With 400+ races I have experienced many highs and lows and successes and disappointments. I have had races where I have finished elated and have surpassed my expectations. There are others where I have fought injuries but battled on just to get to the finish line.
I believe the personal challenges I've faced in training in all kinds of weathers and battling the psychological voice that tells me ''it's all too hard and I should slow down or give up'' has made me a stronger and better person.
I have gained a lot of self belief and confidence from knowing that I have the inner strength to overcome obstacles and give of my best.
Through hard work I have gained countless provincial medals and national medals. Every medal tells a story of triumph over will and sacrifices made. They are extremely precious to me because they represent who I am as a person and running has helped me lead a productive and purposeful life.
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| Provincial Medals |
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| New Zealand Masters Games - Wanganui |
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| Athletics New Zealand Medals |
One of the biggest challenges I have faced was in the World Half Marathon Championhips in Auckland in 2004. I had limited sleep the night before and lined up tired at the start line. It was to be one of the races of my life where I dug deeper than ever before.
I started at a steady pace and at 5km [3 miles] I had woken up and was in 4th place and starting to feel really good. A few kms later I was in third place but was developing a niggle in my calf. From there on the pain steadily got worse and I had to work hard to block it out. Knowing that this could be the only opportunity I might ever get for a world medal I painfully continued counting down the kms. Through a sheer sense of desperation but ultimately persistent determination I resisted the nagging call to give it away and held my place to the finish line. I have never been prouder of myself and the pain of walking afterwards was more than compensated for by the immense achievement of what I had accomplished under major duress. Not only did I collect the individual bronze but our New Zealand team took gold.
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| World Medals - Brisbane - Auckland |
Victory is certainly sweeter the greater the effort in achieving it.
Have you ever had to push your body to the point of exhaustion to achieve something vitally important to you?
