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Mary had a little Dame

Posted by Susan on May 04, 2009 at 10:17 AM

Well I am recovering from the walking the Rotorua Marathon,the legs are a little stiff but it is the blister on my heel that is a real souvenir of nearly six hours of striding it out. My walking buddy Mary Lambie and I feel rather chuffed that with limited training (actually she would probably say bug..all) we managed to complete the 42kms rather unscathed.You meet all sorts in events but I was really inspired by the more mature men and women I met that day. One lady in particular had just the weekend befiore completed the London Marathon in 5.45 hours and here she was fresh as a daisy,proudly wearing her London marathon medal. A pretty mean feat..excuse the pun for someone 70 years of age. I chatted away to another lady who at 75 looked the business. They were a fantastic advertisement for the benefits of walking and staying healthy.
Some walk in groups some solo just head down totally focussed on the road ahead,Mary and I chatted all the way although it got a little quieter towards the end when the muscles started to ache and the kms seemed to get longer or had we just exhausted all avenues of conversation.
I have run the Rotorua marathon a couple of times so the mind shift of walking an event that was originally designed for running is quite hard.But whether you walk or run there is no denying it is still one helluva an acheivement and everybody appreciates the personal goals achieved that day.
I wasa born and bred in Rotorua so the local support is awesome so thanks for all the jelly beans,the peanut butter sandwiches and to banana man for giving me his last banana.
See you all next year after Mary and I have done the London marathon..isn't that right Mary ?
PS I sent Mary a copy of the photo..her reply was well I look totally you know what and you look like you could do it all again !