The first steps

It may be the official shirt but this green is not our colour!

I've never been an athlete and considering i'm amongst friends here i can say with a pretty good degree of certainty that the Olympic medal dias won't be seeing my feet anytime in this lifetime. Yet earlier in the year when i came across the CityLink "Run for the Kids" it was something that struck out as something that i wanted to compete in to prove to myself that i can do something out of my comfort zone. I've never ever thought i would want to take part in a fun run and considering that i do enjoy a good bite to eat and a drink to boot why would me...me of all people want to do a freaking fun run?

The simple answer is that my fitness levels have never been a constant in my life. My weight has gone up and done without any focus and this was something that i wanted to strive towards. My initial thoughts were to compete in the 15km leg but that was rightly shot down by one of the staff in my local gym who said to me in early feb "mate if this is your first one, take the shorter course, see if you like it and then if you do, slowly move to longer distances." That was the best advice as i really thought i could run 15km with 2 1/2 months preperation but instead mum, dad and myself signed on for the shorter 3.4 km run.

Late last week i was getting excited about my first fun run and trying to figure out why runs like these are actually fun..then the flu struck. The guy who sits next to mea t work got a really bad case of the flue early last week and this hit me on Friday night and all day yesterday. I was feeling so bad that standing in the checkout of the Big W at Highpoint, i was looking around and felt that i wanted to faint. I woke up this morning with a headache and really not wanting to run. Unfortunately mum wasn't feeling to well so it was just dad and myself. It was a cool morning and there were 30,000 people participating and the atmposhere was amazing. Everyone from mums pushing their kids in prams to elite athletes whose shoes and hi-tech garments cost more than my yearly salary.

Thousands of runners, hundreds of volunteers. One amazing atmosphere.

Still that didn't deter me from giving the Tan Track a red hot go and as Dad and I slowly made our way to the start line i said to him "I'll see you later" and just jogged off. It was hard throughout the race as i was continually weaving between walkers and joggers but as soon as i hit the bottom of the hill i just ran my guts (which there is a bit) plus add to the fact that with the flu my head felt trapped in a vice but as soon as i got over the top of it and downhill again i just went for it. I stopped twice for 5 seconds as i really had to spit but as soon as i saw that finish line i just went for it and when i crossed that line i was stuffed and relieved that i actually did it...me..Mark Pepper just did a fun run!

Afterwards i finally caught up with Dad and we got our showbags and made our way down to Port Melbourne for a big hearty breakfast. Whilst there we caught up with Stav whose place i'm at tomorrow night to watch Wrestlemania after work. As dad and i were walking back to the car we saw some of the field for the 15km run coming up to the finish and the encouragement from the crowd watching to the runners was just amazing, i've never been a part of an event like this and i know i'll be back for another fun run and i know which one i want to do.

It's a 10km run in the beautiful bayside suburb of Williamstown on the last Sunday in May. It's just on two months away and with enough training and committment i know i can beat that distance. For those thinking "what time did he run?" well i didn't wear a watch but the results were all electronically timed and the times come out in the paper on Tuesday.

It was a great morning and it was for the kids as well.