WHAT AN INSPIRATION!

Last Sunday I was feeling tired and sore from the previous days run of just 25km at a gentle paced time of 2hrs 11min.

Thankfully I got pushed out the door and told to go to the gym.

I had no idea the Olympic men's marathon was on and I must admit when I first realised while starting my session on the rowing machine I was a little worried.

The marathon had started 20 minutes previously which meant that I had to work out for at least another 1hr45min because I would have felt like a real drop kick had I given up on a training session while these amazing athletes were battling it out over the precise distance I was training for.

Little did I know the treat I was in for. I was absolutely mesmerised by the ability of these athletes to run 3minute km's solidly for over 2 hours. At the 36km mark when Sammy Wansiru decided to put his foot down and absolutely blitz the rest of the field spitting out the 4 others in the lead bunch. Passing through the 35km drink station he appeared to give a coach a hand signal and them just as it seemed everyone was settling down again wham he was gone.

Before I knew what I was doing I had completed the longest session I had ever had on the rowing machine then proceeded onto the bike so I could hear the race commentary. I then found I was going as hard as I could on the bike just willing Sammy Wansiru on and feeling the best I had felt in weeks.

Wansiru is only 22 years old and made his debut at this gruelling event less than a year ago. He produced a stunning performance on a sizzling hot day to win in an Olympic record of 2:06:32.

Having no real affiliation with any of the competitors I was totally impartial just happy to watch but then at about the 28km mark one of the commentators said something that really changed my focus. Last year when Sammy Wansiru broke the record for the half marathon he donated his bonus to the children's centre his mother works in back in Kenya. From then on I was a Wansiru fan through and through.

In this day and age where so many top professional athletes are show pony's it is great to see there are those out there who still appreciate the privileged position they hold and give to those in need.

Even without the gold medal Sammy Wanjsru would be a champion and hero to those children and will inspire them to achieve greatness but most importantly remain humble when they get there.

Countdown to Sydney Marathon

Less than four weeks to go to the Sydney Marathon and I am still not feeling like I have prepared enough!

The last three weekends have seen us run 34km, 32km & 25km respectively for our big runs but I haven't been getting in enough of the little ones in between which is frustrating.

The next two weeks is going to be critical in ensuring I drop some weight and also pick up on the fitness side of things. This is the first time I am going to be really seriously working on a diet to compliment an event and am interested to see how things go on race day. A couple of sites to check out for good basic diets tips are "The Marathon Website" and "The Diet Channel".

Things are really starting to come together for the Millionaires Night Out fundraising night for the Orphan Help Centre & College Rifles Turf upgrade. There was a great front page article in the East and Bays Courier focusing on the Everest Marathon and the fundraising activities Click here to check it out.

Remember all this is for those two worthy causes so check out my earlier postings The Challenge" & "The Cause" to get a better insight and please if there is anything you feel you can do or anything you can donate in the form of prizes or cash to assist just let me know!

Keep on running

A lot more pain but plenty of gain.

This last week was dominated by low points but ended on a massive high.

I've been struggling with a back injury for the last couple of months which has been getting progressively worse. Last week it was so bad I was knocking back up to 12 heavy duty anti inflamitory pain killers a day just to be able to get to a point where my body could function. Combined with helping to look after my sick kids as well as surviving on 2-3hours restless sleep a night while still trying to train is not a good mixture and Friday I crashed big time! I ended up heading off home from work mid afternoon & going to bed with another healthy dose of pain killers.

Much of the next 36hours was spent resting & thankfully I woke up Sunday morning feeling relatively refreshed. It completely reinforced just how important rest and recovery is in any training program.





Today was the day of the Total Sport Volcanoes Challenge an event I have wanted to compete in for a couple of years. As so very aptly described on the Total Sport Website "The Volcanoes Challenge is a unique inner city navigation event where competitors run to, and up, Auckland’s iconic volcanoes, in any order that they choose...All multiple volcano events start and finish in One Tree Hill with no prescribed course route, so participants have the ability to tactically plan their quickest route based on maps, strategy & fitness..."

After having weeks of wind and rain it was great to wake up to a beautiful (slightly chilly) day with crystal clear skies and not a breath of wind - perfect conditions.

My brother Rod & I entered into the longest event the 7 Volcano Challenge which was estimated on the website to be around 24km. Being well into our preparations for the Sydney Marathon we decided to run with another friend the 5km to and from the event as well giving us a great workout.

Arriving just in time for the start gun it must have been a slightly bemusing sight for passers by seeing 500 odd people all head off in different directions. We chose an anti clockwise route so we could run along with some friends that were doing the shorter 5 volcano challenge.

All in all the day progressed nicely and apart from a couple of navigational errors capped off by Transit NZ carelessly putting a new motorway where a street should have been (according to our map!). This lead to some debate & lost time however we still finished in a credible 2hrs23min. With the extra 10km thrown in taking us over the 3hours on the feet for the day things seem back on track for the first main goal for the year the Sydney Marathon.

The body held up fine and with some more physio and visits to the Osteopath I should hopefully get the back sorted out & I am now aiming for a solid time of 3hrs45min for Sydney. The theory is this should be fast enough to be very happy with the time but not pushing so hard I can't recover for the Auckland Marathon in time (either way I'm confident it will be a PB and much faster than my first Marathon last year of 4:21).