“Crossing the starting line may be an act of courage, but crossing the finish line is an act of faith. Faith is what keeps us going when nothing else will. Faith is the emotion that will give you victory over your past, the demons in your soul, and all of those voices that tell you what you can and cannot do and can and cannot be.” – John Bingham

John Bingham an American marathoner who when he started out running was described as “uninspired and overweight” he went on to write many books about running. His quote above tells such an incredible story and how true! The courage to show up for yourself in the fast place is such a massive step to take; no matter where you are on your journey; beginning; middle; in need of extra support and getting back on track; there’s a story that gets each one of us to the start line.

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Running (and walking an event) is sometimes a metaphor for life; the more you run the more you learn about yourself and self-imposed limitations and preconceived ideas about what you can and cannot do. You can face a million challenges out there in the course of an event but the exhilaration for getting to the finish line is actually indescribable. It is an incredible triumphant moment of success just to complete any event at a marathon.

I am passionate about the GC Marathon and have personally competed in something from 2001each year and pretty much not skipped a year other than the imposed/forced exclusion of 2020 and now 2021.

The effort that each one of our weightloss warriors has put into their personal health and wellbeing journey never ceases to impress and amaze me. It’s absolutely true that the only thing often standing in the way of our personal success is ourselves and those voices inside our heads.

Over the past 12 weeks, I have watched our group training with complete admiration. Showing up on Saturdays’ whenever possible. Hearing of improved fitness and faster running times has been so rewarding to learn. Together there has been fun; a challenge; a lot of sweat and a never-give-up attitude from many of you. I love seeing people who choose to come back year after year and remain up for the challenge of continuous self-improvement.

Each and every one of you contribute to our community spirit of support and kindness;  cheering each other on no matter what. Thank you for being there for each other and building a bond like no other.

This year I gave two special recognition awards to two people whose training has been incredible and full of highlights. Dionne Hoy for showing up; 3 years post-op and her first serious exercise attempt;  committing each week to train harder. (The pain was worth it!)  We have all loved watching your progress.

Anthony Deamon has had the most amazing training program dedicated to achieving his first half marathon. The HIIT style workouts have improved his fitness so much and taken minutes off his runtimes. We can’t wait to see Anthony in many more events to come.

The GC Marathon may have been cancelled for this weekend; however; we will not allow all that training and anticipation of race weekend go to waste.

We will be organizing our own WLSA event for you all. You all deserve to cross that finish line and experience the joy and satisfaction that goes with it.

So keep on training and watch this space. Our event is on the way!

Felicity Cohen,
CEO of WLSA