The value of doing your own thing..

At the start of this weekend’s Auckland Marathon, I set off with a young lady who informed me that she and her boyfriend were running their first marathons. The first marathon is always a special occasion for any runner and I believe that it should be one that if run comfortably, will ensure that that person returns year on year to complete more and more events.


Now this young lady went off haring after the 3 hour pacer (who went through the first KM in 3.30). She was at that stage taking strain and with still 15KM of uphill to go until it flattened out a bit, I advised her that she was better taking it a little easier and not blowing out all her juice. The poor girl was distraught as she informed me that her boyfriend (who she clearly adored) had told her that they were to run with the 3 hour pace guy and she was worried about him being ahead of us.

I tried to reassure her that it was better for her to have a comfortable first run than an amazing time and crawl over the line, but she remained unconvinced. Only when we started to haul in quite a few runners in the back 21KM did she start to believe that what I was saying could vaguely be true.

At 27KM we passed her boyfriend who had slowed to a standstill and gave him a little wave as we ran past. She crossed just behind me to register a comfortable sub 3.10 performance in her first marathon. I did think that for her there was a sense of a bitter sweet victory for her as man crossed some 20 mins later.

For her that was the correct moment that she deserved for her efforts and the smile on her face said that she would be back for many more of the same in the future.

Running together – stride for stride on a life changing ride! – Sean Muller