In times of set­backs or in­ter­rup­tions, we of­ten need to piv­ot our train­ing ap­proach pur­pose­ful­ly to re­gain lost fit­ness and re­silience.

The re­cent pan­dem­ic served as a train­ing in­ter­lude, and now be­hind us, run­ners and fit­ness en­thu­si­asts can ex­pe­ri­ence sig­na­ture races on the run­ning cal­en­dar, such as the UWI SPEC In­ter­na­tion­al Half Marathon and 5k, with greater in­tent and pur­pose.

This year’s UWI half marathon and 5K re­turns af­ter a three-year ab­sence due to COVID-19. A 5k race has been added to the half marathon to en­sure that “no one is left be­hind”. The or­gan­is­ers of the race are fo­cused on en­gag­ing run­ners, from be­gin­ners to sea­soned ath­letes, to re­turn to dis­tance run­ning, while at the same time cater­ing to those who pre­fer 5k runs. The goal is to turn the ad­ver­si­ty of the past three years in­to an op­por­tu­ni­ty for per­son­al growth and im­prove­ment.

Em­brac­ing the move to start or restart re­quires an un­der­stand­ing of what needs to change in one’s fit­ness goal or run­ning rou­tine. Reg­is­ter­ing for the UWI SPEC Half Marathon pro­vides a def­i­nite pur­pose for dis­tance run­ning train­ing. The cliche “I need to go for a run” did not hap­pen dur­ing the lock­down pe­ri­od. But now, there is a clear goal: ex­pe­ri­enc­ing the pre­mier half marathon in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Set­ting new goals and ex­pec­ta­tions

Half marathon prepa­ra­tion re­quires a pur­pose­ful piv­ot of both phys­i­cal and men­tal for­ti­tude.

The UWI SPEC In­ter­na­tion­al Half Marathon will pro­vide a test to those who run long dis­tances and those who want to take up the chal­lenge of know­ing them­selves by com­plet­ing a half marathon.

For those who run/walk the 5k, the op­por­tu­ni­ty is to have the UWI ex­pe­ri­ence and add to their ex­ist­ing 5k run­ning dossier.

For all par­tic­i­pants, the half marathon and 5k rep­re­sent par­tic­i­pa­tion in a pres­ti­gious event while en­sur­ing a healthy mind in a healthy body.

This year, the goal is 2,000 par­tic­i­pants—1,200 for the half marathon and 800 for the 5k.

The gaunt­let has been thrown out to all run­ners/walk­ers and fit­ness en­thu­si­asts to reg­is­ter and test their skills of prepa­ra­tion, de­ter­mi­na­tion, and ex­e­cu­tion.

The 5 am (half-marathon) and 5.15 am (5k) start times will en­sure that the ear­ly morn­ing hu­mid­i­ty will not be a fac­tor as par­tic­i­pants run/walk along the PBR traf­fic-free.

The Fac­ul­ty of Sport, through its aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grammes and sport­ing ac­tiv­i­ties, con­tin­ues to pro­mote the holis­tic ben­e­fits of sport to its stu­dents, staff and the gen­er­al Caribbean pop­u­la­tion.

Grace Jack­son is a

Ja­maican sil­ver medal­list

in the women’s 200 me­tres at the Seoul Olympics 1988. She is the Sport and Out­reach Co­or­di­na­tor at the St Au­gus­tine Acad­e­my of

Sport in the Fac­ul­ty of Sport.