Please Let Me Run Just One More Time

Tomorrow I will run Auckland's premier road race for the 3rd time, the Auckland Marathon. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to train for the marathon, so this year I've settled to running just 21 km.

But the remarkable thing was that I only entered this event two weeks ago, considering that entries sold out nearly two months ago. There is a limit to the number of runners competing in this event, and each year the entries just sell out faster and faster. A colleague at work had to pull out, and I saw it as a chance for me to take part in this prestigious event before I leave NZ. How cool would it be to run over The Bridge one final time! I arranged to get his entry transferred under my name, and now I'm a registered runner.

With that, I only had two weeks to train, and the fact that I've never run more than 10 km since the start of the year made completing a half marathon a near impossibility. So for two weeks, I undertook a super-charged training regime. If you watched the Rocky series, you would have seen Rocky Balboa undergo insane training in preparation for a big boxing fight, e.g. running in the snow, doing squats with heavy weights, lifting huge barrels above his head, punching a dead carcass as a punching bag in an abattoir. Add the Rocky theme music with it, and you have one of the most inspirational scenes in film history.

And in doing my training, I felt a lot like Rocky getting ready for my big fight. The fast tempo runs, the mile repeats, the V02 sprints that left me reeling over in pain - all quality sessions that maximised my output in the least amount of time available.

When I filled out the entry form, I indicated that I would complete the half marathon in 2 hours. My personal best is 1:47:08, and when I started training I thought there was no hope of breaking that. But now that I've finished possibly the hardest training programme I've ever set myself, I dared to dream. Having survived that harsh programme, I believe I could get close to my personal best, and even set myself a new personal best. I know it's a slim chance, and even if I got 1:47:09, 1:50:00 or 2:00:00 tomorrow I would be happy to know that I still tried.

It's going to be a fun day tomorrow, no matter what time I get. I will take part in Auckland's premier road race again this year. I will get to run over The Bridge one more time. And I will try to run hard and finish strong.