Runner Drank Own Breast Milk To Survive

A FUN runner who lost her way in an off-road trail race survived a night in the bush by drinking her own breast milk.
It should have taken Susan O’Brien just two hours to complete the 20km XTERRA trail run course west of Wellington, New Zealand, on Sunday. But exactly 24 hours after she was due to cross the finish line, the 29-year-old was finally reunited with worried friends and family after going missing in the Rimutaka Forest Park.
The mum of two, who got lost part-way into the event, dug a hole, covered herself in dirt to keep warm and drank her own milk to keep hydrated, local media have reported.
“I definitely thought I was going to die,” Ms O’Brien, a personal trainer, told Stuff.co.nz after being rescued.
“Nothing else mattered but my family...I felt God with me the whole time.”
Ms O’Brien is mum to a breastfeeding baby and a 2-year-old.
Police believe Ms O’Brien took a wrong turn during the event and got lost trying to find her way back on to the course.
She was spotted by a member of the public near a hut way off course on Sunday afternoon.
A full-scale search got underway when race organisers realised she had not crossed the finish line.
Other competitors remember seeing Ms O’Brien running the race, local media reported, and she posed happily for photos before the starting gun fired about 9am.
A search of the XTERRA course and surrounding bush began yesterday afternoon. The area is described as being a river valley with steep sides.
“It’s New Zealand bush country — not the harshest, not the easiest,” Senior Sergeant Andrzej Kowalczyc said.
A search and rescue team set off flares and camped out in the bush, setting of flares in an effort to locate her. A helicopter was also scouring the area.
Police said the weather was mild and Ms O’Brien was wearing appropriate clothing for the conditions.
Ms O’Brien’s brother Lester Khoo has taken to Facebook to appeal for help, asking anyone who saw her during the race to come forward.
The race was part of the XTERRA Wellington Trail Running Series, an annual series of off road events over various distances that offer competitors “the ​opportunity ​to ​experience ​all ​that ​the ​nation’s ​capital ​can ​throw ​at ​you.”
 -News Of The World