On 18th June I start training for …. umm I think my 5th half marathon.
It should be a piece of cake minus the 2km swim, the 90km bike ride that I had to do first when doing my half iron-man around a year ago. I do not believe I actually kept going consistently for six hours and forty something minutes. I am really looking forward to just getting back to my love of running without all the other sports squished in between (aside from some yoga and pilates)…
Running is the first thing that turned me from a fat ash couch potato in London into a fit and happy person. It started my love of endurance events, goal setting (which can now be applied to all avenues of life) and gave me new wonderful friendships.
Since my first half marathon, I have trained for a heap of stuff, including a marathon and a half iron-man. I am disciplined when I am on track, and set myself a goal and can work consistently towards it. Once I am on track I am pretty dedicated and probably don’t need the safety of a group anymore to train for a half marathon.
So, why I am returning to the track to fund-raise for Can Too this year when I would be fine pounding the pavement solo?
1. Because Can Too is a community and once you are in the family you are in forever. I miss being part of a group, seeing my friends at the track each week and turning up and running with a bunch of like-minded people. I did my first event when I moved back from overseas and felt like I was not sure where I fitted in. I met a fantastic bunch of girls that I am still close to today and who have pushed me to take on other sporting events (like triathlon).
2. Because I believe in the cause. The money you raise goes straight to cancer research. Since running my first marathon for Can Too in 2011 and raising $2000 I have since had close friends lose their parents, partners and siblings. All too soon, too quick and all too young. Cancer affects us all, no matter how healthy you are, or how much you try, we are all at risk. And that is scary, so we should all add to the prevention of it if we can. This includes funding research, and living healthy lives.
3. Because Can Too is inclusive. You can run to finish. You can run to beat your time from last year. No one cares. Everyone is a winner. You don’t have to be the best runner in the world. There are fast people, there are super slow people. The training is catered to everyone, you can be as hard core or as social as you wish… I am somewhere in the middle but no matter where you are you don’t feel intimidated or like you never have anyone at your level. Can Too changes peoples lives by getting them off the couch, into exercise and onto doing things they never dreamed they thought possible…….WHILE raising money for cancer research.
4. Because the training is awesome….AND you get to be trained by inspiring people like this lovely lady who is a two-time Iron-man champion Michelle Gailey (my coach for this season). It is a quadruple whammy of goodness and inspiration. I may even have to combine the effort with a road back to triathlon.
So if you are thinking you can’t YOU CAN and check out the amazing events they have to offer from swimming, to running to triathlon over here.
And if you want to chuck a few dollars in to support me on my latest fundraising adventure because I am already half way to reach my target – check out my page, and my story here 🙂
See you at the track next week to start training for my fastest half marathon yet! X