Kyle Jack-Midgley

"Having not done anything in the least competitive for 6 years, I've been waiting for my mouth to get me into trouble and the 2007 adidas Auckland Marathon proved to be the ticket.

I was actually at Mission Bay one Saturday morning following up a gym session with a visit to MovenPick and a game of Mini-golf when I saw the ChildFund Challenges placards.

Coincidently the week before at work talk had started among colleagues at different offices about registering, a close friend was challenging everyone to do the adidas full marathon with him, and the rest is history.

Subsequently later on I find out that same friend and everyone else is doing either the adidas quarter or half marathon but I had already registered with the ChildFund Challenge for the adidas full marathon, set up webpage and emailed a bunch of supporters. Always have been one to take things a bit far!

I've been stoked by the support so far, particularly from those people who provided the first few dollars of sponsorship, but also from the guys who have been keen to get out there on the road with me for training runs.

It’s rewarding to be able to attract a bit of attention for ChildFund. All I have to do now is run 42km."

"In terms of training I've kept things pretty simple to this point, running 6 days and just building up a good base, learning to enjoy finding my rhythm and clocking up the km's and minutes. I don't think I've eaten so much since high school, feels like I'm only ever either eating, running or sleeping [generally in a lecture theatre].

I've heard Marathon running is a mental game and I'd agree that the ability to have a blank mind is serving me well so far. Have just been given a 6 week final countdown-to-the-event training programme by a friend who is an exercise physiologist and I'm really looking forward to tearing into that, trusting that he learnt something about running in his 5 years down at Otago University.

It has been rewarding to be able to attract a bit of attention to the Childfund cause, and the initiative taken by Childfund and organisers of the Adidas Auckland Marathon in this partnership deserves huge recognition. All I have to do now is run 42km..."

< Back to Challenge Stories