By Alice Kucera
After joining the Bush runners in August 2014 I have constantly been in awe of the achievements of my fellow runners and inspired to try new distances. Completing a road marathon seemed like a natural progression for me having enjoyed half marathons and various other short and medium distance races. I entered the Canberra Marathon in early January and started my training roughly based on an ASICS online training plan. The plan was designed for 2 runs a week and I often added more when I had the time. “Short” weeks consisted of at least two fast short runs ranging from 8-12kms, and “long weeks” had a 12km run and a 21km + run on the weekend. One of my favourite long runs involved running from my home in Hornsby to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair in the Botanic Gardens (28kms). It certainly felt like an achievement knowing it was at least an hour’s worth of driving! I also ran 2 Sydney Marathon Clinic (SMC) half marathons and their 30km race in preparation for the marathon. Thank you, Kevin Heaton for your support! My aim for the Canberra Marathon is to finish in one piece, and with a sub five-hour time. Really, I would be happy with just finishing but a sub five hour would be the icing on the cake! I am writing this after finishing the Galston Gut Buster Half Marathon. This time last year I had just run the Gut Buster 8km (having started running only 3 months earlier) and was so exhausted and could not understand how anyone could run the 20km race, let alone a marathon. But it really was the race that started it all for me, and after joining the Bush runners I have strived to go further and faster and loved every minute of it. Fast forward to a year later and finishing the Half Marathon today uninjured, with a comfortable PB and the incredible support of the Bush runners out on the course, I am in the best possible mindset for Canberra in 2 weeks’ time. Running makes me so happy, and when I run I always feel very grateful to be healthy and enjoying the run. I cannot wait to be running around Lake Burley Griffin in 2 weeks and would like to thank all the Bush runners for their encouragement and support. Stay tuned for my race report!