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 26th 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.
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.......
