Indigenous Marathon Foundation runner goes from a wheelchair to New York Marathon

And her preparations for that begin with the Mother's Day Classic in Canberra on Sunday.

The Canberra local has battled with connective tissue disease, which affects not only the connective tissue - like ligaments and tendons - but also the things they connect - like bones and joints.

For Jones it led to stress fractures in her legs, meaning she needed crutches to get around.

And she turned to wheelchair basketball for her sport.

Jones is running in the 10-kilometre race - the longest distance she has completed since 2017, a year before she fell ill.

Then she's off to New York in November to compete in the marathon as part of the Indigenous Marathon Foundation.

"The recovery from that was prolonged and complicated," Jones said.

"I wasn't able to run with the fractures, so for me to be able to maintain my connection with the community and for my mental health I adapted and started playing wheelchair sports.

"I was just in the wheelchair for sports and on crutches during the day. I went on and played wheelchair sport for a whole year.

"I played wheelchair basketball in the national league at that time.

"It's been a journey for probably two or more years to get strong enough to be able to get back, you know, physically, to where I am now just to be able to even apply for the [IMF]."

READ MORE:

The now 28-year-old first got involved in the IMF five years ago when she was encouraged to attend a beginner's program.

"Back when I originally moved to Canberra, my supervisor was involved with the Canberra running and walking group at the time," Jones said.

"And he encouraged me to go along to the eight-week beginner program.

"And that's what kind of got me involved in the IMF. And then I found out about everything that the IMF does and it kind of went from it."

Her physical and mental health along with her love of community are the biggest reasons for Jones's passion for running.

The running community embraced Jones during her health battles back in 2018, especially her coach Nadine Hunt.

"[I run to] maintain my connection with the community, promote that sort of healthy lifestyle, living that healthy lifestyle, [and being able to] train for a marathon will push me physically and mentally, and that challenge excites me," she said.

"[Hunt] was really welcoming and kept encouraging me during that time to stay connected and maintain sort of what I could do and [for me] that was really important for my journey."

She was looking forward to beginning her long journey to New York on Mother's Day.

"I think I'm excited to be able to do it alongside the rest of the squad members," Jones said.

"I think that's gonna be really special. [It's] involving our local community run group, which I'm the run leader for, so that's really special for me."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: