The sheer joy of it is what motivates 16-year-old Emily Dunne to spend a holiday morning running half the length of the Island.

The BHS student is tackling the Bermuda Day Derby for the first time this May 25, though she has run three half-marathons before.

"When you're out there," she noted, "it's really painful. But when you can say, 'I ran for two hours straight', you know not many people can say that, and it's a really good feeling."

She trains "all alone" on the railway trail near her home, though she does get tips from her dad, cyclist Peter Dunne, and her mum.

The form her training takes depends on the event, but usually she does distances, each week running a little longer.

The day of the race sees her up at 7 a.m., breakfasting on hot cereal and lots of liquids and "trying not to freak out too much."

She knows it's going to be hot, and she doesn't want to get dehydrated.

She's planning to make her own way into Hamilton where she'll catch the ferry to the starting line in Somerset Village.

On the way she chats with people she knows and checks out the competition, though very often she's the only one in her age group.

"Hopefully there will be someone else," she remarked.

Twenty minutes before the start, she'll start short warms ups and stretches and then will take the race "slow and steady". She has learnt from experience that setting out too fast "is way too painful."

The course passes her house — at mile nine — and her parents and friends will be there to cheer her on.

What she plans to do with the rest of the day, she hasn't quite worked out, "but something not too stressful" she stated emphatically.