by Mat Churchill

Every now and then you speak to someone who makes you realise that the trivialities which can often cause so much stress in your own life are exactly that, trivial.

Meet Tegwen Howell, 47, a mother of two sons and wife to husband, Andrew. Tegwen and her family's lives were turned upside down in January this year as their home was destroyed by the rampaging floods in the South-East of the State.

Six months on Tegwen knows she is still a long way from reclaiming any form of the normalcy she once took for granted.

"Since then my life has been a bit of a blur," she told The Newsport on her way home from a breakfast with Premier Anna Bligh.

"The insurance company still hasn't paid us so we find ourselves in a position where, six months after the event, we're in a rental property...We still have no idea how long it's going to be (to rebuild their home) because the insurance company hasn't given us any indication.

"We've now had 11 reports done on the house and they all say the same thing, it's better to demolish it, but they still haven't made a call. Bearing in mind that even if they paid us today it'll be God knows how long before we have a house."

Tegwen is an accomplished long distance runner having competed, and completed some gruelling challenges totalling 16 marathons and eight ultra marathons. And it's through this love of running which allows Tegwen to release some of the stress that inevitibly builds.

"If I didn't run I don't know how I'd stay sane. Some of my mates are telling me I'm beginning to look a bit ill and that I'm losing weight, not intentionally. But without the running I think I'd go nuts.

"Sometimes I just have to let off some steam and you're in your groove, you don't think about where your feet are going. Tt's just nice, the endorphins are
going and you're losing some of that stress."

After her recent completion of a 50km run through the Glass House Mountains her sights have turned to the Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival in Port Douglas in November and the 74km ultra marathon course.

"I Googled ultra marathons and sat there dreaming thinking 'that one looks good, that one looks good' and then saw the Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival and thought ok, it's in Queensland, it's an area that's been affected indirectly by natural disaster and yet they're still holding this run.

"Then I saw that Steve Moneghetti was doing the half (marathon) so one of the guys I run with during the week is good mates with Monas so I sent Tony an
email and said what do you think? He spoke to Monas and said it's sounding like a really good event because Monas wouldn't be behind it if it wasn't."

An enquiry to Joni Bennett from the Great Barrier Reef Marathon Festival to enquire about costs for the event in what is a financially difficult time for the
family bought about a generous offer.

"When she got back to me I was gobsmacked when I got this email to say they'd organised accommodation for Andrew (Tegwen's husband) and I for three nights," Tegwen said.

"I'm so in debt to her it's not funny. It gave me such a buzz, it was such a generous thing. This is the one chance for Andrew and I to have a bit of time together and the scenery will be spectacular."

Ms Bennett said she was touched by Tegwen's situation and was eager to help.

"Tegwen registered through the Great Barrier Reef Marathon website and in her registration she had a small note to say she was keen to secure an accommodation package as soon as possible because she'd been heavily affected by the floods.

"Just with that small amount of information I gave Tegwen a quick call and had a chat with her and she mentioned she'd lost her home and had a young family. We decided it would be good to get her up here with free of charge accommodation, and free entry into the ultra marathon and other festival events, so she was very grateful."

While Tegwen's ability to train has been limited in recent times, her focus is on finishing the ultra marathon within the cut off time and enjoying the company of the hundreds of other runners expected to make their way to Port Douglas.

"I know I'm out of my tree but that's alright."

Read the Runners World article 'Running for survival' featuring Tegwen Howell.

The photo: "The photo was taken down the front of our place. The mess in the background is all the vegetation that ended up in the trees. You can see a couple of walkways in amongst it all! The shirt I have on is from a run five of us did last November. We ran every bridge with a pedestrian access totalling 47km.

Photo by James Pitman at PhotoEvent/Runners World.