THE annual Melbourne Marathon brings together many participants from across the nation, the state and even internationally, but a group of locals has made the trip to the state capital with over 20 athletes toeing the starting line this year.

Hamilton Running Club member, Sonia Gillingham, was one such athlete who made the trek to the city to run her first half-marathon and she was extremely happy to have run the whole distance which was much to her surprise.

“It’s such a big deal for me, as I was not a sporty person when I was growing up -  I ran last in every single race I ran,” Gillingham said.

“My husband has been a runner for years and he was always at me to take it up, but I would always say no.”

The young mother of two only took up running after a friend suggested they head down to Mitchell Park and attend a ‘Learn to Run’ session a couple of years ago.

Not wanting to let her friend down, Gillingham agreed and the rest is history, as she surprised herself about well she felt on that initial first lap of the oval.

She would go on to run a lap of Lake Hamilton without stopping and continued to progress to the stage she is at now where she is running major events.

“My first ever ‘learn to run’ was two years ago and to be where I’m at now is far from where I thought I’d be,” she said.

“I still remember my first night at Learn to Run here at Mitchell Park and how I surprised myself in running a lap of the oval without stopping and then progressing to running the lake without stopping.”

Of course, you cannot just decide to run either a half or full marathon without first putting in months of training in preparation to ensure you’re able to perform at the required level.

“The longest single run we undertook in training was 18km, but over the 20-weeks of training we covered 450km in the build-up to the event and averaged roughly 20-22km a week,” Gillingham said.

“It was the first half marathon event for several of us, and the first 10km event for others too.

“The club was so well represented with double the number of people here this morning (12) fronting up in Melbourne on Sunday.”

After recovering from her outing, Gillingham has already turned her attention to the next event she is targeting.

“I was so sore on Monday, and I couldn’t move, while the drive home saw several stops to stretch,” she said.

“I want to compete in the Port Fairy 10km event in February next year, so once I get over the effects of the half marathon, I’ll be getting ready for that.

“My time of two hours nine minutes was so much better than I expected, but Nicole Watt set the pace from the beginning of the race, and we just followed along.”

The Hamilton Running Club holds sessions from Sunday through Thursday each week.