Kerre Woodham: Hamstring twinge badge of honour and entree to coolness

Just a month to go now, and the hard work is almost over. Fourteen more days of stressing the body and then the taper begins - the theory being that months of full-on training followed by a couple of weeks of light running leading up to the marathon ensures that your body is gagging for the opportunity to run 42kms.

Well, that's the theory anyway. And, yep, the body's certainly being stressed. A long, slow haul up the Waitakere hills last Saturday resulted in a hamstring strain - nothing serious, and really, more of a twinge than a strain but I feel more like a real athlete if I call it a strain.

All Blacks and cool people like them get hamstring strains. And now I've got one.

Being able to discuss my hammy with other runners makes me feel less like an imposter. You only get hamstring strains if you're doing quite a bit of work, so my sore hammy is my passport to acceptance in the running world. However, as a result of my hamstring strain, I had to ease off the running this week and work out on the cross-trainer and take to the pool for aqua-jogging. If you're doing it right, aqua-jogging is hard work.

I was blowing like a carthorse by the time I'd done a mile of interval training but it's a very weird feeling. You're working as hard as you can and getting nowhere. It's like being a hamster running on a watery wheel. Still, at least I'm exercising and that's the main thing.

I've heard horror stories of people getting injured with just days to go before their marathon.

Mike McRoberts, who was training for the New York marathon, damaged a knee and now, after months of early-morning training sessions, he'll be travelling to New York but as a spectator, not a runner. That must be gutting.

I'm at the stage now where the only thing worse than running this bloody marathon would be not to run it. So into my togs and down to the teps, and hopefully back out on the roads next week.

* Kerre Woodham is sponsored by Regal Salmon