Last Year New York

Running the ING New York Marathon in November last year was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. I ran for an awesome charity called Team for Kids, and managed to raise over $3000 to help educate young kids on health and fitness. So I would like to give a big thanks to all of those who contributed to that great cause.

The NY Marathon was the first big marathon I had run, and only my second marathon. I did the Rotorua marathon in New Zealand in April last year, and as you would expect for a newbie, made heaps of basic mistakes. But I learnt from those mistakes and changed my game plan for NY.

On November 6, 2011, I started the day by catching a bus at 6am from 51st St in Manhattan to the race start point in Staten Island. After waiting a couple of hours in the freezing cold the race finally got underway at around 10am. Due to the huge number of some 37,000 runners, I started off the race at a slower pace than usual, but after the Verrezano-Narrows Bridge things freed up and I set into my 5min/km (8min/mile) pace and pretty much kept that for the whole race.

I had been told about the crowds, but it wasn’t until I entered the lower parts of Brooklyn that I started to really understand what people had been trying to tell me. It was amazing, over 2 million people of all kinds and ages lined the street on both sides yelling, cheering, ringing bells, passing out food, drinks, and willing everyone along. It wasn’t long before I was high-fiving the kids and interacting with the crowd. This continued all the way through Queens, the Bronx, and back down into Manhattan. In fact the only place where there were no crowds was on the bridges, because they weren’t allowed. As I came down the final few miles through Central Park and up to the finish line the crowds really came alive, giving me the motivation and determination to finish as strongly as possible. I came over the line with my arms raised high above my head and a big smile on my face. I was targeting a finish time of 3:40, and ended up finishing at 3:42:45 which I was very happy with.

After the race I was very well looked after by wonderful volunteers at Team for Kids, and after a few hours of recovery, I headed down to SoHo with some friends to dull the pain in my legs with a few pints. I slept very well that night.

This Year Boston

This year I am running the Boston Marathon on April 16. Boston Marathon is the longest running and arguably the most famous of all marathons. It is the dream of most marathon runners to run Boston at some point. I am very fortunate to have got in this year. I will be supporting another wonderful and worthy charity, Project Hope, and I am hoping to double the amount I raised in New York.

Project Hope has for many years assisted inner city families to move up and out of poverty. They work with families every day to help them believe in their own possibilities and break through the barriers that keep them poor.
Project Hope fosters their journey through personal transformation and celebrates with them as they achieve economic security for themselves and their children.

The funds we raise will be applied to the agency’s core services: preventing homelessness; adult education and ESOL classes; training and access to jobs that pay career level wages; high quality day care; and providing emergency shelter services and ongoing case management for families in crisis.

This year the team is 20 runners strong and I am privileged to be part of it! In the past, many of the marathon runners have been significant fundraisers for charity. It is my hope that together this year we can raise in excess of $100,000 which will really make a difference to the many families that Project Hope works with.
You can meet the Project Hope Marathon Team (sort of like, “Meet the Beatles…”) by visiting this link.

My motivation for running my 1st Boston Marathon is is that I am continuing to strive for high level of fitness, setting a positive example for my children, my friends, and my staff, as well as raising money for Project Hope. In taking on this monumental personal challenge of running the marathon (26.2 miles), I will be continuing to raise the bar for myself by setting my goal of crossing the finish line in under 3:30.

To prepare for this year’s marathon I will be training hard! That means training 5-6 days a week, running around 50km /30miles per week (until Marathon Monday, April 16th 2012). As some of you may already know, the Boston Marathon is the most elite running race in the world. Numbers for the Boston Marathon are reserved for the best of the best! Therefore participation in the Boston Marathon is limited to runners who have run another marathon in a qualifying time based on their age (which I haven’t) and runners who receive one of the limited charity numbers available by committing to raise money for a charity team.

I’m asking you to support my Boston Marathon run by making a contribution to help me achieve my fund raising goal. Please use the link below to make an online donation.

Click this link to support my run and donate >>

You will receive email confirmation of your TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation and I will be notified as soon as you make your contribution.

Running the Boston Marathon again and achieving my goals really means a lot to me. I hope that you will support me in this endeavor. Thanks in advance!
The 2012 Boston Marathon less than 5 weeks away, on Monday April 16th, 2012.

This year I am RUNNING WITH HOPE!