It takes all sorts

Eek! Had to stand up in front of 500 pupils at school assembly and talk about running the marathon today. I'm not sure what was more terrifying, getting up on stage and talking to everyone or the fact I had just driven the exact marathon distance home from Hamilton and realised what a horrendously long way 42km actually is to run on foot. Liam still hasn't forgiven me for telling everyone he said his mum was too old and fat to run a marathon, they've given him heaps ever since! The thing is, nobody is too old or too fat to run a marathon. There's a chap who lives in our town called Gilbert Powley. He's 81 years old and has run the Huntly Half Marathon 12 times, not to mention countless other events over the many years he has been competing. When I took part in the 12km Hamilton Round the Bridges run last year the first person I saw was Gilbert. There may be almost 50 years between us but he finished just four minutes behind me!

I soon realised you don't have to be an elite athlete to run a marathon. Obviously it helps but it's not essential. Taking part in the Taupo Half Iron Man last year was a huge eye opener. The night before at the briefing I was terrified. Everyone looked so together, so thin, so fit compared to me. I was convinced I was going to be the last one to stagger over the finish line - but I wasn't! When the next day dawned I was amazed - and delighted - to see men and women of all ages, shapes and sizes setting out on the 21km run. Sure, you got a few know-it-all plonkers clad from head to toe in spandex and breezing along with their noses in the air but most people were just like me. I even ran into my old next door neighbour from 15 years ago on the second lap and we had a good old catch up! For most of us, running a marathon is not about the survival of the fittest; it's more about the challenge - the chance to prove to yourself that you're capable of more than you ever thought possible.

Yesterday was a write-off, I was sick, which was a real pain. I have to admit I almost have a phobia about being ill now. You can't be ill when you're training for a marathon! I'm terrified of getting behind with my training, although this is probably fairly unlikely as I have a tendency to over train for everything. The first time I did a Special K triathlon years ago was with a friend who like me, had never done any serious exercise in her life. Never ones to do things by halves we threw ourselves into our training. We were doing the whole shebang - swimming, biking and running - for three hours a day! Can you imagine how daft we felt when we saw the 'recommended training schedule' just a few days before the event and saw that we were only supposed to train for ONE thing each day, with at least one day off per week?!

Even yesterday I was reading Kerre Woodham's book 'From short fat chick to marathon runner' - it's a brilliant book, funny, motivating and I learned heaps but I had never taken a look at her 12 week training schedule at the back of the book before. I finally did - and it seems already I'm doing wayyy more than I need to at this stage! So I signed up for my own tailored 12 week training plan through the marathon website. It should be here in the next day or two, I can't wait!

Fortunately I was feeling much better today and ran 5km. It was all good - the sun was shining, my headphones worked and I was chuffed to see I had knocked two whole minutes off my previous time! I was also chuffed to hear at school assembly today that Bryce and his wife are the proud new parents of a baby girl, Olivia, born last Thursday. I'm amazed at how much support there is already for my fundraising mission. Fingers crossed it looks as though both the local Lions clubs are getting behind me and... exciting news, That's Life magazine want to run a story in the hope their readers will sponsor me in the marathon! That's Life incidentally has one million readers a week in NZ and Australia, which could be fantastic for my fundraising target! Fingers crossed!