Everyone has life goals they want to achieve before a certain age, particularly milestones like 30, 40, or 50 – but rarely is a marathon one of them.

For Tauranga man Tim Searle though, that's exactly what he has in mind.

The 39-year-old has a birthday in March, but wanted to run a marathon before commencing the fifth decade of his life. So he's entering the inaugural Tauranga International Marathon.

'I've done around a dozen half-marathons, and I do enjoy running as a form of exercise,” he says.

'I wanted a bit of a challenge I could easily train for, and this one's local, so I thought it was as good a prompt as any.”

Training for the marathon is all part of Tim adopting a healthier lifestyle – a way of starting the next 40 years the way he intends to live them.

'We're on a bit of a health kick at home this year, eating much more plant-based food, so I thought it would be good to have an event to work towards as well.”

And his biggest goal? At the moment, it will be to finish the actual marathon itself. He hasn't yet run more than 30 kilometres in one go.

'I've been running different bits of the course for training, but I'm looking forward to doing it all together. I'm hoping the momentum of the event will push me further on the day.”

Regardless of how it goes on the day, Tim's already planning to do more marathons in the future. His advice for people thinking about entering the Tauranga International Marathon is to just do it.

'Entering is probably the hardest part! Get a training programme, be consistent with your training, and do what you can fit in around your life.”

The Tauranga International Marathon is on Saturday, October 7. For more information visit www.marathontauranga.co.nz