RUNNER Amber Bryant has embarked on a 530 kilometre run from Adelaide to Broken Hill this week in an effort to raise funds and awareness for endometriosis.
Ms Bryant, a former Broken Hill resident, suffers from the disease herself, and said she began running as a way of managing the pain.
“I started running because strength training and things like that were flaring up my endometriosis a lot,” she said.
“It was giving me lots of pelvic, back and lower limb pain. I started running and actually got relief from pain just with that sort of cardio aspect.”
She said she became passionate about running and began doing half marathons, full marathons and ultra marathons.
“Then I thought why don’t I raise awareness for endometriosis, it’s still very misunderstood still, especially in the male population, they don’t really get it,” she said.
“I wanted to get people talking about it. My older sister has it as well, so I wanted to do it for her too.”
As of Tuesday she had raised $9000, though she’s hoping to raise around $20,000 overall.
Ms Bryant will be running between 75 and 80 kilometres per day over a week, to represent the one in seven women living with endometriosis.
Her support crew will be her father in law, who will be driving the campervan that she’ll sleep in each night, and her husband, who will be doing part of the run with her.
“He’s also a physiotherapist, so he’s going to be very handy to have along the way, helping me with taping, massage, that sort of thing,” she said.
Ms Bryant said though she lives in Adelaide now, she’s still a Broken Hill girl at heart.
“It’ll be fun to run home,” she said.
Ms Bryant expects to arrive at Memorial Oval between 5pm and 6pm on Tuesday evening, and all are welcome to attend to celebrate.
Those who wish to donate to her fundraiser can do so here: https://endoaustraliafundraiser.org.au/amber-bryant
