Wendy Smith couldn't move after she ruptured a disc in her back five years ago and this winter she will take on her first marathon run with views of Uluru and The Olgas.
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The 47-year-old Harrison resident wasn't much of a runner before her injury but in April will run her fifth half marathon at the Australian Running Festival to prepare to race double the distance in July.
Reflecting on the paralysing back pain she experienced only a few years ago she is astonished at how well she has recovered.
"I was off work for a couple of weeks hobbling around wondering what the future held. I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to walk or anything after that," she said.
"Back injuries are often told not to run because it is too much strain on your back but I haven't found that. I had gone through a physio run pilates rehabilitation session in Deakin. I got fitter an fitter and with my teachers guidance I was able to take it slowly and easily which I did."
The Red Cross blood bank employee runs four times a week and loves to do it down by Lake Burley Griffin.
"The lake is my favourite. I do a longer run, a 16km around the western basin otherwise just a short one around the bridge to bridge or there is always the eastern basin which is the 9km," she said.
In the short time she has been running she has run four half marathons on the Gold Coast, a Sydney Morning Herald event and the Blackmores event over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The April 9 race will be the second time she has taken on the half marathon in Canberra.
Ms Smith said she hear about the Australian Outback Marathon through fellow runners and set her sights on making her first marathon attempt up north.
"People think I am crazy doing it as my first marathon but It seems like a really amazing place to do a marathon," she said. "I think it will be an outstanding experience, over and above the running, to go out there. I have never been that far out before so I am really looking forward to seeing it."
She will be kicking up red dirt as she runs, but not alone. Her husband plans to fly with her to Alice Springs and take on the 11km run while they are there.
Ms Smith is used to running with beats pumping away in her headphones for motivation, but said considering the scenic course she will run come winter she hopes to do it unplugged.
"I find it good sometimes not to listen to music and just listen to the world around you," she said.
"It would be a shame not to listen to the environment around me in a place as spectacular as that."