Characters of the Marathon

Running is the most universal of sports. Most sportsmen have to include running in their programme. But then there are runners, who do running for running sake. They see running as pure and noble in itself, it becomes their way of life, and doing a marathon becomes the fascination of their life. Running being as universal as it is, naturally attracts a plethora of characters on any starting line. Charmaine Mifsud, a 39 year old Mellieħa AC runner, married, mother of two, and a science teacher in primary schools, will be one of these characters at the Malta Marathon.

Charmaine, I believe you have a sports background and used to play tennis regularly. How much were you involved in tennis and what made you turn to running ‘full-time’?

I was very involved till last year in tennis as it was my main sport. In fact I was enrolled with four tennis clubs but this year I dropped one since I reduced my tennis games quite drastically. The reason for this was not because I got fed up of the game but because I was running and training following a programme offered by our club coach Mr Has Kesra and I was overdoing it, i.e. playing tennis four times a week and running four times a week simultaneously, which meant that most days I was doing double sessions or when I was supposed to rest I was playing tennis! So since I am a very competitive person I wanted to see good results in my races. I decided to drop down to one tennis game a week, increase running and follow my running programmes more seriously. And this almost immediately gave results.

I know you have done a few half marathons. When was your first one, how many did you do and what’s your personal best?

I did five half marathons in all in Malta, year after year till last year. I did another one in Edinburgh last year also. My PB is 1:42 which I achieved last year.

I am sure that doing a marathon has been long time coming, but what made you decide that this year is the one and that there is no way back?

Well, as I told you before I am a very competitive person so having done five half marathons and also three times the Malta Challenge, I decided that I gained enough experience to finally achieve my ultimate goal to run the full marathon. One of the main reasons for this was that this year I felt very good and did a lot of progress. I placed as the sixth women overall in the Malta Challenge. This is the full marathon divided in three days but with very hilly routes, thus rendering it much more difficult than the route of the full marathon. This fact and my coach’s belief in me gave me a lot of confidence.

At the moment, how much is the word ‘marathon’ playing up on your mind?

I am dreaming about it at night. And when I find a person interested in athletics I am talking about it all the time. I dream and visualize myself running and seeing the finish line with a good time especially while I’m running in the morning at 5.30am alone and I smile.

Being from the same club as me, I am rather familiar about your weekly programme to the marathon. So far what has been the most challenging thing, and at the other end gratifying?

I have learnt by time that my body reacts quite well in long distances rather than short ones. I was looking forward to how I would manage the very long runs my coach gave me, alongside the other training during the week. My longest run was 3 hours and after I finished it I felt good. This was very gratifying and encouraging for the upcoming race.

Can you say that you’ve surprised yourself during the current preparation to the big day? Learnt anything new about yourself during this period?

Actually I was very happy with one particular thing - I learnt how I should pace myself from the start to finish of a race cause I’ve been trying to maintain the pace given to me before a race but I never used to keep it. Now that I am managing it, I feel more confident during a race as I know more what I’m doing.

Finally, I am sure you’re having a lot of support. Want to thank anyone in particular?

All my achievements in life were due to having my dear husband behind me all the way. I am immensely grateful towards him. Even though being a non-sportive person, he’s always been there, encouraging me in whatever I do and that is more than I could ever wish for.