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My Journey to the Marathon (10):
The Day of Reckoning

8 May 2010: While training for my second ever 10km race with Cyp Dalli, he jokes that my number plate (and my date of birth), reflect the Marathon distance: 26.2 miles. It was the first time I learned the length of the Marathon distance, and my only reaction was: "Kemm baqaghli!" But on that day, a dream was born.

26 February 2012: That dream can come true. More than 600km of training in the last 3 months, and all the running before that, have all been leading to tomorrow.

409 athletes will tomorrow be standing at the Marathon start-line, "one of the most daunting places on Earth", with 409 different reasons for being there.
Some will be chasing a medal, some will be chasing a personal best, some will be doing it for the first time.
Some will be trying to prove something to the world, some will be trying to prove something to themselves.

For 26.2 miles they will run. They will struggle. They will endure.

And at the finish-line, they will have 409 different stories to tell.

At Sliema Ferries tomorrow, 409 different personal battles will be won.

As for me, 658 days after that target was set, it's time to make it happen.
My 26th birthday...the 26/2/2012...26 years since the first Malta Marathon...is the day I'll be facing 26.2 miles. One mile of thanksgiving for each year of this beautiful life, and 385 yards to herald the future and whatever it might bring. How luckier can your birthday get?

From the 36th kilometre onward tomorrow, it will all be new ground. But tomorrow will not be about reaching 37km. It will not be about reaching 40km.

It will only be about 42 kilometres and 195 metres. Or rather, 26 miles and 385 yards.



But my dream is insignificant compared to the dreams of the disabled children being helped by the NGO I'm raising funds for. So, please, help make these children's dreams come true, and make my miles count. Make your donation for Inspire today, from as little as €2, by sending an SMS to one of the below numbers with the text "Mark Sammut". Help make a difference, like many others and I are trying to. They deserve it. They need it.

50617359 - €2.33; 
50618080 - €4.66;
50618926 - €6.99;
50619215 - €11.65 


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