The Horrie and Belinda Show

14/10/06

After an early rise, we were on our way down to Fitzroy Falls with Blue Dog and Bernie G. We arrived in plenty of time to collect our numbers and have a chat to a heap of Cool Runners who had also made the trip down. We then enjoyed some rural hospitality and had some donuts. Belinda also had a cup of tea. This wasn't the best move as Belinda needed to have a last minute dash to the Ladies' and we just made the start on time.

We set off slowly and conservatively and were soon running in a group of 6 with Ken Smith of 12 Foot Track and PMC fame, The Colonel who is an 80 year old Billy's Bushy, another Billy's Busy called Linda and the Sweeper. The first km came up in a tick over 7 minutes and this trend continued until 4km. A quicker km of 6 minutes for the 5th km gave us a 5km split of 34 minutes. We continued to trundle along at this pace and brought up 10km in 68 minutes. Belinda's stomach that made itself known just before the start continued to plague her throughout these kms so running slowly was helping. Every time she drank something, her stomach would start doing cartwheels. So just after 10km she decided to have a loo break to try and get things under control. This put us in last position. The sweeper slowed down so he wouldn't get too far ahead. We soon caught up to him and The Colonel who were running together while Linda and Ken charging off ahead of them. We were happy to catch up to Ken and Linda at the 15km drink station. This 5km split was a slow 43 minutes but at least Belinda's stomach had settled and we now moving a bit quicker. We reached the 20km mark in a tick over 2 and a half hours and then the half way mark 8 minutes later. We were still on track for a finish under the 5 and a half hour cutoff limit if we could keep moving at around the same pace. The 5km split from 20 to 25km was just on 39 minutes. However Belinda's stomach problems started again when she was tempted by some jelly beans at the 25km aid station. Another loo break blew this 5km split out to just under 47 minutes so the 30km was reached in 3:56. We still managed to go past 3 runners in this 5km so the heat was starting to take its toll on a few. A quick calculation made me realise we had to run the last 12.2km at 7:30/km pace to get in under 5 and a half hours. So after a quick stop at the 30km aid station we were soon on our way. We soon saw Ken Smith coming into view as we ran along this section. He was mostly walking so we were gaining on him. This section was similar to the Black Range where it is slightly uphill. Belinda now had a second wind and was now running well. We managed to catch Ken at around 34km. This didn't do Belinda any favours as he was determined to stay in front of her so he would surge ahead and then stop to walk again. This really upset Belinda's concentration and rhythm and she really felt quite ill again. She was doubled up in pain and we didn't know how we were going to get through the next 8km. I suggested that she walk for a while and start shuffling if she started to feel better. She managed to do this and we eventually made it to the 35km drink station in 4:36 with a 5km split of 40 and a half minutes. This was the first aid station to have coke and Belinda happily accepted an offer from the volunteer. This had a great effect on her stomach and it started to settle down. We were soon running again but it was now just a shuffle. I tried to encourage Belinda to lift the pace here as we were still a slight chance of getting in under 5 and a half hours. She let me know in no uncertain terms that she didn't want to hear about the cutoff for the rest of the race to which I happily agreed. Now we were able to just relax and keep shuffling along. Ken Smith came into view again and we eventually went past him around the 39km mark. As he had realised the 5 and a half hours was gone, he decided not to try and race Belinda again and stuck to walking. The last couple of kms were slowly ticking over until we were into the last km. Then we saw a sign telling us there was 500m to go. Then we saw a young lady up ahead who didn't look like she was running in the marathon. As we caught up to her, she offered us encouragement and told us we were legends running a marathon in these conditions and that she hoped to be able to run one at some stage. These words meant so much to Belinda as she wasn't feeling like a legend at this stage. It made her realise that she was close to achieving what a lot of people couldn't. Then the finish line came into view and we could her clapping and cheering from the presentation. The tears started to well up in her eyes and then when we finished, she just let herself go and had a good cry. I gave her a hug and a kiss and told her how proud I was of her and some of the volunteers at the finish asked if we were newlyweds. It was a great way to finish. The last 7.2km took us 67 minutes to give us a final finishing time of 5:43. In the end, the time didn't mean anything to us as I told Belinda that she won't run too many tougher marathons. Her immediate reply was '6 Foot will be tougher'. Yes, I agreed but today is the first step towards achieving that goal on March 10 2007.

15/10/06

Talking to Bob Fickel after the marathon yesterday, he told me he was running the half at SMC. After a bit of banter, I agreed to have a nice slow run with him the next day. After a nice dinner last night, I was suprised how quickly I recovered from my earlier ordeal of being out on hot and dry trails for nearly 6 hours in 30+ degree temperatures. Belinda was on a high and agreed to come out to SMC as well and trot around with Tim in the 5km.

So we were off for another early start. There were quite a few backing up from Fitzroy Falls yesterday. As well as Bob and myself, we were joined by the Eagle in the half. Uncle Dave, Blue Dog and the Prank Caller were running the 10km so I didn't feel out of place at all.

I set out at a steady pace with Bob and we were having a nice chat as we trundled along. He was telling me of his training regime for when he ran the Sydney to Melbourne Classic. Bob is a legend of our sport and is third on the Australian list of Marathon finishes. And that is not including his ultras which he counts separately. We ran to the 2.5km drink station where he told me he was starting to feel yesterday's marathon in his legs. As I was just starting to loosen up, I decided to push on ahead and charged up the hill to the 3km mark. I went past a few runners on this surge. I soon passed Geoff, a Cool Runner who I met at the Cities Marathon, who was having his first run at SMC. As we headed up the slight hill to the 5km turnaround, the K Bus, with Aunty K, Spud and Eagle came into view so I thought if I kept the pace up I might be able to catch them. I eventually caught up to them at around the 7km mark. As I had used up a lot of energy catching them, I was happy to slow the pace down a bit to run with them. I was travelling okay until the big hill just after the 10km mark and the ITB started to grumble on the climb. I could feel myself slipping off the back of the bus and I just had to keep working to stay in touch. Once up the hill, I was relieved to see a slight downhill which I decided to use to my advantage. I surged down the hill and got back to the front of the bus. Now it was a case of just keep working hard to stay on the bus. I could feel myself working harder to keep on but was aided by the pace slowing fractionally. This was only a small arberation as at the 16km drink station, the bus moved up a gear and there was now very little chat going on. Then on the last big climb to the 18km mark, Eagle was struggling to hang on and was slowly falling off the back. Then as we hit the downhill, we now upped the ante a bit more and when we hit the 18.5km drink station, we realised Eagle had dropped back a fair bit. It was a great effort from him considering he had run 2 marathons in the last 7 days. Then on the gentle climbs to the 20km mark, I was really digging deep to stay in touch. Then when we hit the sign telling us there is 1km to go, I opened the throttle and again surged to the front of the bus. Spud joined me but we soon realised Aunty K wasn't able to come with us so we backed off a fraction as we all wanted to finish together, which we did in 1:42:43. It was a great feeling crossing the line together, all getting credited with the same time.

Meanwhile, Belinda and Tim had a ball frolicking around the 5km in 58 minutes.