Our hero this week is Suzanne Cox who recently ran a 45km trail in the Blue Mountains for Parkinson’s, inspired by her late father who had Parkinson’s. Last year, Suzanne ran 130km in 14 days – the same distance as Everest in the same time it took her father to complete the Everest Base Camp walk, raising $11,933.

This year, Suzanne decided to complete the same Blue Mountains Ultra Marathon trail her father had completed when he was 56. It was a gruelling effort but Suzanne raised a further $6,004 to bring her total fundraising tally to $17,937 – Congratulations Suzanne! Thank you from all of us here at Shake It Up for your fundraising efforts which will make a difference towards better treatments for Parkinson’s.

We spoke to Suzanne to hear about how the big run went.

What was the highlight of the day?

Running through the beautiful Blue Mountains and feeling connected to my Dad as I knew he’d run exactly the same track several times. Also a massive highlight was finishing as it was the furthest I had ever run before!

Any challenges?

Crossing several hip deep rivers after a very rainy couple of weeks in Sydney. Also the logistics and organising required, this track is normally run as a race with plenty of pit stops and support crew organised along the way. We had to organise all of this ourselves to make sure we didn’t run out of fluids or nutrition, plus we had no phone reception for most of the route so couldn’t contact anyone if we needed them. Luckily a friend who joined us for part of the run knew the route really well and successfully guided us all the way. Being on our feet and running/walking up kms of very steep hills for over 7 hours was also a  huge challenge.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank?

My running buddy Bel who I conned into running the full 45km, my friends Flic and Alex who ran 30km of the track with us and our driving support crew, my Mum, Lou and Marie who stopped at various places to give us supplies. It really was a big team effort to make the day happen successfully! Also all of the people who have donated along the way to get us almost up to 18k!

Find out more about how you can make a difference by getting involved with fundraising. 100% of all funds raised will go directly towards cutting-edge Parkinson’s Research for better treatments to slow, stop and prevent Parkinson’s progression.