Ashleyrose Gilham, performer, runner and diabetic, will run the New York City Marathon in November as part of the international Beyond Type Run team of 50 people living with Type 1 diabetes. The Californian, now a Geelong resident, has just run her first Melbourne Marathon after four aborted attempts, and she spoke to Matt Hewson about her journey so far.
Growing up in San Diego, Ashleyrose Gilham had many interests, but running wasn’t one of them.
“I come from a working middle class family, both my folks worked for the US Postal Service, and they instilled a strong work ethic and belief in education in me,” Ashleyrose said.
“I grew up really loving performing, I’m a bit of a theatre nerd, so I ended up studying theatre. I’m not a natural athlete by any means. In terms of movement, I’m a great dancer, but athletics, I didn’t get that gene like my brother and sister.
“And so I actually had quite a hatred for running. I was an unfit, you know, overweight child, and that was really challenging for me growing up. It seemed like we ran every day in PE, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, why do people do this?’
“It wasn’t until a bit later on in life, in my mid-30s, that I started really running, so I arrived at it a little bit later than some folks do.”
As it turned out, it was her sister, a natural competitiveness and love of chocolate that inspired Ashleyrose to begin her running journey in 2014.
“My sister had run a couple of 5ks, that’s her jam, and I remember, I was staying with her and she was getting up really early for a run,” she said.
“And I’m not a morning person, so I was thinking, you’re getting up voluntarily for this? It’s still dark, no thanks. But then she came back with this really shiny medal, and at that point I’d lost a lot of weight, so I thought, I could probably do this.
“And then there was a race called the Hot Chocolate Run, they’re a 5km run and they do them all over the US. There’s chocolate at the end, and you get a medal.
“So I’m like, alright, I think I can manage that. So that was the start. I ran it with my sister and it was a lot of fun, there was a really great atmosphere. And I was kind of hooked after that.”
And thus Ashleyrose’s rollercoaster ride into the world of running began.
However, in a surprise development came along in the form of a Geelong native named Glenn.
“I wasn’t looking for love, but we both follow the same American football team, at that time they were the San Diego Chargers,” Ashleyrose said.
“We were chatting away in an online football forum, a group of us, and then Glenn and I started sending each other private messages, which escalated to phone calls and video chats, and ultimately an invitation for me to come to Australia to meet him.
“My family freaked out, they did not want me to come to Australia to meet a stranger. But he didn’t feel like a stranger to me, we’d been talking online for probably two years at that point.
“So I came down for a couple of weeks and we hit it off, and we’ve been together ever since. My permanent residency was finalised in 2014 and I made the move in 2015.
“San Diego is a beautiful place, pretty chill and laid back, and I think that has helped me adjust to living here in Geelong. There’s a similar vibe.”
Meanwhile, Ashelyrose had continued to build up her distance, and she signed up to run her first marathon in San Diego in 2018.
The event turned out to be just another sharp turn on the rollercoaster ride, as the run was halted mid-way due to an active shooter situation.
“That was a bit of a whirlwind; I was at mile 20, about 32 kilometres, when they stopped the race bacause of the active shooter,” she said.
“They ultimately apprehended the person, and there was an officer in pursuit who unfortunately shot themselves in the foot, but that was the only sustained injury of the day.
“My sister actually called me and told me, and I was like, well, nobody’s said anything, so I’m going to keep going. And shortly after that they pulled us aside.
“I got to finish, but it was absolutely bonkers. I hate to say it, but only in America.”
From there, Ashleyrose began training for the 2018 Melbourne Marathon, but life threw her another curveball.
“I didn’t really have any in-depth knowledge of diabetes till then, I just knew diabetics had to monitor their blood sugar and take insulin,” she said.
“And there I was, I was just celebrating my 39th birthday, I’d run the San Diego marathon the month before, and I just felt awful.
“I was training for Melbourne and I was doing a 5km run early on in training. And I knew something was wrong. I thought, maybe I’m just having a really bad day, but it didn’t go away.
“I had all the classic symptoms, and I told my mum what was going on, and she told me to go get tested for diabetes. And when I went to the doctor, she told me to go straight to the emergency room.”
Ashleyrose was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and decided to put the Melbourne Marathon on hold.
“At the time I didn’t have a continuous glucose monitor, I was still doing finger pricks, so I just didn’t feel ready,” she said.
“I thought, I’ll just run it next year, in 2019. But I ended up getting cast in a show at the Arts Centre that next year, which shifted a trip to the US I had planned, and I missed the 2019 one too.
“So I thought, okay, I’ll run it in 2020. But obviously that didn’t happen. Then in 2021 my mother experienced a major health event with major surgeries, so I had to walk away again.”
Finally, this October Ashleyrose managed to successfully complete her first ever Melbourne Marathon.
“I finished, I crossed the finish line healthy and strong, so I’m proud to say I got my medal,” she said.
“It was an incredible experience after the buildup to actually being able to do it. A marathon’s always tough, but it was an honour and privilege to do it on Wurundjeri Bunarong country and just make it through.”
In November, Ashleyrose jets off to run the New York City marathon as one of the Beyond Type Run international team members, which adds even more significance to the event for her.
“The organisation is Beyond Type 1, they’re an online-based organisation aiming to change the conversation around diabetes and ultimately work for a cure,” she said.
“As a runner, I saw they had this marathon team, where they get 50 people living with type one diabetes to run the New York City marathon to raise funds. So it’s really a marriage of two things that have really impacted my life; running, and being a person who has type one diabetes.
“They’ve got a global reach, and there’s people from Canada on the team, someone from Ecuador, they’re coming from all over. I’m really excited to meet the team in person, I can’t wait.”
For more information on Ashelyrose’s diabetes story and fundraising endeavour, visit donate.beyondtype1.org/fundraiser/3970923.
