BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: You’re not going to get paid to train. You’re not going anywhere with all that running.

They may be harmless remarks from friends who get annoyed when Maziah Mahusin could not join them for a night at the movies or chill out at the coffee shop. But for someone who trains six days a week, such comments can weigh heavy.

Good thing Maziah isn’t a champion sprinter for nothing; Brunei’s first female Olympian knows how to keep focused on her goals. She ignores the comments and continues to surround herself with those who are understanding and supportive.

“You just stay away from those people who discourage you,” says Maziah.

Not to say that the rigours of training do not challenge her emotionally. She remembers missing a reunion with her grandmother in 2011.

Looking back on those emotionally challenging days, Maziah sometimes feels she is selfish for not being able to make time for family and friends. But she also has to constantly remind herself that sacrifices have to be made for her dreams to come true.

Some people may look at running as if it is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. Yes, anyone can run, says Brunei’s national sprinter.

“But to be a fast runner, you have to train,” she says. “I was not born a fast runner. I worked hard.”

It can take months or years for an athlete to improve her running speed, she says, noting that in her own experience, it took her two years to break a personal record of running 400 metres in under one minute.

Maziah trains six days a week. She trains twice a day and each training session goes for two hours. Her only rest day is Sunday. She has been following this routine for six years since she joined the national athletics team in 2010.

While all the training is helping her make gains in her running performance, she says she is also losing friends, holidays and precious holiday moments.

“It is upsetting that I have to miss out a lot on family moments,” says Maziah.

While she knows that her family is very supportive of her and understands her absence from outings and family vacations, there are times when the urge to be with family is so strong, such as when they went to Kuala Lumpur to visit her grandmother.

“At that time, I think it was more than 10 years that I had not seen my grandmother.”

But Maziah had to prepare for the 2011 Kalimantan Borneo Games in Indonesia.

For all the times that she couldn’t join her family at gatherings or celebrations, she dedicates every one of her medals and achievements to them.

Training can be stressful and it is important that athletes have a strong mentality, Maziah says, adding she is thankful of her family’s support since the National Athletics Team coach spotted her — then a 14-year-old Form 2 student — competing during a Sports Day at Berakas Secondary School. “It was my mum who has always been there.”

She says her mother has sacrificed a lot of time for her, taking her to training and then picking her up after.

“Sometimes my training sessions could go on for three hours but she would still wait for me to finish. When I’m racing [at local competitions], I can always hear my mother’s voice cheering me on. If she’s not there, I feel that something is missing.”

Right now, Maziah says her training is focused on setting a record time for 200-meter sprinting events. Her current record is 25.22 seconds.

She hopes to bag more medals for Brunei and has dreams of winning big at future events such as the next Southeast Asian Games.

Maziah describes her goals as an “uphill journey” and it will take time for her to reach the top.

“I will reach the top. I don’t know when but I will get there.”

The Brunei Times

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2016