Wendy's Blog #3

Bad news. I have a blister. It seems like a silly setback but I’m putting the miles in at the moment and a blister is quite painful to run on. I’m planning on ignoring it and hopefully it will go away before my next 20km group run.

This is one fear among many on my weekly group run and about the Auckland Marathon in general. The other big ones are, needing to go to the loo mid-run, tripping over and not being able to keep up. Other than those niggling worries, things are going great!

I’ve done a 10km group run with Gaz and the team. There are lots of us huddled at the gym at 6:30am Saturday morning, lots of women and all of us running at varying speeds. I ran with a woman also doing her first marathon .. the New York one in November.

I’m happy to report I didn’t trip over or need to go to the loo and I kept up. Afterwards we stay behind rolling our legs out on rollers as Gaz takes us through a marathon workshop. Turns out it’s very important to stick to the running pace you’re comfortable with. So, for example if he says run at 6 minute k’s .. stick to that. If you run just 15 seconds faster per km, this can have a big impact over time. And come race day, you’ll find at 30km’s your legs are heavy. I make a mental note to do exactly what I’m told and not run faster on the day.

I’m planning my next two months of runs around work which is busy with an upcoming election and 3 kids who are always busy. Life is getting in the way of my training! My husband is going to Amsterdam for two weeks during school holidays. The timing is terrible. During this time I’m also working mornings for three weeks, reading the news for Newstalk ZB and presenting 1 News at 6:00pm as usual. I call my Mum and beg her to take the kids away on holiday so I can focus on work and training. She says yes. Somehow life has a way of working out.