On 29 February, I received a text from my wonderful PT, Paula Pool, asking if I would come on board as BodPod’s representative for the Townsville Bulletin Chosen Ones. I knew that the Chosen Ones was an initiative where a handful of runners each raise as much money as they can for Ronald McDonald House, culminating in the Chosen Ones then participating in the Townsville Running Festival.
I immediately and unhesitatingly told Paula ‘yes’; Ronald McDonald House is such a worthy charity, and I was flattered and excited to be fundraising for them on BodPod’s behalf.
One small detail; I would have to run!
Not being one to do things by halves, I decided to sign up for the big one; the Marathon. I figured, if I was going to be asking people to donate money, then I would have to go as big as possible, so the Marathon it is. One small detail; at this point, about 1st March, I had not run further than 100 meters in the best part of a year….surely, it wouldn’t be that hard!
Well, my first run was just on 3km in total distance, and there were at least two decent walk breaks in there (ok, I’ll be honest… 3 walk breaks) and in the days that followed, my feet felt bruised, my hips were sore and my hamstrings were like overextended rubber bands. Clearly my actual fitness was not as great as I imagined while lying on the couch! Throw in the fact that I work a minimum 50 hours on a good week, and this whole Marathon thing was going to be a bigger challenge than I thought…
Fast forward six weeks, and thankfully the kilometers are starting to come a little easier, although I still have a long way to go. Stay tuned… and someone please pass the magnesium and a heat pack, stat!!
PS: as with all things, you don’t know how far you’ve come without measuring where you started from. One month into training, I jumped in the Truth Box – the Bod Pod. Stats are that I’m 20.8% body fat and weighing in at 74kg (I’m 182cm, so that leaves me in the normal range). Can’t wait to see how this changes over the next 14 weeks!
If you would like to help me raise these much needed funds, please jump on over to our everyday hero page and donate. Every dollar makes a difference!
Countdown to the festival
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