Diary of a Marathon: Epilogue

After seven weeks of questions and replies, we've asked our athletes what they thought about the Diary of a Marathon feature. Looking through the hits stats, the feature was quite popular but here's what the athletes had to say:

Tonio Privitelli
I have very much enjoyed taking part in this Diary of a Marathon. I have been looking forward to the questions, to providing the answers, and then to reading and comparing the answers given by my counterparts. Thanks for the opportunity, and keep up the good work.

Michael Grima
The Diary of a Marathon feature has been of great motivation to me. It is something new for me and I really enjoyed it. The questions asked were very intelligent . The answers did give an insight of what such an event entails mentally and phsically. I would like such an experiment to develop more in the future and by this I mean more athletes taking part, female athletes as well!!

I would like to thank Paul Grech for giving me such an occassion so that I could express my feelings and opinions. Paul has definitely injected local athletics with enthusiasm. I really appreciate his dedication. Last but not least I would like to give my regards to the other four participants, Morgan Brimmer, Tonio Privitelli, Paul Grima and Cyprian Dalli. I now how much they are dedicated to road running and to athletics in general. It has been a pleasure and I feel really honoured!

Cyprian Dalli
I really enjoyed sharing my thoughts and feelings on this Diary. It offered me a way to assess myself and my emotions and being able to commit myself on such a popular platform helped me to stay focused and motivated. I also enjoyed reading the other participants' entries, with all their ups and downs throughout the months of training for the event. I think having a varied spectrum of runners on this Diary helped to encompass all the different facets of long-distance running! While reading the other Diarists' entries I always observed that, notwithstanding our different targets for March 1st, we were sharing the same type of excitement and emotions. That is what makes our sports so interesting and so all-encompassing!

Well done Paul for the initiative and for your contribution towards promoting our sports.

Please allow me a concluding comment - I would like to thank all the people who showed their support, caring and love throughout this great adventure. Family, friends, colleagues, fellow runners and all - a big thank you for pushing me all the way from Mdina to Sliema!

One very last concluding note - those of you out there who dream to do a marathon one day but feel that this is out of their grasp : NO, IT IS NOT! Believe me, once you put dedication, commitment and enjoyment into it, you will understand how close you can get to realise your dreams! May my experience serve as a motivation to all of you out there!

Paul Grima
The weekly comments kept me motivated and focused on the big day. I really enjoyed writing my thoughts, hoping to be an inspiration to other athletes like me, to try doing the full marathon next year. I enjoyed reading the Diary of a Marathon which were a good help and support to all of us.

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