Hany Yacoub

RACE DAY Triumph

It was a cold and windy night and nothing much changed by the morning…

A blustery Northerly was a howler and plenty of the runners had felt its wrath, combined with the warm weather and some would guess not ideal for all those fast runners that had every intention to qualify for the World Championships in London August 2017 and the entry standard is sub 2:19 for and 2:45 for a female. Luckily the top 2 women have qualified on that premise but alas no Male could.

My story was of a similar albeit a far more generous entry criteria of 3:10 and I was a wee bit off that. The race was fantastic and the pacers set a blistering pace to start. I stuck with the 3 :00 pacers for the first 10 km (not intended until race day) due to the fact that having tail wind for the first 10 kms was brilliant. I came unstuck with the shoe laces being new (yes foolish) tied up too tight and had to stop at the 9km s mark and remove a couple of notches off.

Sadly, loosening the shoelaces resulted in the legs swimming in the shoe a bit and I immediately started blistering on my toes…

I stuck to the plan of shedding the water belt and using the wind to my advantage and battled it whenever I could. I kept the pace nicely until about the 20 kms mark but by the half marathon mark, I was 2 minutes off the pace and heading into the wind. At the 25km mark, things started unravelling and I got in those 5 minutes/km pace where pretty much I stayed until the end of the race. It might have been disappointing finish but I am happy I at least managed the Sub 3:30 mark and a personal best on a road marathon.

I believe it was the cheering of the fellow CanTooers that helped. Its been an amazing year and I kept one important thing going really well this year.

Don’t get injured

Glad to report I managed to get the whole year without a major incident which was not the case of the past 4 years where I managed a major injury every year.

I am grateful and appreciative of the team at CanToo that had taken great initiatives and put together some fantastic programs with great coaches such as Gordon Campbell of @Plus Performance (http://www.plusperformance.com.au/) who coached me for my second CanToo Campaign for the year.

I also want to acknowledge my Bootcamp mentors who have over the past 3 years built a strong foundation on which I am reaping the results

Chief and Gunny Brabon of Original Bootcamp CBD & Coogee and Jase Cronshaw of Original Bootcamp Leichhardt ( http://originalbootcamp.net/)

Offcourse, I cannot leave out my training buddies who are heading to New York to paint the Big Apple Orange and in doing so will raise valuable funds that go towards innovation in the prevention, care and control of cancer.

Cancer remains an unpredictable terminal disease and additional research in combating it is vital for all human beings. Cancer continues to impact on the lives of a great portion of the population and not only does it affect the person with the disease but it has a resonance impact on family, friends and colleagues. It does not discriminate adults or children, male or female, young or old.

Thank you to my sponsors to date

Shireen, Will and Stephen who have contributed a whopping 50% of funds raised so far

And the ever present Boral team that have time and time again supported my endeavours for a better world.

A big Thank you for Kathleen, Natalie and Sid for their repeat efforts from the last campaign and mammoth support again. And joined for the first time this year by Toni, Ronil, Depak, Shabnam, Stephen and Amer for an extremely generous support.

And now here is how you can help with your donation (All donation of $2 and more are tax deductible and can be easily lodged here with a Tax receipt sent to your email address)

The page will be open for a couple more weeks and hoping to raise as much as possible to a truly worthy cause.

https://www.cantoo.org.au/fundraisers/HanyYacoub1472

Thankyou for taking the time to read this far and for supporting me and CanToo

The Long run to Prospect

Over the past 3 months I had been training with CanToo for my Goal Event that is the Melbourne Marathon

By the time I am finished with that race, I would have clocked over 500 kms of running Think of driving from Prospect to Campbelltown, Bowral, Marulan, Goulbourn, Yass, Gundagai, Holbrook and finally arrive on the border to Albury… except I did it on foot

And tomorrow Friday 30th September marks my last long run before the Main Event (http://melbournemarathon.com.au/)

2 Weeks 2 Days

For that I will be running from Rozelle (home) to Prospect (BORAL) with an added lap of the Bay run approximately 35 kms starting at 4:30 am

I won’t lie and say it was easy (especially those early wake up calls in winter and not to mention the several times running in pouring and torrential rain.) But, I can assure you it was extremely rewarding and when you are training with like-minded people, it’s completely amazing experience and if you ever seek to achieve running your own marathon, half marathon or triathlon (as I had earlier this year), check out CanToo https://www.cantoo.org.au/ they will get you there

In return, for those positive endorphins I attained over the past 3 months, I am raising valuable funds that go towards innovation in the prevention, care and control of cancer. Cancer remains an unpredictable terminal disease and additional research in combating it is vital for all human beings. Cancer continues to impact on the lives of a great portion of the population and not only does it affect the person with the disease but it has a resonance impact on family, friends and colleagues. It does not discriminate adults or children, male or female, young or old.

And now here is how you can help with your donation (All donation of $2 and more are tax deductible and can be easily lodged here with a Tax receipt sent to your email address)

https://www.cantoo.org.au/fundraisers/HanyYacoub1472

Thankyou for taking the time to read this far and for supporting me and CanToo

Week 5 - Physical recovery and mental exhaustion

Dearest friends and family,

its been a very humbling weekend indeed. Its been a weekend where I had the joy and privilege to spend it again with my boys after 4 weeks of exhausting training schedule. i schedule I chose to participate in and ensure that I am giving it my all. up till Saturday morning, I think my plans were all working out. I am physically and mentally stronger through the program provided endearingly by CanToo... It is hard not to be swept in a positive vibe when you are surrounded by people from all walks of life that share a common goal.

The goal is not physical activity or strength or better times or ny of it. Week by Week i have learnt of some of the tales of those team mates who are running for a recent loss of a parent, friend and those running for the ongoing sufferings of many more. I have witnessed first hand that very determination on the faces of those who try, fail, triumph and fail again only to rise again in the face of adversary and unspeakable hurts.

To be honest I was not planning on documenting this journey. I was planning to keep my peace and not ask you to share in it. However after two consecutive days of hearing of two people at the end of the spectrum that had recently been diagnosed with that "C" (Cancer) word; I just felt compelled to share. There is nothing i can think of that is more devastating to a family when you have just heard that your loved one is diagnosed with a terrible disease, your first impression is that I have such little time with the person diagnosed and I must make the most of it.

Life is truly precious and if you ever doubt that, imagine that your son, father, partner had been diagnosed and given a little to no hope of surviving the next few months. Their choice range is lying somewhere between painful and horrible treatment or imminent death. I have recently been made aware of this with two close families. I am devastated to say the least. I am devastated because of how helpless I feel to assist, to contribute to lessen their pain, to even share in their grief.

I am honestly lost for words and i just want to hug them and tell them it will be okay, it can get better, its only for now. I want to tell them, there is hope, there is a cure that will be ready soon and will save your loved one. it will save you and all those who are around you. I really want that to be the reality, I have three little boys of my own who are not without a challenge and I have been known to cry in frustration of not being able to assist them. But the reality is, they are not diagnosed with Cancer and they are still healthy and living and are not facing the challenge of the C word, that catastrophe that is indiscriminant and attacks the young with equal impunity as it attacks the old. It attacks the wealthy, the worker, the poor and the homeless...

When Cancer comes knocking, its silent monstrosity will attack the healthy as well as the weak, it will attack you in the middle of the night as it would by daylight. I am astounded everyday by people who have endured it, endured losses from it and those that wake up and fight it.

This is why I am running with CanTOO and why I am trying to be part of the solution. I am asking you to join me in being part of that solution, help me raise the required funds that can and will facilitate a cure, the research does take time and it takes effort and we need to fund more research and ensure that collectively we are not a statistic of hearing of someone else dying or suffering. We need to be part of the solution, I want us to see the day when one day another vaccine is found and another Cancer is cured and another life is saved…

Feel free to share and feel free to support the Cure…