City2Surf - the largest race in the world

City2Surf was, as expected, AH-MAZING! I didn't realise but it's the biggest foot race in the world! Not just little old Aus, but the world!!! This year there was a record 80,000 people who ran the 14kms from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach. You can only imagine what 80,000 people look like all waiting around ready to run. They have a clothing donation for charity as well, so you can wear your warm jumper at the start and just before they fire the gun, you take it off and throw it to the side of the road. I tell ya what, the site of thousands of jumpers and shirts being thrown together was pretty cool. You end up with stuff in trees, on light poles, fences and all sorts of places. Little girl guides come collect them all after the start, although I can only imagine 4 guides on each others shoulders trying to reach the ones at the top of the tree.

 So the race - well the weather was perfect, bit chilly but blue clear skies and the sun was shining. I was feeling pretty tired cause the prostitutes were keeping me awake all night. My friends live in Darlinghurst and their street is prime pimping location. All night I could hear car doors, clip clop of high heels up and down the footpath and arguments with potential clients. Starting the run was just like trying to get out of the full cinema, pushing, shoving it was crazy. The whole course is basically an uphill battle from the start, even before you get to the dreaded "heartbreak hill" there are hills galore. I remembered it from last time though so it wasn't a shock this year. One of the great things about City2Surf is the spectators, people hire bands for their front lawns and bring lounges outside. Some guys even painted their bodies blue and called themselves the smurfs - they deserved my high five as I ran past. Last year I came in at 67min and this year ws 63min, so I was pretty stoked with the improvement. Might've helped that I was in the red group at the front this year.

 We went to the CanToo area after the race and fed up on muffins and snakes and bananas. No beer though :( I love having a beer after a race. After we were done it was amazing to see the bright orange CanToo singlets running through to the finish, heaps and heaps. It's a very big "movement", almost like a cult haha.

 Well it's back to training tomorrow, some more sprints - and of course it will be raining, every Wednesday it rains! I don't think I remember a Wednesday we haven't been wading in puddles around the lake. Maybe tomorrow can be different. Then onto Saturday, another 7am start and bringing the KMs up to 28! Since I did C2S I missed the 26kms so I hope the 28kms goes alright. I just need to keep practising with the energy gels, chomps and water intake cause I still think I struggle there.

 On another note, the trivia night is coming along well - if you want a table you better get a booking in. We have some great prizes that have been donated, the latest one is a 3-month platinum membership from fitness first and 50x 5-day guest passes. And tonight I'm picking up an Endura prize pack from the post office, but I have no idea what is in that yet. A big thanks to Anna Encio and Rob from CanToo for their donations as well :) I just wish I could drink some of the 7 magnums of wine we have.

Long runs are getting long...

Oops, I've missed a bit hey. Last Saturday was the longest run to date on our training program - 22km! This was only 6 days after doing the Run Melbourne half marathon and Wednesday night training. But I think I was ready, recovered and up for the challenge. I prepared in advance by getting some gels and a water bottle holder for these longer runs.

It was all going well, Steve and I took off on the route down the usual beach way towards Elwood, past Elwood down to Brighton and to the Life Saving club before turning around and heading back, all up 22km. It was a beautiful morning for a run though and a light wind which was something a bit different for the beach this time of year. There was only one issue - by the time I got back to St. Kilda everything went pear shaped. Let me just say this and not go into details. The gel, the orange flavour one - well it didn't agree with me! There was still 5km to run back to home base and there was no way I was going to make it. So the last 5km I drank ALOT of water to rehydrate haha. Not the most pleasant experience in the world, but I guess now I know - stay away from citrus! This weekend I think we're doing 24kms so I'm going to try some Gu Chomps or similar, little lollies filled with carbohydrate goodness. For every hour of running we need to consume 200grams of energy and about 600ml of water. That means 2 packs of Gu Chomps for a 24km run @ $5 a pack! This is becoming an expensive sport.

On Sunday after the run Luke and I went to FootPro to see Simon and get some new shoes. They do an awesome treadmill video analysis of your running style in your current shoe, barefoot and some good shoes so you can see the difference. Very interesting..... I walked out of there $360 later with custom insoles and a new pair of Nikes.

My runkeeper has been playing up lately on the old iPhone, so I read some forums and found out it could be because I had the old software version, so I downloaded the new one and it said "do you want to sync your contacts" - I probably should've said yes and after that all my contacts in my phone were gone :( I was able to recover some from messages I'd sent, but most are gone for good.

FUNDRAISING: Well thanks to everyone for buying all my crap and donating online I achieved my $2,000 target, so now in CanToo terms I'm a *Fundraising Star* - that means nothing to everyone else, but to us it is the highlight of everything, you get the orange shoelaces and the cap and no pressure to fundraise, more focus on training. But having said that, more donations are always welcome :)

TRIVIA: Trivia has been organised as well, for those that don't know Luke and Kate from the half marathon group and me are organising a fundraising trivia night. It's on Friday 3 September @ the Richmond Town Hall Hotel 7.30pm. We have some cool prizes so far and hope to get some more. Movie tickets, bottles of wine, BBQ pack, Magnums of Champ and Wine, Doona and pillows, cutlery set etc. Either way it's going to be a fun night. Although I didn't plan it to well cause the day after we're doing a 32km run!! So there goes the alcohol and late night for me and anyone from my group :(

This weekend we're off on 24kms and then it's City2Surf in Sydney :)

To donate please visit - https://www.cantoo.org.au/sponsorshipform.aspx?PageID=18

Run Melbourne Run

Well it's the end of Week 8 and what a week it was! Such a busy week at work with so many things to do, briefs to finalise and all the other 'important' stuff that a public servant does haha. Wednesday's training - hmmmm what can I say - I was going to skip it all together. I was sitting at work and checked the BOM and saw this massive rain front coming across Melbourne, due to hit right when we start our training of course. I got home and was about to drive down the lake when the rain was pelting against my balcony window and it was so windy. I persisted though and drove to training, it took me 30min to get from Toorak to Albert Park, the traffic was hideous. Not many of us braved the weather and poor Nick (the Coach) was still off sick. We had another coach for the night who took us for a good warm-up run and then over to pit straight where we did straights and curves - basically run at 70% to this point, then run 90% to this other point and rest a bit until you get back to the start - do that until you start spewing or you've done it 10 times. It was good until the damn sky clouded over again and it started raining, it was so cold I could feel my nipples sticking through my shirt, chafing away as I ran - ouch! 

On Friday I had my first appointment for a root canal, let's just say that I hate dentists and leave it at that. Saturday I had a bit of a sleep in, no training for me on Saturday so I'd booked my flatmate V and I to go kayaking and abseiling for the day. It was a great day, I learnt that my flatmate is no good at steering a kayak and gets a bit confused with left and right haha. But we made it down the yarra rapids in one piece, saturated and cold. Abseiling was fun as well but damn cold, my shirt was a bit damp and I forgot my jacket, getting in the car and putting the heater on was the best thing about it.

Cut to Sunday 5.15am and my alarm is going off to get up for the Run Melbourne half marathon. I met the Can Too guys at 6.30 and we did a quick warm up and then went up to the start line. Annie Crawford, the founder of Can Too was there doing it with us, it was great. From my group there was 2 of us plus our 2 mentors Kate and Nicole. I ran with Kate the whole way and it was a pretty cool course, especially along the yarra and around fawkner park. Luckily the rain held off and it was pretty sunny all day. We finished in 1:48:08 which was pretty good, my sore foot didn't get any worse thankfully (although it is today). Can Too has a great spread of food and champagne afterwards, makes me want to look forward to our race in October - although thinking about doing that track again is a tad daunting and very very scary!!! 42km is so far when you've just done 21km - I know why it is all mental thoughts to get you through to the end.

FUNDRAISING: Well it looks like I've hit my target, well I will very soon. I'm just waiting for a cheque to come in from Entertainment Books and I will be over the line. A total of $2,000 so far!! A big thanks to those who have donated, bought the chocolates, entertainment books and handbag hangers and to work for the money we raised at the morning tea - it doesn't mean I have to stop here though - if you would still like to donate please use the link and search for my name. Maybe together we can raise the target to $3,000?

18km in the wind

The temperature on my phone Saturday morning at 7am said 14 degrees, I seriously thought there was something wrong with it, no way could it be so warm in the morning. It was dark and winter - it must be under 5 degrees? Fast forward 15min after downing a brunch bar and banana and I found out that it was indeed under 14 thanks to the gale force winds.

Nick (the coach) was away so it was just the crew with Nicole this morning, we all decided it would be better to follow last weeks route and extend it by 2kms so we could keep out of the wind. We were due to run down the esplanade to Brighton and back, and my god - I'm so glad we didn't, the wind would've ripped right through us. There was one time when we came round a bend and got blown backwards a bit. Overall it was a pretty good run though. Graeme and I ran an average 5km p/hour run for the 18kms. I tried taking my water bottle holder with me, but I had to empty it after the first 200m as it bloody kept leaking all over my leg! Not the most pleasant experience in the world, if I was 80 I wouldn't know if it was the water or my bladder, but then I don't think I'd be running at 80 haha.

I went to Costco today, damn they didn't have Brunch bars, but I did find some bulk party pies for my fundraising morning tea next Friday and a 1.8kg jar of Jelly Belly jelly beans!!!! I just finished counting them ALL - yes I washed my hands, but I counted them on a chopping board with a knife to seperate them, I had to keep track every hundred though, and might I say - it's going to be a touch competition!!! I think I will sell guesses at $2 each at work during the week and see if I can add to my fundraising using that method.

Friday night was the first Trivia planning night as well, with the help of Virginia my friend and housemate. It was just Kate and I though as Mr Mollison had a "prior" engagement. He can put in the hard yards for the next one. So we drafted our email to send to some companies to try and get some prizes donated for either a silent auction or door prizes. I'll let you know how we go.

I really want a jelly bean! Next weekend is meant to be the recovery week with a reduction in KM's to 14 on Saturday, but I won't be going to that, I've entered into the Run Melbourne half marathon on Sunday so I will be Pounding the Pavement for that one - I really just want the medal haha.

I found this YouTube clip of CanToo as well - take a look Click HERE.

And as always, if you read this and you are able to sponsor me, please CLICK HERE, I only need another $700 and then I become a fundraising star and I can focus on training rather than fundraising.... here's hoping! Together we can beat the big "C"

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When your bed is empty and cold you go for a run

I think I woke up around 3am freezing my arse off! It was lonely and cold with the sound of the wind outside so I laid in bed trying to get back to sleep with no luck, I was thinking about someone in particular and checking to see what time it was in the USA, maybe they would be on facebook chat? But sadly not :(

It was absolutely freezing when I was getting changed but I think that was just my bedroom, maybe it was the presence of my ghost. I didn't have to use the squedgee to see through my windscreen this morning thank god, so I made it the lake in one piece and was able to drive at more than 40kms per hour. Maybe my car is starting to dry out finally. You see the old Calais leaks a 'bit' of water on the floor and is now starting to sprout grass, I call it the "Rice Paddy".

It wasn't actually that cold this morning, had to leave the gloves in the car for a change. This mornings run was a good 16kms down to the tan, up to Flinders St, across the river and down to Punt Rd bridge return. There was heaps of other CanToo'ers on the same track, it was great! Everytime you run past someone in the CanToo singlet you hear "Go CanToo" - it feels awesome to be part of such a big team and to it's great to give support to the fellow runners who brave the early mornings like me to do the same thing. The run itself was good, I felt good. I had a banana for breakfast which normally makes me a bit acidic in the stomach (over share) and I downed one of those Up & Go VIBE drinks. I think I need to start taking some gels with me though, around 10-12kms I started to feel a big sluggish like I had no energy. Of course I did, but the old body didn't think the same thing. Some of those little PowerBar lollies from woolies would've done nicely or a Gu gel. I love the chocolate ones, no water required, just the chocolate flavour Gu - dee-licious!
I found my old water bottle holder as well, sans water bottle though. This week I need to make it my goal to get a new bottle and next weeks run I need to try and run with it - last time I used it I just remember it bouncing up and down like those little dog things people put on their dashboards. Annoying to say the least!
The fundraising is still going ok, at last count I think I was up to about $1,300, that includes $400 from selling chocolates at work (lots of chocoholics at Treasury and Finance) and about 17 entertainment books sold now as well. Jarvo and Luke are starting CanToo training for the half marathon on Wednesday night and we're going to plan a trivia night for a fundraiser, we might as well host one as the last few that we've entered we have come last in - very brainy lot of friends haha!! I got a book for my birthday though "Organising a trivia night for dummies" so that's my read for tonight.
Well you might be thinking what on earth that pic of the dog has to do with running? I saw him at a cafe in Toorak last weekend, he was asleep with his head on the table for ages, it made me think that is the way I feel after doing a long run - exhausted that I could just go back to bed, oh and the dog was just gorgeous.

Where ever you are in the world, I hope you have a good one :)

14km

I saw Sex and the City 2 last night, I didn't actually mind it although I didn't get home till after 11pm, so waking up at 6.45am to go for my training run was a bit painful. I could hear the rain outside and my trusty iPhone told me it was only 5 degrees!! But I persevered and by the time I drove to Albert Park it was a pretty clear morning (but still cold). Driving there was an effort though, my car leaks water and the passenger floor fills up like a puddle which creates condensation inside the window, plus it grows grass as well - so I took the squeegee from the shower so I could see.

We ran 14km today, from the lake down the esplanade to the kiosk at Elwood and back, nice morning for a run, a little bit drizzly at times but watching the sun come up was a pretty good way to start the day and the rainbow over the bay on the way home was good to see as well. Tina and I stopped for a photo from Nicole as well, so we will have to see how that turns out, it was at the 8 or 9km mark so we must've looked a treat haha.

Well we are about a 1/4 of the way through training and it only gets bigger from here on. I think next week is 16km and we keep rising till we peak at 35km!

Fundraising is going pretty good as well, at last count I'd sold about 14 Entertainment Books which I get $13 from each one, $670 in donations and I've got to bank $220 from chocolate sales. It's the end of the financial year soon (as Foxtels tells us all) and any donations you make you won't have to keep a receipt for a full 12 months to claim back, so please dig deep and donate for a such a worthy cause. Click here to donate, search for Matt.

Time for a well deserved brunch with my friends now :) ciao

Running in the Rain with a glass of wine

What a week it was!! I did a fair bit of running last week, and boy was it damn cold. Wednesday's session was absolutely freezing, the wind was coming through my new long sleeve top like no tomorrow. We did a bit of a warm up jog then proceeded with 8x400m sprints with 400m rests in between, but these rests just meant a 'slow' jog. It was a pretty good session though, albeit for the freezing weather. I really need to invest in some light gloves, my hands felt like an eskimo.

Saturday was a 12km run from the lake to the St.Kilda marina and back, was a beautiful morning for a run except for the big fat grey cloud over us that decided to piss down for most of the way home, it was blue sky over the bay, just not over us! We finished it off with some sprints as our 'cool down' or to stretch our fast twitching muscle fibres I think... Some weird voodoo stuff must've been happening down by that lake because we saw sawn off chicken feet scattered around the lake - bizzare! I had a 'few' good reasons to race str8 home after training, one of them was to pack my bags and get picked up for our weekend in Rutherglen for the Winery Walkabout tour. Our combined group all wore big colourful ties with words on them like 'I'm 2 sexy' and 'Kiss me' (mine was Kiss Me), I bought them for $2.50 each and decided that I would let everyone know about my goal to raise money for Cure Cancer Australia and whatever they chose to donate would go to the cause, I gave up the $$ I spent buying them and donated that as well. I ended up making $90 which will go towards the target of $2,000. We even chatted to some waitresses at Hog's Breath and sold them 2 spare ties. The rest of the weekend was a blur, I have unexplained bruises, we lost our friend and flatmate Virginia, I got denied access to my bank account for putting in the wrong pin - let's just say this weekend will be ALOT quieter.

I've made up for my bad behaviour with 2 laps of the tan with Lukas, he and Kate have signed up for the half marathon through Can Too as well. Let the training begin!! Although with how tired I'm feeling now I don't think training tomorrow is going to feel that great.

Week 2 - long(er) run

I did quite a few short runs this week, starting out with a run from South Yarra, round the Tan track and back with Luke. Luke is going to start the Can Too program with Kate for the half marathon which starts in a few months time. It was a great night for a run, even though it was a tad cold. Then it was a lunchtime run with Tanya from work, we went from work in the city, round the Tan and back.

I missed out on the Wednesday Can Too session which was a time trial round Albert Park Lake, oh well, I 'll have to make up for it at the next one so I can get a time for 5km.

Saturday morning was cold!! cold!! cold!! Driving to the lake about 7am I couldn't see out of my window with the condensation on the outside of the car. This weeks run was a 10km or 60min run from the lake across to the Tan track and up near the Tennis Centre. I ran with Graeme and Tina and it turned out to be an awesome morning for a run, albeit early! As we crossed the Swan St bridge the sun was rising up from behind the MCG, magically to see. Normally at that time on a Saturday I'm dead to the world with alcohol seeping from my pores. But not anymore, Saturdays are all about training now! We finished the run in 50min and then had the usual stretches, gatorade and muesli bars, not a bad way to finish a run hey.

My RunKeeper was rudely interrupted though when the dentist called to see if I could in earlier in the morning. I answered the call mid run and the poor girl must've thought I might have been up to something else.

From here training starts to ramp up each week, we increase each run by about 2km each week and eventually we will be running for 35km straight! My aim is to try and slow down as the distances get longer, I struggle to go slower and I think as they get longer I'm going to burn out unless I slow the pace.

In other news, the sore toe has made a comeback, Red Grapefruits taste disgusting and I sold 10 Entertainment Books, which adds $130 to my fundraising total.

If you haven't sponsored me yet, please do. Perfect timing to claim it in your tax! (Click Here to Sponsor and search for Matt)

off for a run with Luke now

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate!!

15 boxes of heaven arrived on my doorstep this morning. You can't say no to a sneaky chocolate late in the afternoon can you?

Now all I have to do is set them out on the table at work....and wait... just like a hunter in the woods, if I leave the bait they will come. I'm not sure if they will all sell before October. Look out if you work with me - I will be pushing chocolate at you for months, gone are your diets and dignity!

I had to miss out on training this week, so it's back into it on Saturday for a nice 10km run, hopefully my new Timex Triathlon watch arrives tomorrow :)

City2Surf here I come!

Time to look into getting some cheap flights to Sydney! Although if I want
to actually get there I guess I better not fly Tiger hey. Why am I heading
up to God's country you might ask? Well I've just signed up and paid for my
2nd City2Surf in Sydney. It's not till August, but I like to plan ahead and
get in early. I was pretty excited because I've also qualified for the SH1
group - in English this means that for the City2Surf in 2009 I finished in
sub 75min (67min actually). Hopefully now it means I can avoid the 'many
thousands and thousands' of people and perhaps improve on my time. I
remember last year I was dodging and weaving for a good 12kms and even at
the end there was no room to run in a straight line. I'm also part of the
Flight Centre team again this year, running along in a nice little Flight
Centre singlet, and the bonus of being part of their team is that they
provide food/drinks (lovely cold beer) and free massages at the end. Do you
think they can get free flights as well?

Don't forget to donate if you can CanToo Sponsorship

Week 1 - long(ish) run

Of course the first long run day it had to rain! I also don't think the 'several' glasses of wine with my mates last night was such a good idea.

Training today was at 7.30am at Albert Park lake and we were all off for a nice 8km or 50min run.

Lucky I wore my skins, because damn it was a tad chilly! I used RunKeeper to track my time/pace and map data - I like it heaps better than the other one I was using 'iMapmyrun'.

The rain was quite nice actually, once we started running it was nice and cooling. We headed down Kerford Rd towards the Bay and then along to near Catani Gardens and back.

I got close to 38min which was pretty good. But I need to start slowing down as the distance gets longer. Looking ahead to the 35km run in a few months is a bit scary, no way I can do the same pace for that distance.

It was pretty cool after the run as well, we did some stretches and our CanToo guys provided a big thing of Powerade, snakes and some muesli bars. The team from Adidas came to give us a chat about runners as well. Next Wednesday is the 5km time trial.

The sore toe held up as well. Tad tender now, but not to bad.

26 May - First Training Session

I was a bit nervous turning up, not knowing what to expect, how many people there would be, and I really hate that feeling. I'm the sort of person who doesn't like feeling out place and not knowing what is happening.

First day training and the meet and greet was at 6.30pm near the rowing club on Albert Park lake. It was dark and I couldn't see anyone near the rowing shed. Crap! Finally I saw a girl walk from inside and she pointed me in the right direction. It was a smallish group, all filling in health questionnaires and introducing each other. The CanToo founder Annie Crawford was down from Sydney to meet us and our trainer Nick with a few other staff and support were there, buggared if I can remember their names yet though.

It's all pretty well organised, we got a little show bag with a training singlet and some wrist band sunscreen - very novel! Virginia (my flatmate) has taken one to her work to see if they can use it for their marketing as well. After our introductions and some chit chat we headed down for the first session. A slow jog round to the Carousel then 3x1km intervals with a 400m rest in between each one. It was an awesome night for a run, the view around the lake towards the city with a clear night sky is amazing! There were quite a few CanToo groups running, I think the other groups were training for the Run Melbourne in a few months time.

One thing I really enjoyed was the team atmosphere, everyone was supportive and cheering each other on and was felt like a really great group to be part of. I'm really sure the next 20-weeks is going to be alot of fun. Now I need to practice my 'planks', core strength is important!

Fundraising link up and running

My fundraising link with CanToo is up and running. If you would like to support Cure Cancer Australia and help me raise my target of $2,000 please visit the link below:

https://www.cantoo.org.au/sponsorshipform.aspx?PageID=18

Search for "Matt" and click on "Matt Wright" and follow the steps to make a tax deductible donation, just in time for the tax man!

Please forward the link to the fundraising page and/or my blog to any friends who you think would like to track my progress and donate to a worthy cause.

Cheers, matt :)

INJURY!

After the Great Ocean Road half marathon I was a bit tight in the calves and had
a sore toe. I thought nothing of it. After a few days the pain will subside
and
all will be ok! Well I was wrong.

Back track to Thursday and I was still limping around with a bloody sore toe. How can a toe be so sore. It was only when I walked and wasn't a sharp pain, just that annoying dull pain. So I took myself to see a Physio and he has referred me to a sports Doctor. Tomorrow morning I'm off first thing to see if I need a scan. Although it's feeling better now, hasn't been sore for days. Guess I better get it checked out just in case it comes back. The physio said it was most likely a dislocated tendon in the big toe.

Tomorrow after work is the first day of marathon training with CanToo - either way I will be rocking up! Whether I can run or not - this will not be the end of me!!!

Chocolates from Cadbury arrive on the 4th!! The first of the fundraising will begin.

27/5 - UPDATE the toe is ok, x-rays didn't show anything wrong and the doc said I can run on it as long as it doesn't get worse. Touch wood!

Fundraising - will it be hard?

'FUN'-draising - it should be fun right? So how on earth do I achieve my minimum goal of $2,000 to such a great charity. To reach my own goal of finishing the marathon in one piece, running and alive!

I jumped on Google, and when you do a search for 'fundraising ideas' there are so many different sites and so many ideas. There are companies that I think you pay, and they do it all for you. Then of course there is the usual Cadbury chocolate boxes, but you can only sell so many chocolates right?
It says that 1 box of chocolates gives a profit of $28, there are 48 pieces of chocolate in each box. The only thing I hate about these things is the size of the chocolate, they are so much smaller than the ones you buy yourself and now they cost you $1.20, price hike or what! $1 was so much easier.
I also found 'Trolley Coins' which seem like a good idea, but how many people will I know that would want a trolley coin? I might still give it a go though. They seem interesting and different.
Another idea I thought of was to see if I could get a corporate sponsor, a company who wants to branch out, get it's name out there. They could sponsor me for charity and in turn we could design a hot running singlet with their colours and logo and I can run advertising their company - would that work though? Would anyone be interested? I might dig deeper....
My friend Mark said he would host a Pilates class for me, he is an instructor and has done something similar before, 20 ppl in the class @ $20 each is an easy $400 straight up!

So many options and so many ideas, but putting the ideas into action and making them work is another thing - wish me luck!

The beginning

I must be crazy! I'm about to sign up to do my first marathon. It's only 42.2km, so how hard can it be right?

I've been running now for about 2-3 years, just for fun of course. Entering funruns here and funruns there, running with friends and slowly building up my distances as I find it easier and more enjoyable. In August 2009 I ran my first half marathon in Ballarat with a team of 4. Cameron, Laura, Travis and myself did a few long training runs and then headed up to Ballarat with our team t-shirts ready to pound the pavement. It was harder than I expected, not physically - but mentally! It was draining, the feeling of running for close to 2 hours straight. I didn't run with any music, it was just the sound of me huffing and puffing and the occasional cheer from the crowd who ventured out from their warm houses to see why the road was closed around their precious lake.

Jump forward to May 2010 and I've since completed 3 half marathons and a team triathlon, the latest and greatest I have done is the most recent, the Great Ocean Road half marathon. From Kennet's River to Apollo Bay, right down the Great Ocean Road with the most breathtaking views I have had the privilege to see on a run. Finishing this half marathon made me want to run a full marathon all the more! And sitting on the bus back to Lorne next to 'talking Terry' who just did the full marathon was very interesting and inspiring.

SO IT'S TIME! I was lucky enough to see a facebook post of a friend who is also keen to do the marathon in October and has found an organisation that trains people specifically for certain races, and they start training for the Melbourne Marathon next week. 20 weeks of training on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. Gone are my Friday nights on the town with my mates, the bottle of wine with dinner and here comes the 7.30am training EVERY week, the beginning of Winter and freezing cold mornings. What better way to see in a Saturday morning than running.....constantly.....and running some more. I can imagine the steam coming off everyones shoulders and the cold breath from our panting. But it can be done right? Motivation is the key - a goal is required! I can do it!

The training is free. FREE? Nothing is for free these days. So there is a catch, but it's a pretty good one. The training is run through a not-for-profit organisation called 'CanToo'.

"Can Too is a program where professional coaches will train you to run or swim an endurance event while receiving professional team coaching. You have the opportunity to reach your goal in a supportive, fun and sometimes crazy environment, while raising money for Cure Cancer Australia Foundation"

I have to raise a minimum of $2,000 and the crew at CanToo will train me over the next 20 weeks, preparing me to pound the pavement and make it to the end - alive!

Sounds easy right? Well I still have to train, I need to motivate myself to complete this goal, to think I can do it and to show everyone else that I can do it. With 2 goals - Survive and raise money for charity.

So begins my thought process for fundraising - so many ideas are floating through my head right now, what is the best way to do it? My first step is to blog my progress, write about my experience and training and share my road to achieve my goals!

Thanks for supporting me :)