Perry pushes through pain to finish
At the beginning of 2018 Erica Perry decided to put her size 12 children’s feet to the test by running a half-marathon – on Saturday they did just that.
Perry, who has Miller Syndrome, a rare genetic condition which causes facial and limb abnormalities, ran half of the 40th annual Mountain to Surf Marathon in New Plymouth.
While the full route took runners from the Egmont National Park gates to the Marine Park in Waitara, Perry, who trained for a year, started at the halfway point in Inglewood.
‘‘I did it basically to show people that anybody can do anything if they put their mind to it,’’ she said.
Perry set herself the goal of completing the course before organisers had begun packing up, so she was stoked with her finish time of four hours.
‘‘It was really amazing to get out there and finally achieve my goal. And I did it in the four hours that I was hoping for.’’
Towards the end Perry’s confidence wavered when the pain began to set in, but her personal trainer, who was running alongside her, pushed her through. ‘‘He gave me that big final push in the last two kilometres because I was crying because I was in so much pain, but I wanted to get to the end so badly so we did it. I did it.’’
A day after the run Perry said her body was struggling, but it didn’t make the feeling of completing the 21-kilometre run any less sweet.
‘‘It was quite hard, especially for my small feet,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ve got Panadol on board so at the moment I’m feeling OK.’’
She said there was never a point where she second-guessed herself or didn’t want to go ahead. Instead her motivation to prove people wrong is what pushed her through.
‘‘I always firmly believed I was going to do it and always firmly believed I was going to get to the end,’’ she said.
‘‘I just wanted to prove that no matter what your ability, you can do anything you can put your mind to.
‘‘And even though doctors told me I would never walk I am proving them wrong and I’m showing them I can run if I want to.’’
Perry is already planning her next run, which will be a 10km run in August, and setting her sights higher than a halfmarathon. ‘‘My next goal will, fingers crossed, be a marathon.’’
‘‘Even though doctors told me I would never walk I am proving them wrong and I’m showing them I can run if I want to.’’