Mum sets sights on London

Runner Mary Davies takes things in her stride.

Only weeks after giving birth to a healthy baby boy Lucas - now four and a half months - she was back training with her sights set on qualifying for the marathon at next year's London Olympics.

Juggling training and looking after an infant is no easy task, but the 29-year-old Northland raised Davies seemed pretty relaxed about it at Whangarei Aquatic Centre, following a training session with her Whangarei coach Ian Babe.

Babe and Davies go way back - he started coaching Davies when she started running aged 21, providing her "with good foundations in the sport." In 2002, Davies left Whangarei for the United States, and attended the University of Oklahoma on an athletics scholarship.

She shot into the national rankings by qualifying for the Marathon World Cup in Berlin in August, 2009, in her first marathon.

Then 26, Davies did not disappoint in Berlin and led the Kiwi team into eighth place in the team's event. She finished in 35th place, in a personal best time of 2h 38m 48s.

Davies now lives in Ottawa, Canada with her partner Gabriel Sewekuchi, and decided to return to Northland not long after the birth of Lucas.

"I came home to get away from the Ottawa winter and train here with Ian [Babe] during the summer while I'm trying to qualify for the Olympics. It was also a good chance for the family to meet Lucas," Davies said.

The softly spoken Davies said she had been feeling confident and on-target she could run the demanding 2h 32m 00s Olympic marathon qualifying time, at either the Paris or Rotterdam Marathons, both held on April 15.

"But then I got a little niggle - since having the baby. The physio said your ligaments stretch when you give birth. It's in my SI (Sacroiliac) joint and it's coming right but it's hard to feel positive when you are injured," she said.

Babe has had Davies water running for two hours every day along with doing other alternate training. Davies said it was definitely helping, that she was maintaining her fitness and hoped to be back running on dryland by mid-January.

"I need to be running by then if I am to try and compete in Paris or Rotterdam. If that falls through however, and I am not ready by then, I will try the Ottawa Marathon on May 30."

Babe said the latter did not leave much time for Davies to prepare for the Olympics, in August."Mary is certainly doing the work at the moment while injured but it is just not run specific ... we will have to make the decision soon as to what race to target," Babe said.

Davies has not run either of the marathons in Europe but is taking things as they come.