The Horrie and Belinda Show

11/4/05

I've just arrived back in Sydney after a fabulous weekend at Canberra. The whole weekend was great, starting with arriving at the Expo and watching the 10km race. Mr G and Spud brought Clairie in for another PB. She is certainly having a great run at the moment. Belinda decided to run the 10km after only being to be able to do 2 training runs in 7 weeks on the Friday night. Unfortunately, she recorded her first DNF as her fitness gave out. The good news is that the ankle and back pulled up fine. She will now be able to resume training on a more regular basis.

Then onto the Striders Pasta Party on Saturday night for some carbo loading. I enjoyed speaking to everybody about their nerves and expectations, especially those making their debuts.

I woke up early on Sunday before the alarm set off fearing that I would sleep through the alarm and miss the start. Enjoyed my normal preparation and arrived at the start around 6.30. Mingled with and met heaps of Cool Runners as the nerves were really starting to kick in. Then came the announcement that all runners had to assemble at the start. So I quickly had to find Tesso as I wanted to start with her as she was going to be running at the pace I wanted to. The gun went off and we all started to take off before realising it was for the wheelchair entrant. A short while later and the gun for us went off and off we went. Settled into running 4:45 kms, running with Tesso at the beginning but after a couple of kms noticed Eddie up ahead with Redback, so decided to increase the pace slightly and link up with Eddie. Ran with him until the 5km drink station, chatting and enjoying the early pace. As I had my personal drinks in pop top bottles, I was able to grab my drink and just keep running. It was at this point that I left Eddie behind and picked up the pace again and caught up with some runners up ahead. Went through the 10km in a tick under 47 minutes feeling good and enjoyed some support from Uncle Dave, Amjan and DJL before heading out for the first of the bigger loops. I continued to move my way through the field and started to note where runners were that were heading back from the turnaround. It was at this point that I noticed that I was passing the 18km mark when O Runner went past the 19km mark looking really good. Not far behind him were the 3 Amigos running together, Vat_man, Blue Dog and Superflake. I went through the half marathon mark in just under 1:39 and was happy that I was still on track for my goal of 3:20. However, it was at this point that I was starting to feel the effect of the rising heat. I had finished my whole drink that I took at 20km at the half marathon point. Up to this point, I was drinking half when I took the drink and saving the other half for when I reached the water sachet and sponge stations. I could feel the pace dropping and when I reached 25km and passed Belinda and some other Strider supporters. After they told me I was looking good, I told them that looks could be deceiving as I could feel myself slowing. This was again confirmed when I was passed in very quick succession between 28 and 29km mark by Eddie, Rooster and Tesso. At this point I tried to tack onto the back of Rooster who was running at a nice steady pace and had a really good rhythm going. But as I tried to do this, the legs felt like 2 lumps of lead and I soon realised that I no longer had any speed in them. I guess 6 Foot Track 4 weeks ago took more out of them than I thought. I hit the 30km mark in 2:25 so realised that a 3:25 was still possible if I could manage 5 minute kms from here. Then as I leaned over to get my drink at the 30km drink station, I felt a twinge in my hamstring that felt like it was going to cramp. I soon realised that I had to get all my drink into me without saving any for later. It then became the one step ahead of a cramp survival shuffle from here to the finish. I passed a very sore O Runner around 35km mark where I had my last gel. I was able to hold off cramps as long as I kept my stride at the same rate. Any quicker or any slower and I could feel the cramps threatening again. I could feel my time slipping but I could not do anything about it as my body had let me down. I then revised my target to 3:30. Runners were going past and I just realised I had to let them go and not worry about it. I did manage to pass a few also as they had stopped to walk and/or stretch so we were all in the same predicament. It was at this point that a few runners overtook me at different parts only to stop 100 metres ahead as cramps hit them. I was surprised to see the figure of Tesso appearing in the distance between 37 and 38km as when she went past me 9km earlier, she was running with a real spring in her step. I caught her at 38km and tried to encourage her by saying there was only 4km to go. When I got to the 40km mark, I had soon realised that 3:30 was now gone. The only satisfaction that I was left with at this point was that I was going to finish running the whole way without walking one step and still manage a PB. It was a great delight to be told by the marshall to head straight for the finish at around the 41km mark. The next delight was the ringing of the cowbell and encouragement I got from Aunty Karin and Kit(Katie). You don't realise how much this helped guys. Thank you! Then Runner In The Hills shouted out at around the 42km mark that I was almost finished and said another 20 seconds. A quick assessment of how shot my legs were made me realise that this far beyond me at this stage. Appreciated your ambitious support RITH. Got to the finish in 3:34, which was a 7 minute PB from Gold Coast last year. When I stopped running, my legs buckled for a second which prompted the marshalls to ask if I was alright. Another marshall brought my attention to the fact that Belinda and Tim were just over the barricade after the finish. It was so great to see them that I just burst into tears.

It was great to mingle with runners who had already finished and cheer in the finishing runners. To all those runners making their debuts or managing PBs, you were awesome. Not all marathons are that tough or hot. As for our own Living Treasure, Luckylegs. You are the most inspirational person I have ever met. To run a 20 minute PB and then turn around to head back out to do the 50km in those conditions is absolutely amazing. Congratulations on your huge achievement.

Finished the weekend off with a great after party at Rydges and enjoyed mingling with the interstate Cool Runners although my ears are still ringing from Clairie's booming voice. Then shared a great meal of pizza and red wine with 10 great people to cap off an amazing weekend.

Will I be back? Unfortunately no. As Bandanna has alluded to earlier, even though it was a sensationally organised marathon with great marshalls. It is too close to 6 Foot Track and does not give you enough time to recover and I plan to do as many 6 Foot Tracks as I can. I will also limit my road marathons to 2 a year and will try to run 1 in every state or territory in Australia as well as some overseas ones as well to enjoy the experience of seeing different cities. I also plan to run more trail races as they are easier on the senses and the body when running those distances.

Thank you to everybody who made this such an amazing experience for me.