Marysville Marathon Festival

Sunday was a great day. 50km in the hills of Marysville. It had everything.

The start line was a pink tractor. I stood next to it with zero nerves, just excitement. Next to me was Seb, Dan and Toby. All three of them would end up running great races and finish in the first half dozen. Ahead of them from that pink tractor was the same 50km that I faced but in truth, for them, a much tougher assignment. They were racing, I was just running. I can’t imagine how tough that must be on top of the distance, the mud and the 1.5km of ascent.

If anyone was nervous on the start line it wouldn’t have lasted long. Every single runner missed the first turn off and suddenly a couple of hundred people came to a stop as Toby redirected us. Much laughter ensued and one guy at the tail of the field got a huge buzz as he realised that for a moment he was in the lead.

My plan was to go out slow, keep myself in check until the highest elevation point of the course which was at about the 26km mark. I wanted to finish with just general pain, not the pain you get when you blow up and slow to an ugly, excruciating shuffle.

Heaps of people went past me in those early stages. I was hoping I would see them again later on. For some though it didn’t take long for me to get them back. Once we hit the mud the difference between trail shoes and road shoes was amazing. It was the first time I had worn trail shoes in an event and it was like cruising on roller blades past people just out for a Sunday stroll. Almost felt unfair but I loved it.

Passing people to achieve a higher placing is not a motivation for me. I don’t even know where I finished up and may never know. It’s not important whether I finish 33^rd or get pipped to drop back to 34^th. Having said that though, for much of the run on Sunday I concentrated hard on passing people and people passing me. It serves two purposes.

 The first is that it gives you something to think about. Six hours is a long time to be out there with nothing much to do. The second thing is it just gives you an indication of how well or badly you’re travelling. If you pass people who had moved away from you earlier then you’ve probably put in place a race plan that is within your means and you’re executing it. It means you are staying relatively strong for most of the race.

On Sunday I ran within a couple of hundred metres of a guy and a girl for the last 25kms. It was amazing. Very interesting. We all took turns of passing and being passed. The girl in particular made me laugh. Her Garmin stuffed up and wouldn’t stop beeping. I could hear her coming, without having to look I knew how far away she was. It was like ‘Jaws’ mowing me down. She passed me 3 or 4 times in the second half of the run. Every time she went by me I thought, "she is travelling so well, looking so strong. No way I was going to pass her back". But every time I somehow managed it. It wasn’t a big fist pumping moment of beating her, far from it. It was just confirmation that my race plan was working ‘for me’. Simarlarly her race plan was probably working as well, just different ways of going about it. I was keeping it together at a consistent pace. I was having good and bad moments, not fantastic and disastrous moments. Big difference. It was the first ultra that I have ever felt in control.

There was a new feeling for me at Marysville. It was massive, Massive, MASSIVE appreciation for the volunteers who make the event possible. I have always been thankful for their work but I had so much fun at Marysville, I almost felt guilty. They put in so much effort it’s unbelievable. Many of them are runners themselves and instead of joining in on the day they work for hours for no pay so that I, and hundreds of others, can have what turned out to be the greatest trail run I have ever been involved in.

Sincere thanks to all.

·         Below is my day in digits. There’s a story in every km. It won’t show all the friendly faces of runners and volunteers though. You’ll just have to register next year to feel the full glow.

·         http://connect.garmin.com/activity/131478815

Post Marathon Blues

It’s 36 days since the Melbourne Marathon. This event for many people is their grand final. It’s held up there as the pinnacle of the running calendar for thousands of people. In one way that’s a great thing because it means in the lead up, a huge amount of us are training hard for months on end. Getting fit and healthy. Becoming mentally stronger and feeling a whole lot better about pretty much everything.

Then on marathon day people put themselves through what can be life changing experiences. They achieve amazing things and everything is just about perfect.

Normally at the end of a season, and especially after a grand final, teams will cut loose big time. Training comes to a complete stop and healthy habits are broken. It can be a similar scenario after a marathon. There is often a mental let down as well as a physical one.

I was on a huge high after the Melbourne Mara and wanted to get into training for next year straight away. There was no motivational issues this time. I’d never felt so keen after a marathon. About a week later though my body started to shut down a bit. There was no real injury, just complete body tiredness. I had experienced this in previous years so I was almost expecting it this time. A quote that a mate and I often throw at each other came to mind – “This too shall pass.” – and it did. In other years though the physical has affected the mental  and I have struggled for weeks to get back into loving it.

The best thing that I have found to work in keeping things moving after the MM is another event. Thousands did City to Sea yesterday. A smaller number did the Moonwalk Ultra in the Dandenongs on Saturday night. I’m signed up with a couple of legends for Marysville in a less than two weeks. After Marysville there’s a short event with the ‘Running Club’ kids from school around the Tan and after that.......well there are an endless amount of options.

In no way am I down playing the Melbourne Marathon. It’s an amazing event. I’ve done three and had tears welling up while crossing the line in two of them. If you can get such an amazing feeling by just turning up and having a crack, why wouldn’t you do it more often. Maybe not once a month, but surely more than once a year.

It is 36 days since the MM. If it’s also 36 days since your last run and you’re not injured then it’s time to shuffle. Not because you should, not because you feel you have to. It’s time to shuffle and shake off them Marathon Blues. Lock in a new event and feel that glow again.

There’s about 330 days until Melbourne Marathon 2012. That’s too long to wait.

Marathon Stories

It’s not often you can look back on a marathon and your first instict is to laugh. It may not happen often but this is exactly where I find myself just three days after the Melbourne Marathon. The photo itself is pretty much hilarious to me........now.

It has been well documented through this blog that 2011 has been a year of frustration and injury. It’s only been the last couple of months that I’ve felt like I was able to train properly. With that under done preparation it actually freed me up. There was no pressure on me to chase a PB because there just hadn’t been enough work done for that to be even a remote possibility.

I had planned to run slow with my mate Gully who was using the marathon as a final prep for the Great Ocean Road 100km ultra. He ended up erring on the side of caution and missed the mara to hit the ultra fresh. So now I was going in with no set plan at all. That turned out to be a painful decision but also a humorous one.

In the day or so before the race and even the morning of, I searched right in the back of my mind and I thought maybe 3h30m would be nice. That had been the goal in my first marathon. I figured if I could match that it would be massive. Hmmm 5min kms, I actually hadn’t run more than ten of them in a row since last year. Now I wanted 42.2 of them. This was gonna be some kind of day.

So it would make sense to start conservatively, sit at the back of the ‘3.30 bus’ and see how long I could stick it out. It would make sense but it wouldn’t be funny, it wouldn’t make me laugh three days later. No instead I started right up the front near the elites. I like starting close to the front. You get dragged along pretty quickly and bank a couple of quick kms before you settle into your groove at your desired pace.

My first km was 4m11s. That’s even too fast for a drag along km.Had to slow down, find my groove at five minute pace. My first km at 5min pace was the 26^th km. All the preceding ones had been well under. Ridiculous. Funny. What was I thinking?

Well, I guess I was thinking that this year’s marathon was a free shot, no rules, no expectation – so just have a crack and see what happens. So even when the pain came, it was just physical, no mental anguish or disappointment about missing a PB. I blew up pretty big and was being passed by plenty. It was my way of helping others feel good about reeling in another runner. Yeah sure.

That said, I was pretty happy that I didn’t just toss it in when it went pear shaped. The front of the 3.40 bus had gone past me but I held on to the back and was happy when a few hundred metres from the line I was pretty sure I was going to be under that mark. As we got closer though I saw the clock saying 3.39.50 and ticking. The girl next to me also saw it, we both went to sprint and almost knocked each other over in the process. We made it.

I think it was just before the 20km mark that I started to fully understand how much of a big mistake I had made and there was 22kms of pain to come. It was too late at that point to recover the situation. I had bought the ticket, now there was no way off the ride. It was pretty horrific but I think I was expecting worse. That's a plus.

The link below leads to my km splits plus other info about the run. They tell a story all by themselves. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/120660139

Other stories on the day:

Micka in his debut clocked in at 4.37

Sharon also on debut crossed the line at 4.47

Micka is a sure thing to go again next year. Sharon is a sure thing to slap me if I suggest this is just the beginning. Both were fantastic results. Try doing anything for nearly five hours, it’s a really long time.

Michael Rogers aka Superman: 14 months after taking a few moments at the Tan Track to have a heart attack, completed the 42.2 in 4 hours 38 minutes. Phenomenal effort to make the choice, after the tan track setback, to stick with running. I imagine it would have been scary at times to push towards this marathon. What an inspiration.

Rod Port: Porty had a tough day at the office. He was super keen to break 4 hours and was flying in a recent 32km training run I did with him. I figured he was well on his way to achieving that goal. In the run though his quads went to shizen and both of them kind of said, ‘sorry Porty, today aint gonna be your day’. He finished in 4h 25m. So what you got there is pain. Physical pain and a mental battle for hours knowing that it’s all heading for relative disappointment. When in this situation you’ve got two choices. The easy choice is to pack it in, take your bat and ball and go home. The tough choice is to guts it out and finish the beast. Porty finished the beast, his fourth beast in total. Super effort.

Eddie Dickens: Just a gentle cruise for the man who floats along like an African elite. 3h47m this year but look out 2012. The quote is: “Planning next year to do a good time or injure myself training. No in between.” You gotta love that.

Seb Mannix: Tough to do a PB when your best already stands at 2.54. Heaps of hard training went into this year’s event. Two hard, fast sessions every week meaning there was a stack of kms at 4 min pace or better. That type of work puts you on the brink of possible injuries striking you down at any time. Seb smashed his PB doing a 2h49m beast. It was also a beautiful scenario that he crossed the line together with Johnny Clothier, a guy he first met in primary school and has been mates with ever since. Johnny also PB’d by about 6 minutes.

Noel Mannix, father of Seb: First in his age group 70 – 74yrs for the 10km. It’s not a big field in that age group but that doesn’t make a difference to the fact that of all the 70-74 year olds in Australia, whether they turned up or not, Noel was the quickest over 10kms. Got home in under an hour. That is outstanding.

Clare McGinness, sister of me: Half marathon in 2h32m. This is super impressive. All along Clare has doubted that she would actually be able to run that far. 14kgs ago it probably looked a long way off. The achievement is not just about the day, it’s about all the hours of training and the battle with the mind to climb a seemingly impossible mountain. Wow!! How proud as a brother....VERY. Getting emotional just typing right now.

Chris Harrington: Another one in the heart attack club who has turned his life on its head since. Harry is chasing that two hour mark for the half mara and almost got there this year with 2.01.12. A week out from the event and the big H pinged his calf. Lots of ice, stretches, compression and no running meant that he was able to at least get on the start line. Under a cloud he powered around the course and picked up a PB. Injury free next year and he smashes the barrier. The difference in photos from the ’10 & ’11 events is huge. Harry is on the rise.

Ben Wintle: Limped to the start in race gear but sadly as a late scratching. His foot had swollen up massively the day before the event and he was struggling to even walk but he was there to support his D-Mac crew mates. Ten minutes before the start of the half mara, he peeled off his top and said F*#k it, let’s just see what happens. If it was to be pull out after five kms then so be it. In the end he got to the end in 2.00.21. Brave, gutsy performance.

Scotty Tucker: Chasing a lightning quick 1.30 for the half, the Big T had some doubters after a relatively disappointing lead up race. T had done a 10km event at the Teacher’s Games and come home in 45 mins after blowing up severely. All D-Mac Crew members were to say the least shocked as he has shown blistering speed around the 1.2 Duncan McKinnon course on a weekly basis. However the massive unit hit back hard and posted a time of 1h35mins. Awesome comeback, inspirational running.

All of the above inspire me. Their stories motivate me to get straight back into it and work harder to get faster. Next year I hope to run a PB and even get close to 3.10. That means a heap of kms at 4m28s in training and 42.2 of them on Marathon Day. Stay tuned.......

Marathon Festival of Winning

I know a guy doing his first marathon on Sunday. He just wants to finish

I know a girl doing her first marathon on Sunday. She just wants to finish.

I know a guy who will do the marathon slower than 4 hours so that he doesn’t pull up sore for his 100km ultra six days later.

I know a guy who will be around the 2h50m mark, probably, maybe.

I know a bloke who was going to be there until injury delayed his marathon glow.

I know a bloke who was destined to smash his PB but right now is busy in a routine of ice, stretch, compression, ice, stretch, compression etc.

As for me, I plan to turn up and run slow and enjoy the experience. Injury has delayed my assault on any PB chance this year.

I know on the day we will all do our best.

I know we will all want to be on the start line again to see if we can do better.

That’s the beauty of running, there is no opposition apart from ourselves. We get to play in the grand final every year as long as we turn up. As long as we keep turning up, we win.

Good luck to everyone who has trained to turn up. Whether or not you achieve your goal this time, everyone of you has done amazing stuff for yourself and your families.

Loved It.

The amount of people who are the best in the world at anything is a miniscule percentage. Most of us won’t even ever meet a ‘Best in the Worlder’. No matter how good you are at something there will always be someone better. So why do so many get so disappointed when they come up against someone faster or stronger?

I went to an Athletics meet today and saw a wide variety of kids competing at ‘Zones’ which is two levels down from State Titles. There is a huge difference between the fastest and slowest at this level. Some kids have just scraped in to qualify and will be soundly beaten on the day. Others will go on comfortably to the next level,  ‘Regionals’, then a smaller number on to ‘States’. Maybe one or two of the 500 kids there today at Zones will get all the way to ‘Nationals’. Of the two getting through, one will get beaten,  one will win. Or that’s how it has happened in the past.

A girl who has gone on to break national records in the past was there today running in the 800m and 1500m. They just happen to be the same events that Philli from my school runs in. Each year Philli comes up against Laura and gets beaten by big margins. She jokes on the way to the track that maybe Laura will just somehow not turn up today. Deep down though she knows what lays ahead. I watch both races closely and once again I’m amazed by this super talented girl that runs so effortlessly yet so quickly. It’s actually a bit of a privilege to be trackside as she flashes past breathing just loud enough to be heard. Behind her are a group of girls who are all the best runners in their respective schools. So how will they handle defeat today? If I was looking to answer that question it wouldn’t help to ask Philli because she felt far from defeated.

All Philli wanted to do was beat her time from last week which was 5m57s for the 1500. I showed her after the race the watch had been stopped at 5m54s and her smile lit up her face. She was deservedly extremely happy. Philli won’t go on to the next level but when it mattered today, she dug deep when she was hurting and ran strong. The little voice in her head would have been suggesting she slow down but she wasn’t there to be dictated to. She wasn’t running Laura’s race or the little voice’s race, she was there to run as fast as she could go on the day. That’s all anyone can do.

In other events I saw kids in tears, I saw kids making excuses and I saw kids and parents blaming someone else for the fact that today, they met someone faster or stronger. It’s not like there was billions of them but there was just enough for me to think about it. I wonder how many of these upset kids had just run a PB and how many of them didn’t even know. Not winning should never equal failure.

When I got home today I was procrastinating about heading out for a 10 km run. I thought about the kid who dug deep and worked hard when she was hurting and I thought about how much she loved it. I finally did my ten km and I loved it. Didn’t run a PB, didn’t beat a soul either, just loved it.

·         Laura ran 2.18 for her 800m and 4.52 for her 1500m. Get yourself down to a track and see how hard it is to get close to that. Only 5 years until Rio Olympics, 2016, or 9 years until the games after that where she will probably meet someone faster than her. I hope her face still lights up like Philli's did today. Everyone deserves to be happy with their best.

 Below is a link to Laura setting a national record against the best kids in the country in the 800m a couple of years ago.

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBo9nFAkEMQ

It's All Part Of It.

It’s been six months since I felt the pain of a stress fracture in my left foot. For absolute sure I thought I would be running free by now.

I don’t know what’s worse: actual injuries or worrying about minor pain turning into major setbacks. I have had calf issues recently that are now on the mend. That was just an annoyance. I also continue to have some pain in my right foot (the good one). It kind of feels like it could become a big problem but then on other days it feels fine.

Both of these things aint great but the one that I am really fed up with is the fact that every time someone asks how’s the running going, I can’t just say great. I feel like I’m whingeing or making excuses. I know my reality is that pain and injury are part of my current situation but I’m just sick of hearing it all spew out of my own pie hole. So why blog about it? Not sure really....just cause it’s what goes on I spose, gggrrrrrr.......or just cause irony is a hard thing to explain unless you have an example of it.

So what’s good in running right now? Plenty.

·         Went for 15km on Saturday, ran into Sharon, who a while ago thought I was the mental one. She was part way through a 32km training run and encouraged me to turn away from my intended finish line and go get a few more kms with her group. Loved it.

·         Bought a new watch using some remaining vouchers from my birthday. The Garmin 610. http://sites.garmin.com/forerunner610/?lang=en It’s a cracker. Has a touchscreen which is kinda neat. One of my kids at school asked, “can you make calls on that thing?”

·         Organised to go for a long run in a few weeks with Micka. He like Sharon will be a first time marathoner at Melbourne October 9. Micka had a blood clot on his brain in 2006 and had surgery and three months off work to recover. He mentions that the people around him, supporting him were amazing, especially his wife Tash. He is now raising money as part of his marathon run. Talk about inspirational!! All money he raises will go to the JMB Foundation. They help those people with brain injuries who can no longer help themselves. If ya wanna send some coin their way via Micka check out his page and read a bit more about his experience. http://www.everydayhero.com.au/michael_watt

·         Quite possibly the best thing about running at the moment is ‘Running Club’ at school. For the last two Fridays at 3.30pm myself and 12-20 kids have punched out 5km. This dot point is worthy of a separate blog post. So in the next few weeks I’ll let you know just how much GLOW is produced by a kid choosing to hold off on the DS or FB at the end of the week and going out getting themselves some kms.

Looking back above the dots I wonder why leave in all the negativity about injury, poor me blah blah blah.......but hey, it’s all part of the rich tapestry.

One Decision

It was a couple of weeks ago now that I really started to get back into something that looks a bit like serious training. The foot has healed, the orthotics are doing their job and all I have to do is run. Sounds easy but I have definitely been challenged by this recently.

I thought having been out of the game since mid-Feb that I would have been ferocious in my attack on training. It was very enjoyable and easy when, under doctor’s orders, I was running one day on, one day off. However when it came to getting back to running 5-6 days a week I was found wanting. All of a sudden it was hard work again.

When I first started running I wasn’t dropping everything to get out and run. It took a good 12 months before the addiction really took hold and I was running at least 6 times a weeks in rain, hail, extreme heat, night or day. After the injury I expected that mental strength (some would say insanity) to kick back in. I thought I would just have to work on the physical side of it. I was wrong.

I was sent an email recently and asked about how does one go about ‘facing such enormous challenges and having such confidence to take on very large scale goals’.

It was when thinking about responding that it dawned on me and helped my current situation. The biggest of goals or challenges you set for yourself, and achieving these, comes down to one equally simple and difficult decision. Lucky for me to achieve my goal I just have make one decision a day and that is I just have to run, today. From that decision comes the confidence and ability to do it again tomorrow.

During the worst of times in ultra marathons there’s one equally simple and difficult decision to be made. Stop, or keep going. When you’ve got 25km of 80km still to go and you are in more physical and mental pain than you could ever imagine you can’t look too far ahead. You just have to keep going, the rest will take care of itself. Looking ahead doesn’t work for me. When in these types of situations, I physically look down. Focus on my feet and the metre in front of them and make one decision, to keep going.

So here I am with large scale goals in front of me. One marathon and four ultra marathons pencilled in between October and May. It sounds crazy, too hard. But I’ve already run today so I can relax. I’ll just need to make another equally simple and difficult decision tomorrow.

The Irish Experience - Part Three

Race day started at 4.30am. I thought most runners in the lodge would have been up and about but no it was just the Australian bloke who was bleerily scraping some sort of conserve on his toast. It was all a bit up in the air in regards to how quickly the course was going to be covered. 70km is never going to be easy but the elevation map hadn’t looked too severe. However a ‘reccy’ or reconnaissance of the ‘wee hill’ in the middle of the course struck fear into the assembled elites. Of course everyone was putting on a brave face and in a bit of gamesmanship nobody really mentioned the giant elephant, called Benbaun Mountain, in the room.

The other problem facing the field was the wet ground. Local publican Gerry had declared the mountain to be ‘dry as a cork’. Maybe the cork he was talking of had sunk to the bottom of the bottle because the Irish summer had dropped buckets of rain in the lead up to the race. A phenomena not experienced greatly in Melbourne town is the bog. In Ireland bog has nothing to Sundays and grog, it’s just disgustingly wet ground that looks ok to step on until you find yourself knee deep in the mess. So an initial prediction of a seven hour finish had moved out to approximately eight hours.

The start line was amazing. Set at Kylemore Abbey the place was buzzing. Camera crews and a helicopter filming from overhead really let you know that this was no ordinary ultra, it was the Championship of the World (insert voice of American boxing ring announcer). As the hooter sent the field on their way I thought how great it would be if I was part of the action. That thought didn’t last too long as the pain, shock and awe etched on the faces of all runners let everyone know that they were experiencing something beyond belief. Seb commented after the race that it was easily the toughest thing he had ever done. This from a guy who had recently done TNF100, described by Dean Karnazes as the toughest 100km event on the planet.

From behind the tables at the checkpoints it was a great day. Jo and I got to meet people from all over the world. The Canadians were right next to us and they couldn’t believed the detail in the instructions we had to work with. Not many other runners had written on the actual skin of bananas to explain to cut in half. ‘½ for CP1........1/2 for CP2’. There was great tension when I made the surgical incison into the fruit. They reckon I got it 60/40 and ruined his race.

I shouldn’t have worried though, Seb comes through checkpoints grinning from ear to ear. This too was commented on by other countries.  At 12, 28 and even the 60km checkpoints, Seb would jog in like nothing was wrong. Even though his words expressed the brutality of the course, the smile was still there. Maybe he truly is mental.....in a good way.

At 60km still got the energy to high 5 others into the fun

Throughout the race we got to see most of the field pass by us. Even though I knew about the bog I still couldn’t believe seeing people with mud caked on well above the knees. This course was ridiculous. Twenty of the world’s best pulled out, some through injury, some who admitted not being prepared for the challenge and quite a few who were angry and looking for answers about why the course was so over the top. The race director was looking a bit sheepish at the end of the day.

At the finish line I was struggling to hold it together. The enormity of the event and what this greying 41 yr old was achieving was all just amazing. The announcer called out his name and country when he was 200m from the finish. After 70km of hell Seb finished the run in absolute delight. His trademark jump in the air at the finish line was just the final part of his celebration full of high fives, fist pumping and huge excitement from all watching him. One Irish bloke thought for sure he was on drugs. It’s little wonder that 160 people turned up to the fundraiser to get us all there. This bloke did everyone proud. There may well be better runners in the country, Mr Humble will tell you that, but none enjoy it as much and none bring so many along for the ride. Thank you Kevin.

The Irish Experience - Part Two

After finally touching down in Dublin one of the first things that struck us was the pace of the place. The Irish people are themselves quite laid back, however as soon as they get behind the wheel of a car it’s game on. The speed limit of 120km/h on the motorway seemed to be treated as more of a guide than a law. Cars flew past us like we were standing still. Later on we would find ourselves driving along windy dirt roads only wide enough for one car that had a limit of 80km. And it seemed that the default limit was 100 for any sealed road no matter how narrow. You would think that given the people were driving so fast everywhere that things would happen like clockwork. Not so. We were introduced to ‘Irish Time’. If lunch was set down for 1pm, you might eat sometime around 4pm. Daylight would hang around til at least 10pm so there didn’t seem a rush for anything to be done straight away.

The people were fantastic. We stayed in a small village called Letterfrack and the whole place seemed to be based around eating, drinking and laughing. Our first night we had dinner at a pub Paddy Coyne’s in a neighbouring villlage called Tully Cross. We didn’t pay for a thing directly. That would all be fixed up at the end of the week. So it was like we had just dropped in to a mates place for a bite and a beer. That mate’s name was Gerry and if there wasn’t a race on later in the week we could have stuck around until 5.30 in the morning which is when Gerry finally called it quits after telling a thousand stories and solving the problems of the world. The next day we were back there for lunch and dinner and each time a few more countries were turning up. We met Canadians, Americans, French, Dutch and Argentinians at Paddy Coynes as excitement built throughout the week.

In the two days before the event a few official events took place. One of these was the opening ceremony. All countries carried their flags and as they were introduced everyone cheered for each other. The whole thing had a great atmosphere. One of the biggest cheers was for the Sherpa from Nepal(see photo below). He came second at the previous World Champs and has also represented his country at the Winter Olympics. His only concern about the run was that it looked like the course was too ‘flat’ for him this time. We had to laugh as we had already walked up part of the course the day before and it was brutal.

The other event that we found interesting was the technical meeting for all runners. This is where information was given and questions answered about the run itself. In a very Irish style, rules were made up and changed back and forth on the spot here. This didn’t sit well with some of the more ‘serious’ European nations. Things were getting a little tense until the Australian runner broke the ice with his question regarding the order of tables set aside for countries at check points. Had the organisers put Australia right at the front because they thought they would probably win?? There was laughter in parts of the room and it rippled around to other parts on slight delay as the humour was translated into other languages. It wasn’t to be the last time that this ‘crazy’ Australian was to entertain the rest of the world.

The Irish Experience - Part One

In the lead up to this event we kept saying to each other , “let’s just get on the plane and then we can relax.” There had been a heap of organising to do with the regular travel stuff like passports, packing and planes booked. Then there was the fundraiser which was a great success but again took a bit of time. So sitting on the plane taxiing out at Tulla we were pretty excited and very relieved to be on our way. Little did we know about the nightmare that was only hours away called ‘Heathrow’.

The idea was to connect to a flight to Dublin, bags were ticketed to go there, we just had to board the plane. Simple. Check in lady asks, “where’s you baggage receipts?” “Ahhh, ‘scuse me? WTF did you just say? We have no receipts.” Thanks a whole heap, grumpy Qantas check in dude all the way back in Melbourne. Ok......one problem we can handle. 2^nd problem related to the first, we miss our connecting flight and have to wait 5 hours for the next one. Attepted solution = find bags. Mis-guided strategy, split up....Seb goes to the Qantas desk, Jo and I go to terminal 3 then 4 to check baggage claim. Not since the Brady Bunch hit Hawaii had there been such a debacle.

After a couple of hours talking to a million different dis-interested people we get confirmation that the bags are on the next plane so we return to the check in desk to wait for Seb. Time ticks away and still no Seb. We try to ring him but haven’t got his number for his international sim card. We ring home to get his number via pay phone and credit card cause we have no cash. 3 calls home I later find out = $100 but it don’t matter because we have the digits. I ring on my phone and can’t get through. I try again and my phone runs out of juice. We later find out Seb had tried to call us but had also run out of juice. I try to charge my phone but don’t have a European adapter. What now???

Really getting desperate as the possibility of missing the second flight becomes all too real. We have been through the scanner half a dozen times as we’ve been in and out of terminals for what seems like an eternity. So Jo and I go to the final check in point before the departure gates. I go through, she stays on the other side. I run down to gate 7 & 8 and then gate 86, because departure has been shifted. It’s seriously about a km to these gates. In my panic, I see no Seb. I run back, sweating. Jo looks at me hoping to see something different than my ‘sorry no Seb shrug of the shoulders’. The girl at the check in changes shifts with another and I ask the new girl if there is anyway to tell if Seb has gone through yet. She says sure we can check through hundreds of photos of everyone thats passed by. We start this process as Jo rushes out again to check for him at get someone to page him through the terminal. Only thing is Heathrow has 5 terminals which are bus rides apart and can’t be reached by a single page. Also real handy like, was the fact that the page can’t be heard in departure gates either, which is where Seb has been sitting for the last two hours. He had people paging for us in there but we couldn’t here him either from where we were.  At this stage I reckon we have less than ten minutes to find Seb, run the km to the correct gate and get on the plane. Start looking at photos and nothing for a few minutes. I say to the girl he will be in an Australian tracksuit. She stops and says, he’s in. She remembered him going through on her earlier shift. This girl never does a double shift but today she did for some fantastic reason. So we’ve got him but Jo still hasn’t come back and I can’t check back out to get her. After 5 hours, 5 minutes to go!

Finally Jo appears from around the corner and we run. We were the last people on the plane and there was probably other passengers looking at us thinking what a bunch of losers, can’t even organise themselves to be on time for a flight. We sat down, I ordered a beer, Jo a vodka and Seb tried to tell us how much of a mission he’d been through himself. Sorry pal, nothing doing. Admittedly we’d all been through the Heathrow ringer but his ultra marathon was Saturday, we’d just done ours through the terminals of hell.

So You Think.....

I have been back running without pain for about three weeks now. When I started this second phase of my running career I was nervous every time my left foot struck the ground. That fear has slowly but surely dissipated to the point where I can run now with a free mind for short amounts of time. There is no better feeling than running along and suddenly  you almost kind of wake up from a mid run daze. It’s like you just got the last few kms for free. No muscle pain, no gasping for air, just floating along with random thoughts going through your mind in a strange form of relaxation.

I got a small moment of this relaxed state a few days ago. It was a real boost to my confidence and encourages me, that in time, all will be well again. So, you think. What’s next? What should I aim for? What events will get a hold of me?

I can quickly reel off answers to that for myself. It goes like this:

1) October, Melbourne Marathon. 2) November, Moonwalk 45km Ultra in the Dandenongs. 3) January, Two Bays Trail Run, 56kms. 4) February, Maroondah Dam Ultra, 50km. 5) May, TNF100, Blue Mountains.

If I can complete all five of those in the next 12 months I’ll be personally very satisfied. However, there’s something missing, something nagging away at me.

Today I went for a run with my five year old boy Raferty. We ran along the bike track about a km to the school he’ll start at next year in Prep. There was a big sign up saying they’re raising money to build a running track on the grounds with several exercise stations. All of this to promote healthy lifestyles. Raf loves running and will thrive in his new school. So I started to think........not every school is going to build a track due to a variety of reasons. Not many schools have a running culture outside of the couple of weeks around the good old Cross Country event. Is there something that could be done to excite kids about running so that it becomes part of what they do? Maybe.

I’m thinking 100km ultra that links primary schools all over the city. Each school runs a 5km section. They could do it just for the fun of it or link it to fundraising for a chosen charity. I know a couple of blokes who might run the full distance with me if I ask them nicely. I know a few teachers around the place who might be keen to fire up their kids to ‘Run a Fiver’. Maybe it works......Maybe not.....logistically tough but we’ll see. Maybe next year or 2013.

So you think it could happen? Surely it’s worth a bit more thought at least.

Running back to D-Mac

When you’re growing up through your teenage years it’s rare if you come across anyone who has completely got it all together. I reckon even the coolest kids in school have fears and anxieties, and basically worry about fitting in and doing or saying the right things. As a teacher I see awkward kids walking on peer group eggshells every single day. You just want to grab them and assure them that it will all work out. Although even if you did......., well, I know if anyone had said that to me, I would’ve thought they have no idea what they’re talking about.

It’s hard enough fitting in with kids in your own level. However I clearly remember thinking that the guys in the year ahead of us were by far smarter, better at sport, better with the ladies and if ever there was a punch on behind the grandstand or down at Spring Rd after school, they would beat the living bejeezus out of you. Luckily, even though I had a mouth on me, I never found out about that one.

In the photo above, seven out of the eight other blokes pictured with me are from the year level above at school. These were the blokes who I was a bit in awe of, a little bit envious of and definitely a bit scared of. Well to be honest, I wasn’t scared of Scotty (in the yellow shorts) but the bloke next to him, look out. 23 years after school and these are the same blokes that I run around Duncan McKinnon Reserve with each week. On a cold Tuesday night when it had bucketed rain throughout the day, here they all were standing around a massive banner that a couple of them had made to welcome my return from 3 months of injury. I was speechless, overwhelmed and very, very grateful.

It was when I was looking at the photo that it all dawned upon me. I started up this blog so that my own kids will be able to have a look back on what I was getting up to with all of this running. I hope they don’t have too many awkward moments growing up through their teenage years. I hope they have great friends. But if there are moments when they don’t feel quite right then they might read this. There’s great people all around you. It may be that you just don’t hang with them ‘yet’.

Thanks D-Mac crew. Quality!

North Face 100 - May 14, 2011

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

Yesterday was a great day. It was the North Face 100km event in the Blue Mountains. My training partners Seb Mannix and John Gullifer toed the start line at 7am with their toughest challenge ahead of them. I sat at the laptop following their progress on the live results website.

Over the last 18 months the three of us had trained hard and long for this one event. My campaign ended officially three weeks ago but in reality it finished on February 20^th after suffering a stress fracture during the Maroondah Dam Ultra. I’ll have a crack next year. I was a little disappointed but it’s far from a tragedy.

Gully started thinking about doing the event a bit later than Seb and myself and his training has been spot on. His attitude has been the real key though. He doesn’t put much emphasis on how quick he can finish an ultra. He’s just out there doing his best and enjoying the trails. That’s not to say he’s slow, far from it, he’s run a sub 3 hour marathon. On the trails he’s taught me alot about pacing to finish strong and in the process being able to enjoy yourself more which is tough when your in agony. Gully did it really tough in the latter part of the race but drew on all the courage and strength within to keep moving forward. The Lance Armstrong quote above is something he had in his head and there was no way he was going to quit. I spoke to him minutes after he finished and the excitement was huge. What a super effort. He was out there for just under 16 hours. Try doing anything for 16 hours, it’s a really long time.

Seb has had a meteoric rise in trail running. We started running ultras together, the first of which was the Percy Cerutty, Portsea to Frankston 55km, then we tackled the Moonwalk 45km in the Dandenongs at night as a group. Running in these events and training with him I was well aware of the fact that he is a great runner. It was only when we entered a few events with the intention of ‘having a crack’ that I saw how good he is. The first one was Two Bays 56km which Seb won in a new race record, then he placed third at Maroondah Dam 50km and then he ran 76km at the Coburg 6 hour ultra, further than all but one other runner.

So the facts were plain and simple, he’s a bloody good runner. However what happened on Saturday in the Blue Mountains was something else. In a field of 800, Seb came in 13^th place in 11 hours 23 minutes. The people who beat him home were world class ultra trail runners from Spain, France, South Africa, New Zealand and a few Australians. Several of them sponsored by Saloman Racing Team to compete all over the world. That is obviously impressive but so is the long list of quality athletes that came in behind him, including the race winner from 2010 and 2009 who admittedly had ‘one of those days’ but hey these are the facts.

Seb will hate all of this being highlighted. On his Facebook page I wrote:

'I am really looking forward to the battle between your humility and the facts'

Harry backed me up by saying, 'Yeah Seb, you're screwed!'

We love his success and we can’t help but tell more people about it than him. It’s not hard, he tells no one. So many people are running because of him. I am one of those. Every time he does well it’s a reminder and a celebration for me that this commitment, discipline and love of running is what inspired me to get off the couch and change my life. I ain’t the only one. Just ask Harry, Benno, Porty, Houiexy, Big T, Rosey, Wighty, Eddie, Bolty,Philthy, Macka, Boxy, Mick Watt, Gully, Leah, Raf, Clare............you get the point Sebby Boy...well done and THANKS.

Yesterday's Gone!

It’s not over until the fat lady sings as they say. Well if anyone has a request, she took to the stage today and has been belting out hit after hit. Her opening number was this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDN9y2vTdUs

I started my running program on Anzac Day and within 60 seconds I knew it had to be the end. There was pain in my foot. It was bearable but it was far from encouraging.

All along I have pushed to be ready for this event. In training when all was well I did many weeks of 100kms approx. One week I got close to 130km. I have run up and down agonising hills in the Dandenongs in the middle of the night. I have run in pouring rain and in over 40 degree heat. I have done several ultra trail events. I have run 80km in 8 and a half hours. I have run 6 days each week for well over a year.

Since I have been injured on February 20, I have done everything possible to recover in time. Professional advice from a GP, a Physio, a Sports Med Doctor and a Podiatrist has all leant towards the thought that it would not be so wise to do the event. I chose not to ignore that advice but rather take it on board and find out for myself if it was going to be possible. I followed a program from my doc religiously, wore the ‘moon boot’ every waking hour and felt that if I could get through this program and be running pain free prior to the event then I would give it a crack. As stated earlier, I haven’t been able to Run Free. So now there’s 382 days to go(2012).Maybe even 747 days(2013). Who knows? Who knows if my Maths is correct?

A while ago the thought of being unable to do this event was just plain ugly. I imagined I would be devestated but I’m not. Far  from it. My very awesome wife made things clear for me on Anzac Day. She said, “you are missing out on one event but you get to keep running forever.” The damage I could have done if I pressed forward might have had me out for months to a year or more. Now that I’m not doing the event, I know for sure I’ll be back to running normally pretty soon-ish.

So today I joined a gym for three months. I am going to go every week day while I’m on long service leave. I can build up core strength and flexibilty, focus on nutrition and all those other things you’re meant to do when running long.

So if no one else has any requests, I might aske the lady to sing this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8arvEzHsA8

22 Days to Go

I saw a podiatrist today. She checked me on video while I walked on a treadmill. The upshot being that I could do with some orthotics. Apparently my metatarsals are at quite a pronounced angle and and there’s a fair bit of pressure smashing down on them poor little suckers. So the Pod. , whacked a bit of plaster on both feet to get a mould for some custom made supports. They aint cheap but they’re going to minimise the chance of fractures in the future.

We also spoke of the pros and cons of taking pain killers during the race. The cons being I won’t know if I’m doing damage during the run and the pros being I won’t know if I’m doing damage during the run.

The program from here is

To 25/4 – boot off when home, deep water running, exercise bike and some x-trainer

25/4 – Start walk/jog program – on alternate days, in between days bike and DWR.

Level 1 – 4min walk, 1 min jog x 4 = 20 mins followed by ice

Level 2 – 3min walk, 2 min jog x 4

Level 3 – 2 min walk, 3 jog x 4

Level 4  – 1 min walk, 4 jog x 4

Level 5 – 20 min jog

That will take me to May 3^rd. Hopefully continue running gently for another week then head to the Blue Mountains on the 11^th, couple of days of nothing then 100km in hopefully between 17 and 20 hours. Starting to get a little bit nervous.

On Track

It’s been a good week. Not only is it the first of 14 weeks worth of holidays but I went and saw my Sports Med Doc and she was really pleased with my progress. She had me jumping and hopping on the ‘sore’ foot  and I only really felt it on very minor level. So that was good, my flexibility was good and any difference between the fractured and the good foot when she poked and prodded was hardly noticeable.

The Doc has given me a program to follow that takes me right up to a 4-5 day taper before the tip-toe through the mountains. I start walk/running in two weeks and will hopefully cope with that without any flare ups. I am also going to see a podiatrist and get fitted with a small orthotic that will make the 2^nd metatarsal float like a butterfly, it will be that well supported.

Finally got back to training, on a bike, with Seb and Gully on Sunday morning. We went up and down Waverley rd hill near Springvale rd. It’s a teenage skater’s biggest challenge and it’s a skater’s parents worse nightmare. A monster of a hill. I will be back again this week for some more quad pain.

So with 30 days to go I am still being cautious but getting more confident that all will be OK. My Doc was concerned that if I get too excited about the fact I am virtually pain free then I would do too much too soon. I assured her that if I break down it will be in the race, not before. Just got to get on the start line.

36 days to go

Slow and steady is going to win my race. That will be the motto on May 14 on the start line. I won’t have any choice but to go super slow. For one thing since Feb 20, I haven’t got one single real kilometer in the legs and secondly, well it’s a hundred kms. I keep forgetting that minor detail. I have been completely focussed on my injury. Every step I take is an analysis of degree of pain to assess where my recovery is at. It isn’t quite doing my head in but it is probably dominating too much time & space in the cranium.

However, there have also been a stack of moments recently when I have thought of how I am missing running with the D-Mac crew and The Glow Boys. D-Mac crew is a bunch of guys, most of whom I went to school with and the Glow is Seb and Gully, my long run, running mates. These are the facts and they cannot be denied – I do miss all of them because aside from the running there’s a truck load of social chat that goes on as we step, step, step. It’s so social sometimes that you forget you’re running and a couple of free kms clock up.

One door closes temporarily and another opens maybe forever. The amount of people that I’ve come into contact with and the support I’ve received because of the injury has been amazing.

It started with my Physio, Phil. When you walk in not knowing what’s going on it’s very comforting to be in the care of someone so knowledgable, skilled and honest.

My Sports Med doctor Bianca suggested I shelve ideas of doing the upcoming ultra but as soon as she realised I was still keen to attempt it she was on board and giving me a program to get there.

My sister, the nurse, gave some of the best advice ever when Seb and I were wondering about the possility of irrepairable damage. That advice is that unless I pretty much sever my spinal cord, I’m not gonna be doing any irrepairable damge on this run.

People I have never met personally but have chatted with on TNF100 forums have been so supportive and the realisation is that there are many other struggling to get on the start line. We’ll help each other on the day too.

Parents of kids I teach – One today, a podiatrist, said to come and see him if need be. Another last week dropped off an aqua jogger for me to use in the pool. I love that aqua jogger, it works a treat. Others have just been wishing me well constantly.

There’s so many more positive people who keep pushing up and encouraging me to get well and get running. It’s been huge. Today I received a card (see above) from my year 5 class as I left them to go on long service leave. I will carry the card on the run in my pack. When I cross the finish line I will get a photo taken holding that card and send it to the kids. Now when you make a statement like that, you just gotta get it done. We’ll see.

Thanks so much to all mentioned here and the countless others who keep me moving forward.

Positives Everywhere

48 days to go and this is where I’m at.

It’s 21 days since I last ran.

36 days since I ran free of pain and injury.

I can’t remember what it feels like to run.

On Tuesday this week I saw the Sports Medicine doctor and she recommended that I shouldn’t do the event due to the fact that there is a possibility I could hurt the foot again and maybe worse than it already is. I said, “ I hear what you’re saying but....”  After outlining all the reasons that I have for wanting to do this event this year she said ok, this is what you need to do to be a chance of being on the start line. She has put me in a moon boot for six weeks, given the ok to do exercise bike and deep water running , sent me to get a blood test to check Vitamin D levels, given me a bunch of stretches to do and booked me to see her again in 3 weeks.

Her main thing was about the danger of re-fracturing but in my mind I am ok with the possibility of a months long recovery. Obviously I’d prefer everything to work out but if the worst case scenario becomes my reality then I’ll accept that with no regrets.

So for the next few weeks I’ll be on the bike and in the water. I really wish our pool was heated but I spose it aint gonna be too warm in the mountains.

Raffy Boy has loved the bike. I like that I can punt on the horses and watch it all on TVN while I ride.

I was very happy to get the boot because it will aid recovery but even better it means I can wear sports uniform to work for the rest of the term.

Kiki wasn't quite up to running 30 or 40kms but now she can join in my training with me.

See there's positives everywhere, you just gotta look really hard or make stuff up.