar.com.au