Realisation of a dream

"Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly."

The New Yorker Langston Hughes wrote that. Charmaine Mifsud lived that on 26 February for a whole 3 hours, 41 minutes, 54 seconds – the time between the starting line at Mdina and the finishing line at the Sliema ferries. In between, we see what happened.

Charmaine, going back to the starting line, moments before the gun took off, what were you thoughts?

I was very, very excited, my thoughts were positive, I was convincing myself that I will finish and I want to keep track of my pace the whole time, so that I will see the finish line proudly.

Through the forty-two kilometres, were you carrying any particular mantra?

I wore a bracelet my daughter gave me, and I held the picture of myself hugging my husband , kids and parents at the finish line. That was one of the reasons that kept me going. I didn’t want to let anyone down!

Did you have to run for long periods virtually on your own?

Yes, infact I was running with a group of friends in the first six to seven kilometres, but soon we all took our pace and scattered. It was a very windy day and it would have helped if there was someone who could draft me, but it didn’t happen.

Looking back at the way the course is set, would you change parts of the present route?

For sure. The loop of Ta Qali to Attard and Mosta is too depressing, passing the same route twice. I was feeling better mentally as soon as we passed Kilometre 30, when we joined the half marathoners.

There must have been parts where you were going through some kind of crisis? When was that and what kept you going?

Oh yes..!! My right leg was in so much agony between the 33^rd and the 37^th kilometre, the pain was unbearable, I couldn’t lift my leg off the ground. The thought of quitting or ending up walking was tormenting me and I convinced myself that after running all those kilometres I will not quit the last bit. I was talking to myself loudly ’Come on Charmy,you will do it’ and slowly I was getting back my pace. I was thinking all the way to run last few metres with my son as we had agreed!!

How was your whole self feeling through the last few hundred metres as you got by the Sliema ferries and the finish was in sight?

Heh… the thing is that after the 37^th km, I didn’t want to look at my GPS and pace as still was in pain and knew that my first time target was unreachable. My second target was to see the time in the finish line in less than 3:45, and when I finally saw the clock… I couldn’t believe my eyes. I started to cry before I was under the clock. My son approached me and we ran the last twenty metres together. The cherry on the cake was when I found my coach greeting me and cheering me just under the clock!!

What changed in yourself now that you can call yourself a marathoner?

It’s a dream come true…it has always been my target in the pipeline that before the age of forty I will run a marathon. I imagined it and finally ran it, I will be forty next June. So with God by one side, and my coach on the other side, everything went as planned!!