Welcome to Brisbane – Beautiful one day, perfect the next.
Koala bears and kangaroo’s. That is what I think when I hear ‘Australia’. A country surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans and home to some of the most diverse wild life on earth. It is a huge 7,682,300 km2 and home to 24.13 million people. It is somewhere I dreamed of going ‘one day’ but couldn’t say for sure that day would ever arrive. On the 24th March 2018 it did…
The small matter of a 14 hour flight, followed by an 8 hour flight crossing no fewer than 12 time zones on-route only added to the anticipation. I have been very fortunate in my running career so far to have experienced many different countries and cultures. The first thing of note landing in Brisbane 9 hours ahead of the time in Anstey was the heat… a mild 30 degrees, the second of course was the jetlag. Thankfully we had had travel advice and avoided being too tired for too long.
Training was intense. Running in 29-31 degrees most days, twice a day was tough but helped me acclimatise to conditions. This served me well on race day. Ranked 18th I had one objective – be the best I can on the day and that’s all that I can do. I had prepped well, focussed on training early mornings and late evenings for 16 weeks and had settled in well in Australia. All that remained was the 26.2 miles in 30 plus degrees. Oddly, I was looking forward to it. Marathon running is a simple sport. In some ways it’s a metaphor for how we approach things every day. Consistency doing the right things will bring success in revision, in work, in sport. By now, most people know the outcome of the marathon. It was a tough day for a lot of elite runners. I was delighted to move through the field and finish in 4th place. More information on the race is available here
What where my favourite bits of Australia? The nature reserves and parks where full of the most incredible wildlife. Holding kangaroos to feeding wallabies, hiding from 7ft garden pythons to seeing climbing kangaroos …who’d have thought they were real?
I am incredibly grateful to you: the pupils and parents of our school community. Your support has been incredible and has gone a long way in motivating me to keep improving and try to be the best I can. I am also incredibly grateful to the school governing body, Mrs Sanchez and the rest of the staff for their support. Their flexibility and support made this experience possible.