#TeamWLSA had the most incredible weekend for the Gold Coast Airport Marathon over this past weekend. The Gold Coast never fails to deliver beautiful sunny winter weather for this event. Whilst the mornings were cold the days were perfect for running.

Our staff team were out in force this weekend and their own personal efforts to train and get involved for their own benefit and also to walk and run alongside our patients was indicative of a wonderful, supportive team working together to achieve common goals. Some of the team have now set their sights on the next event to prepare for and they are all keen to do more and faster next year!

There is something unique about the exhilaration and anticipation that goes with being a part of an event like this. My daughter asked me on race day “why do we have to wear a number to do this; it seems a bit crazy when we could go for a run anytime!”.

It is the sense of personal achievement and conquering fear among other things we are faced with on race day that makes the marathon such a unique event.

The atmosphere is exciting; everybody is out there for a reason. Not necessarily to prove anything but to have fun; be active and healthy. Some people are proving a point through running. Bravehearts this year had some of their runners doing 7 marathons in 7 cities in 7 days!

This is extreme human achievement whilst raising money for a wonderful charitable cause. I love seeing the wheel chair athletes compete; pushing through their physical limitations to prove greatness and to live well no matter what sends a very poignant message for all able bodied athletes. When the pain starts to kick in (and it will over long distance somewhere physical or mental) I like to think of these super humans!

Our patients made us incredibly proud to fly the WLSA banner! Their achievements were the culmination of 12 weeks of training with Therese Fossheim every Saturday; learning correct technique and becoming more aware of movement; how to move more efficiently and to start working on speed. Some, travelled down from Brisbane each week to the Gold Coast to take part. Thank you all for your participation and enthusiasm.

For those who have literally gone from minimal movement and not walking more than 200 meters without difficulty to walking at a decent pace to complete 5.7kms your achievements are equal to climbing Mount Everest! Congratulations to you all.

We had a patient running 10kms in under 12 months post-surgery and one compete her first ½ marathon only 11 months after her first 5kms run. There are limited adjectives to describe how awesome these two are! Probably still recovering now but hopefully wearing their medals with great pride and satisfaction.

To lead by example I hope is one of the best lessons to follow. All of the team took this on board! I personally had a great run last Sunday completing the half marathon and I would love to run alongside a few patients and staff with the same goal next year!

Walking/jogging/running is fun. It is not expensive, it takes you into the great outdoors, it is one of the best things you can do for mood with all those released endorphins. It definitely makes you feel like you are on top of the world! Productivity is also improved through physical fitness; so getting more out of every day is also a great benefit. Having a coach train us properly is a huge advantage. We sponsored a total of 32 people to take on board the challenge this year. I’m hoping to at least double this by next year! Expressions of interest for next year’s team are open now!

You can email AlexT@staging-wp.wlsa.com.au to state” I’m interested in #TeamWLSA for 2018.”

Simple as that. Step one is often the hardest but once committed you will not regret it.

Congratulations to all! I’m incredibly proud of each and every one of you.