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.