Trudy wins race against time for New York marathon
Running the world's most famous marathon was the easy part. Getting to the starting line was a whole other story...
The New York marathon may not have been Cairns nurse Trudy McMillan’s fastest marathon but it was by far her most meaningful.
Ms McMillan, 53, completed her sixth marathon this month after undergoing knee surgery.
A torn meniscus meant she was only able to start running five weeks before the marathon.
“I only have about half of my medial meniscus left. It was hard work to get back,” she says.
“But I thought I can either give up or give it a shot.”
Forced to find other ways to build her fitness, Ms McMillan attended four spin classes, four pilates classes and several gym sessions each week to get in shape.
Phyx Me physiotherapist Megan Thomas set out a strict rehab plan to go along with her training.
The hard work resulted in Ms Mcmillan joining 52,000 runners at Staten Island to take part in the famous race through New York’s five boroughs.
“It was beautiful,” she says.
“New York was never somewhere I’d aspired to go to but it was fabulous.
“The trees were all in their autumnal stage. Central Park was quite incredible.
“I ran five hours and three minutes which isn’t great but was faster than I thought I’d do.
“I’m still kind of pinching myself that I was able to pull it off.”
Now that she’s returned, Ms Mcmillan says she’s strengthening her knee and continue her rehab plan.
“It’s okay but I wouldn’t say it’s perfectly fine,” she says.
“The rehab needs to continue. It still has some healing to do.”
The New York marathon will be her last.
“The last one I did I swore I’d never do another one so that’s it,” Ms Mcmillan says.
