Melbourne Marathon and the end of a challenge…(and my longest post ever)

How to start the end of a year long challenge??? A LONG recap and a new challenge…

SPOILER::::::The sweep is complete

Melbourne marked the final state in my quest to run around Australia. A personal challenge that started back in October last year with an idea about running in every State and Territory. What an adventure it has been. I have met some amazing people for very different walks of life. It has been a year of personal growth and widening of comfort zones and the pushing of personal boundaries. It has been a year of great fun, lots of flying, hotels, spare beds, meeting old friends and running!

As Melbourne was the final state I had the great idea that this one should be a full marathon rather than the half that I have enjoyed so far. I also, last minute, decided that the family should come with me to enjoy a mini-break in Melbourne and be there to share with me at the finish line all of the sacrifices that they made for me for the past year.

The lead up to this race was not the one that I would have ideally wanted but I was determined to get to the start line and have fun running the event. During the week I decided that I needed to get a couple of runs in to at least get some kms back into my legs following the forced downtime from the prior two weeks. A “gentle” 7 km run on the Tuesday lunchtime with a work colleague ended up being smoking fast (sub 5min kms!) and then a 10k on the Thursday with part 1 riding his bike alongside also meant that I ran quicker than I had planned. But hey, I needed to recover a little conditioning for the weekend.

 An early start on the Saturday morning saw us having to wake the boys up (sweet revenge for all the times they have woken us J). We had a great flight and even scored a spare seat for part 2 to have his own seat for the flight (I was too cheap to pay $600 for him to have his own seat!). Both boys were champions. Part 1 was chuffed as he got to have solid TV time for the flight and watched two movies back to back (poor deprived little mite) and part 2 had a wander round the cabin, lots of snacks and a sleep (win win).

Cab to the hotel and we were there! The hotel – I cannot sign the praises for them enough. The Downtowner on Lygon. They were great, they must have made a note on the booking that I was there for the marathon as they made mention of it on our arrival and made a big fuss of encouragement. They had put a little pack of attractions, discount coupons and a map together for us and the boys and we had a very nice, spacious room for our stay! I can honestly say that they have a guest for life going forward!

As we had landed fairly late in the afternoon (3pm) the Expo was closed but we decided to head down to the find the start line so I would know where to go in the morning. Off we trooped and 20 mins later we were at the start line…too easy. A bite to eat and then a wander around the city (getting a little lost and using google maps extensively) we found our way back to the hotel (3 hours later)…..at least my legs got a stretch after the plane ride. The boys were both shattered so we opted for a room service picnic in the room for dinner and an early night for all.

4:45 the alarm went off and I was up like a shot (didn’t want to risk waking the boys). A quick shower, teeth brush and I was out the door. I had my traditional berocca and oat slice for breakfast on the walk to the start line. Boy was I early for the start. Race start was scheduled for 7am and I was there by 5:45. I found the loos and hey there were no lines (shock and horror) and then made contact by text with fellow round the country runners Simon and Jarrod. Simon had his running group to meet with so we planned to connect at the finish line and Jarrod was with a friend and we managed to meet before the start. I had hoped to pace with Jarrod but he had a PR goal in mind that was above my planned pace so I felt it better to leave him to it.

I will admit that I was really nervous before the start of this race. Not sure if it was the distance or the last run or what but I was definitely the most nervous that I have been to date. The pre-race announcements stated that there was one lady running the race that was 85!!! And that there were about half a dozen (I think) people that were running their 36^th race, in other words they had run in every Melbourne Marathon to date (I saw a couple of them during the run and took a moment to shake their hands along the way – inspirational people!). Also, they announced that there was just short of 8,000 people running the marathon and that meant it was now the largest marathon field in Australia to date – cool hey!

7am and boom the gun went off and we were off. Overall my strategy was to maintain a comfortable 5:40 – 5:50 per km pace, water and jelly snake every 5kms and a gel every 15kms. The first 5kms were bang on schedule (5:43 pace) then for some reason I lost my focus and ended up at 13kms before I really knew what I was doing and my pace had moved to 5:23 per km and I hadn’t really been drinking or thinking about fuel. Anyway, then I stated to be obsessed with my watch and trying to get my pace down and in all honesty that took a little enjoyment out of the run for me. Needless to say I carried on and ended up passing the half point at 2:00:38. At that point I was running a couple of paces behind a lady in a tutu (?) and without her realising it she was dragging me forward nicely but at about 25kms she started to fade and I passed her…and then it started to rain. A nice soaking shower laid itself down and ended up pretty wet. Sadly, my mood deteriorated at that point. I was getting tired and the realisation that I did not give the 42.195kms the respect that it fully deserved in training came home. By 28kms I was running and walking (and the 4:20 pace group passed me). By 32kms I walking and running and was grumping! From 31 – 35kms I was really grateful for the frequent traffic lights on the route as they ended up being my run to marker posts and I stubbornly made myself run from one set to the next. By 36kms I REALLY wanted to just sit down…energy levels were very low and I wasn’t sure that I had anything left in the tank. It was at this point I started visualising my various training run routes and I think I was moving mainly on auto pilot. 6kms to go – that is just one lap of Bibra Lake. 5kms to go…that is just to the shops and back. 3kms to go…that is from the lake home and so on.

As the run was finishing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG – grand final football ground) I decided to have a 500m walk before the final 2kms as I really wanted to finish strong and run the lead up to the ground. It was also around here that there were a lot more people and other runners heading away from the event and this helped to lift the spirits and get me through that final stretch. Once you enter the grounds, you are facing the finish line and the two stands where all of the families and spectators are waiting for you…it was awesome, quite a buzz! We had to follow a running track anticlockwise around the grounds which was lined with photographers snapping shots…very rockstar  (:p)

I finished strong and was REALLY happy to cross the line. A nice touch was that as we were crossing the line the announcer was telling everyone that “YOU ARE A MARATHONER!” It was a nice touch.

I was so happy to stop running and when I checked my times 4:38:55 – a new PB (over the first marathon in 2010)

Then (2010) and Now (2013)

I am annoyed with myself as I met two different people who were also very inspirational and I did not get their names or bib numbers to check on how they went. One pair were work colleagues running together. The one guy had a brain tumour removed last year and his mate said that as he missed the marathon last year due to surgery he would run his first marathon with him in 2013! How cool is that! And another lady I met at the finish had been running to raise money for charity in honour of her husband and had collected over $6,000!!! Seriously, humbling to talk to just a couple of people at such a huge event.

Managed to find the family and get some huge hugs from the boys and wife and we met up with Simon and his lovely wife. It was nice for the two families to have a very brief meeting at long last. By this time I was in many levels of pain and whimpered that I needed to get back to the hotel for a bath. It was a long and slow walk back to the hotel (2kms) but in truth it probably did me good to keep moving and stretch out rather than sit down.

That afternoon, as we were all the way over the other side of the country we headed out to the Aquarium. It was very nice and the boys loved it and I took every single opportunity that I could to sit down. I tried to put a brave face on it but my darling wife told me I looked a very sorry puppy….but I tried.

Next day a quick trip to the Zoo and then on to the airport for the return home. Another spare seat (score) and great flight home and the adventure came to a close!

Thanks for sticking with me this long through the marathon post (double meaning - ha ha ha).

Next post will be about the next challenge and start to a whole new training regime!

Woo bring it on!