Jamie's Weekly Sports Thought

It’s good to see my fellow Southland Times columnist Jerrie Andrews putting her proverbials on the line by publicly declaring her intention to run the Luxmore Grunt.

I guess it’s apt then that I come clean with my sporting aspirations, as there’s nothing quite as motivating as putting your goals, aims and dreams into the public domain. Fear of personal failure is bad enough. Failure, and a whole lot of people knowing about it, is worse.

I vowed, swore and declared I’d never run another marathon after battling my demons during the last 7kms in New York last November. There in lies the problem. I knew I could do better after finishing the London marathon in much better shape 18 months earlier.

Doing the training for a marathon and getting the miles under your belt is never easy. But it’s easier than getting rid of the overhang over your belt.

I was 86kg when I ran London. I reckon the two extra kilos I carried from Staten Island, through Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx really killed me when the pain came on in the run home through Manhattan’s Central Park.

I’ve got six months to knock myself into shape for the Boston marathon in April. How hard can it be? Mike Piper’s run over 100, surely I can complete three?

I jumped onto the bathroom scales yesterday morning and the number flashing back at me started with a nine! So I figure all I need to do is shed six kilos in six months and I’ll be in great nick for the infamous Heartbreak Hill at the 20 mile mark in Boston.

So there you go. I’ve made it public so now I’ve got to make it happen. Goodbye love handles and man boobs. Hello 84kg.

When you say it out loud it does sound dreadfully frightening for a middle-aged bloke who likes beer and liquorice all-sorts. And it also sounds frighteningly light compared to the players who’ll take the field tonight at Rugby Park Stadium in what is really a gladiatorial sport these days.

Back in the 1980s I was considered quite big for a back at about 86kg. At that weight I would have been five kilos heavier than the heaviest All Black back (Joe Karam 81kg) who took the field at Carisbrook in 1973 in the infamous loss to Eric Watson’s Junior All Blacks.

These days, 84kgs means you’re only qualified to run on and off with the kicking tee. And even then you’re lucky. Lucky they’ve dispended with the sand. Because you’d just get it kicked in your face!