circle of friends, but on Sunday, October 17, she will be running with a dragon.

The Engadine mother-of-two has joined one of eight ‘‘Sneaky Dragon’’ running teams in this year’s Brighton Beachside Dash.

The community fun run follows the beachside path from Peter Depena Reserve, Dolls Point, to Kyeemagh, and back again, and is a fund-raising initiative of the St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation.

The foundation was established in 1997 to support the ground-breaking work of researchers at St George and Sutherland hospitals.

Dash participants can run at their own pace or keep up with one of eight Dragons — runners who will complete the race in a set time.

Mrs Absalom has joined the 50-minute Dragon team and has her fingers crossed she’ll be able to keep up.

The 34-year-old runs once a week and completed this year’s Sutherland to Surf marathon in 60 minutes.

‘‘I like the idea of this fun run because they’ve got the ‘pace car’ aspect with the dragons so you can pace your time, ‘’ Mrs Absalom said.

‘‘I thought the idea of pacing myself was just a bit of a challenge,’’ she said.

This year’s dash is being run as part of the Leader 50th Anniversary Appeal for Medical Research, which aims to raise $750,000 for the foundation by April next year.

The appeal has so far collected more than $400,000 for new research projects into nine primary healthcare areas, such as pregnancy-related diseases.

‘‘I have two young children, and I haven’t had any particular problems with pregnancy, but I just thought it was a pretty good cause,’’ Mrs Absalom said.

Foundation CEO David Tipler said he hoped this year’s dash would raise $100,000.

He said each year the dash had attracted more than 1000 runners, with more than half of these coming from St George and Sutherland Shire.

The dash is run over three distances (10 and five kilometres, and the kids’ two kilometres) and kicks off at 8am.

To join a dragon team: www.everydayhero.com.au/event/BeachsideDash. To register for the dash: www.stgeorgemrf.com.au/dashcom