SUE Dean has already run one marathon.
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That’s enough for most people.
But, four children later, Dean is about to notch up her second when she tackles the Orange Colour City Running Festival’s inaugural 42.2 kilometre challenge tomorrow morning.
Alongside close to 100 other entrants - including nine international runners, mainly from Brazil - Dean will take on the marathon as the only registered female member of the Orange Runners Club.
For Dean, it was a challenge too good to pass up.
“I found out about the marathon about six months ago, so I’ve gradually just started worked up to it,” Dean said.
“I’ve done one before. I didn’t want to miss the first one in Orange.”
Dean will use today’s two kilometre kids dash as a warm up of sorts, joining husband James and children Lucy, Jack, Maeve and Billy for the first event in the 2013 Orange Colour City Running Festival.
It’ll be a fun, family-oriented event.
Sue said her husband James will lead the charge, pushing Billy in his pram with Lucy, Jack and Maeve in tow.
James joked the kids take part “because we said so.”
Sue added with a smile: “They just get taken wherever we go.”
But with over 1450 registered entrants - double that of the 2012 running festival - across the seven events this weekend, it’s hard to believe the Deans are having to drag the kids along to such a popular running event.
“Sunday runners club is a regular thing for us,” Sue explained further.
“The kids see their cousins here. There’s a lot of other families here too which is nice. It’s a good healthy thing to be doing.”
Come tomorrow though, the Deans, particularly Sue, will be all business.
The Orange Runners Club’s version of super mum, Dean is aiming to push the four-hour mark in tomorrow’s marathon.
“We’ve done the course a few times and I like the way the course is,” she said.
“It’s split between dirt, bitumen and some hilly parts... there’s nice scenery.
“I’ve been really lucky. There’s been a little group of us that’s been training together. We’ve stuck together and it’s made the training a lot easier. We’ve just done it all together.”
When Dean crosses the finish line at the Bloomfield hospital tomorrow, hopefully just before lunch time, it’ll be a monumental feat for the mother of four, one most people only ever dream about accomplishing in their lifetime.
For Dean, running the marathon event isn’t about proving a point.
She’s doing it because it’s fun.
And Dean is confident anyone can do it too.
“I think it’s (achievable by) just by gradually building up to it. If you like to do it, it’s just about spending the time and doing it gradually.”
The Orange Colour City Running Festival marathon starts at 6.30am tomorrow.