TWO years ago, while reading The Journal's sports pages, a Lowestoft woman was intrigued by an article about returning to running.

And now, after being encouraged to get back into running since that story, Tracy Mayne has collected a half marathon medal in a prestigious race in America.

'In January 2010 I noticed an article about getting back into running – a beginners course for six weeks at the end of which you will be able to run/jog for 30 minutes,' Mrs Mayne said.

'Well I hadn't run for over 20 years so I thought 'why not?', so on a cold dark February evening I found I struggled to jog the length of Normanston Park's car park without getting out of breath. But after completing those six weeks I decided I loved running and as I progressed I joined Waveney Valley AC running my first ever race a 10K in Great Yarmouth in October 2010.'

The Mayne family had booked to go to Florida over Christmas 2011, and discovered that the Disney World Marathon weekend was towards the end of the families stay on January 6-8.

'How could I go to Disney World and not do a race there, running through the parks?' Mrs Mayne said. 'I decided to attempt the half marathon. Fitting in the training was a challenge and a major hiccup eight weeks before the race threatened me even making the start line. I was sidelined totally for two weeks and told to take it easy after that.'

However, a revised training plan managed to get her ready in time.

'I met up with some runners, who are Disney fanatics, who I had got to know on the internet and some of us met up for dinner that evening,' Mrs Mayne said. 'Running through Disney and the Magic Kingdom especially running under the Castle was just magical and despite my interrupted training I managed a respectable time of 2 hours 29 mins and 24 secs finishing 10,003 out of 22,423. 'I found the race went really quickly and was surprised that apart from the overpass at mile 10 I didn't struggle as much as I though I would,' she admitted. 'The crowds and support around the course was amazing. Having caught the running bug I am now looking to better my half marathon time sooner rather than later.'

When Tracy mentioned that she was running the half marathon she was asked what cause she was being sponsored for.

'As one of our club runners is a Marie Curie nurse and I know people who have been affected by cancer, it seemed an obvious choice to raise funds for them,' Mrs Mayne said. 'I set myself a target of �500 but to date I have raised over �600 – I would like to thank all those who have so generously sponsored me and I am now collecting that sponsorship in, I am still accepting donations if you would like to visit www.justgiving.com/tracymayne.'