Since 2008 Philomena Robertson has been running the roads and consistantly improving her times across all distances. On Nov 6th she faces her biggest challenge at the 2011 New York City Marathon"

“This could very well be the challenge of my life but I am determined to do it,” commented Robertson as she embarked on yet another punishing day’s practice.

With only one month of serious training under her belt, Robertson will be relying heavily on her determination and drive, “In terms of my training for the marathon, I’m at a distinct disadvantage. People usually train for six months or so. I’m only getting to put in a month’s worth of marathon training and that has already been hampered by illness. I’m not deterred though; I simply have to increase the amount of miles I put in. Last Sunday, I did a 13-mile run, this weekend, I plan to increase that to 18 miles and hopefully, in my final training weekend, I can do a 22-mile run.”

Robertson will use her competitive streak to run, walk, hobble of crawl over the finishing line as she runs to raise funds for Reach Grenada, A NYC based Children's Charity

Although the Marathon represents an ultimate test of Robertson’s stamina, she will have the added stimulus that every stride will earn money for the Reach Grenada Charity – a New York City based charity with a mission of improving the health and well-being of Grenada’s most vulnerable youth. Their programmes equip formerly maltreated children with essential tools for a harmonious hope-filled life and empower caregivers to care for the children by giving them tools to be loving and presents.

“Having lived in New York for eight years and never given thought to running the NYC Marathon, I can’t truthfully claim that running a marathon has been a lifelong dream but what I can say unabashedly is that when I came upon the opportunity to run the marathon in support of a worthy cause, I became fixated on achieving that goal.” She said.

“I came upon it by chance and being Grenadian, I was immediately intrigued and checked out the website to see the work they’ve been involved in. I was impressed and luckily, they had spots available and so I began my journey to the NYC Marathon 2011.”

Distance running is relatively new to Robertson, having started out as a sprinter in high school and college. But since moving to the VI in 2008, she adopted a routine of running three to five miles daily. Not deterred by failing to finish her first 10K in July 2009, she kept on improving and last weekend ran the NACAC 10K, clocking a personal best of 53:10.

“The question is not if I can do the marathon, it’s what time I can complete it in. I’ve set my goal at 4:30 but I really want to finish in four hours max. I am confident that I will cross that finish line whether I’m running, walking or hobbling and it will be all for a good cause.”
Anyone who knows her will have no doubt she means it too.
To add your support visit www.reachgrenada.org/fundraiser.php?id=95.

The New York City Marathon is one of the world’s great road races, drawing more than 100,000 applicants annually. The race attracts many world-class professional athletes, not only for the more than $600,000 in prize money, but also for the chance to excel in the media capital of the world before two million cheering spectators and 315 million worldwide television viewers.