It's done

Melbourne Marathon yesterday. And that's it. Eight in 08 is done.

The lead up to this marathon wasn't perfect for me. I had been struggling with a pretty persistent cold with a wracking cough and some fever about a week or so out. I had picked up the harbinger of this cold after the Adelaide marathon six weeks ago, so the training over the last month has not been as solid as it could have been.

I toed the line on the Sunday with a few of the Gunnies. Chris and Andrew were running their first, and Steph was getting ready for a fabulous run. Soon after the start I saw Sharyn as well so I gave her a motivating slap on the rump, in the full understanding that she could do the same if she came powering back past me!

I felt pretty comfortable over the first 15km with the weather being a little cooler than expected. I skipped along St Kilda road, around Albert Park Lake and then turned down beach road. I had just passed the 3.30 pace group and thought - actually, I probably need to slow back a little. It was getting hotter and I knew that physically I wasn't in the shape to go sub 3.3o.

I'm glad I did. At about the 18km mark it seemed to warm up a lot, and my body couldn't decide if it was hot or cold.

Crossing the halfway point around Brighton was great, but the downer was the turnaround point was still 4km or so away.

As I turned for home I saw Steph powering on and looking great. Sharyn was also clipping along well.

The long run home was about 16km or so, and we ran into a steady and pretty warm headwind. I noticed how warm the headwind was when my singlet completely dried out in a few minutes. I kept my fluids up and tried to hold my pace as well as I could.

At about the 35 km, mark after passing my lovely Support Crew (wife) and the Gunnie supporter squad, I turned onto St Kilda road and then had to adopt my rogaining tactic of run one minute, walk 10 seconds etc.

While many runners came streaming past me, there were just as many that I was overtaking. This part of the course was littered with cramping, retching competitors desperate to cover the final 5 or so km to the end.

Running in the MCG for the finish was awesome. It was almost cathedral like as you run up a ramp and onto the playing surface. I pumped my arms at the wrong point - the powerade arch and not the timing arch, but no matter.

Eight in 08 was done & dusted.

Sydney Marathon

The morning of marathon Seven of Eight in 08 dawned clear and warm. Actually ... probably a little too warm.

Spring had sprung in Sydney and the day before we had topped low 30 degrees celsius. I had enjoyed a very bracing swim on the Saturday morning at Bronte and thoughts of body surfing in the cool waters of the East Coast current would be a useful mental focus for the marathon.

Support crew dropped me off near the start point at Milson's Point and I went about my standard preparation - stretching, toilet queue and visit, wander to the start.

When the starting gun went off I headed up the short sharp hill and then turned back 180 degrees to head over the Bridge. The sun was already warmish and I found myself enjoying the breeze and the shade of the pylons - it could be a long, hot morning!

We looped down off the Cahill expressway and headed out around Lady Macquarie's Chair enjoying the fabulous vista of Sydney Harbour. Back through the city we headed up the lower section of Oxford Street as the nightclubs emptied their patrons out onto the curb. The runners received a few waves and some shouted words of semi-encouragement and before we knew it, we were running our loop around Centennial Park

I caught up with a chap I had met a few weeks before in South Australia. The Adelaide marathon had been his 98th, and here he was backing up for his 99th marathon. I hope to see him again in Melbourne for my eighth this year and his hundredth! He was going great guns and gradually pulled away from me from about the 15km mark.

We headed out of the park and then did two short out and back loops along Dacey avenue (I think) and Anzac Parade. We then turned around one final time to head back into the city at about the 25km mark.

It was now the business end of the run and I loped past some runners that were already feeling the effects of the warm temperatures. Although it wasn't quite 30 degrees like it had been the day before, it was warm. I had revised my time goal back from 3.30ish to take into account the warmer temperatures and I was running quite comfortably.

As we ran in the shade of the high rise office buildings in the CBD I was feeling quite good and put in a couple of short surges. As we headed out toward the inner west I realised that this may not have been such a wise course of action. The long(ish) slope up the Western distributor was dull and unshaded and was pretty tough work, but as we turned around at the furthest point, we had only about 9km to go.

The last five or so km were tough - but aren't they always? We looped down off the expressways to follow Hickson's Road around and underneath the Harbour Bridge. The highlight of the run was heading back around Circular Quay to the Sydney Opera House seeing lots of supporters, pedestrians and tourists lining the last couple of kms and cheering the runners on.

I stopped the clock at 3.44.15 - a time that I was very happy with considering the warm day. I felt great - mainly because I was flying out later that afternoon to spend a week or so on vacation in Western Australia.

One more to go - Melbourne 12 October.

Adelaide Marathon - Fastest Yet

It was a dark and stormy night ... and it looked like more of the same for the 2008 Adelaide Marathon.

As Support Crew and I drove to the start at Santos Stadium the car's wipers swooshed from side to side and streetlights glittered off a wet road. Getting out of the car at the stadium wasn't a lovely experience with a biting wind reminding me that I had forgotten to bring a pair of tracky daks to Adelaide.

But no matter, the starter's gun fired at 6.45AM and the cavalcade sallied forth. The initial part of the run took us along some deserted roads before branching onto a cycle path and heading towards the beach. The shelter of the cycle path ran out after about 6km as we reached a canal. The wind seemed to be in our face then for the next 25 or so km - hard but honest work for the runners!

I reached Glenelg beach (about the 15km mark) feeling pretty good, but consciously not trying to push too hard into the head wind as we turned and followed a terrific pathway next to the beach. I spotted Support Crew at about the 20km mark and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. I was still feeling pretty good and after about another 5km the course took us back past roughly the same point.

At somewhere around the 30km mark I was expecting to stuggle after running at Uluru just 13 days before. But surprisingly I felt pretty good. I concentrated on clipping along steadily and even stretching out on the short downhills. The last 10-15km of the marathon follow a cycle path along the Torrens River. It's very scenic with just a few small undulations and, most importantly, we finally got some relief from the wind.

I enjoyed a few chats with some of the other runners. One guy was running his 22nd Adelaide Marathon - his 98th overall. He was in his late 50s - wow! I hope to see him again in Sydney and Melbourne when he will crack the magical 100 barrier. There was another young guy running his first marathon going through a pretty tough time at about the 32km mark when I cruised up behind him. We had a chat for a minute or two before I eased away. He found his second wind soon after and raced past me with about 5km to go!

Over the last few kms of the course I was still feeling surprisingly strong - tired and stiff - but still pretty strong. I was able to push on a little more than in some of the previous efforts and in the end I galloped home in a time of 3.37ish by my watch and the finish clock.

I was really pleased with how I went and how I felt considering the windy nature of the run. After the customary cold bath, a couple of paninis and a bag of chips, Support Crew and I headed out to catch up with a friend in Adelaide.

Next stop Sydney on 21 September.

Uluru and Disaster Averted

Marathon five of eight has been successfully completed ... just.

Very early on Sunday morning - at approximately 1 AM - I awoke with an overwhelming feeling of nausea. Not such a good thing with the start of the Alice Springs Marathon only five hours away. Many thoughts flashed through my mind as the take away chicken sandwich that I had eaten at Standley Gorge the previous afternoon burbled away in my belly ...

Should I start the run?
If I did, would I finish it?
What was the sensible thing to do?
What was the tough thing to do?
Why did I eat the sandwich anyway?
Was there an alternate marathon scheduled in the Northern Territory that I could run and still meet my eight in 08 goal?
What a disappointment.
How would I feel about doing it all over again in 2009?
Bloody hell, you’ve paid a lot of money to fly here to not run.

I tossed and turned until the alarm went off at 4.30AM. It was now decision time.

I got up and had one Up and Go energy drink - about one third of my normal pre-marathon breakfast.

Not such a great idea. It certainly didn’t make me feel any better.

So I went back to bed and deferred the decision for 30 minutes. After that I would need to make up my mind otherwise there would not be enough time to make it to the start in time.

Sensible Ric won out. I might have been able to tough out a 10km run with nausea. Maybe even a half marathon, but a full 42.195 km would be pushing it just too much.

But this decision didn’t make me feel any better. I was now disappointed that I had given in. What a wimp. And the feelings got worse when a couple of hours later I started to feel better.
Maybe I could have run after all.

The car trip out to the airport was a disaster. I felt really down with myself. It only got worse when we picked up another friend who had run the half marathon in Alice Springs that morning.

Then miracle of miracles, my wonderful wife made a terrific suggestion. Why didn’t I simply run my own marathon the next day at Uluru (Ayers Rock - or just “the Rock”)?

My initial reaction was - it wouldn’t be the same. Then, almost immediately it was - NO! It could be much cooler.

As soon as we arrived at our accommodation in Yalara (the resort complex about 20km from Uluru) we headed off to the tour desk to see what might work.

A quick glance at the map and some discussions with one of the guides let me know that a circumnavigation of the Rock by foot would be about 10km. There was a pathway from the Rock to the Cultural Centre that was about 2km. The journey by road from the the Rock back to Yalara was about 20km.

A plan quickly formed in my mind. Could I run two laps of the Rock, head back to the Cultural Centre and then run back Yalara?

After some raised eyebrows and a telephone call to the shuttle bus company to determine the price of a “one way” fare, the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.

Sunday night was a very untraditional pre-marathon evening. Because we had flown into Uluru to see the Rock and have a great time, I was keen to meet those objectives as well. So that evening my wife and I enjoyed a lovely dinner under the stars in the middle of the desert. We ate barramundi, crocodile, kangaroo and lots of other Central Australian delicacies. I even quaffed some quite reasonable red wine.

Just 24 hours after my Alice Springs disappointment I rose to a lovely clear but cool day at Yalara. My wife (support crew) and I jumped on the 8.30AM shuttle bus from Yalara out to Uluru. Support crew headed off with a small daypack of water, sunscreen and jelly babies. I jogged in a clockwise direction around the Rock for lap 1.

It was at times rough, uneven, rocky or sandy underfoot. But it didn’t matter. Eight in 08 was now back on track and still achievable.

And what a view. I stumbled a few times by not watching where I was going. But who could blame me. Uluru is truly amazing. It stands some 300 odd metres above the desert floor and totally dominates the surrounding landscape. On lap 1 I made sure to divert down all the tributary paths to check out Aboriginal cave paintings and the other sacred sites that are publically accessible.

About 60 minutes later the first lap was completed. It had been a fairly slow lap owing to the wind, the great views and some of the diversions I had followed, but I was feeling good. As I ran into the carpark area I saw my half marathon running friend from the day before. She had just been relating my tale of woe to some of the other tourists! I had a sip or two of water from a tap and then reversed direction around the Rock to track down Support Crew.

About 25 minutes later I met up with my wife, swallowed a couple of jelly babies and continued my run with drink bottle and some Endura on hand. The second lap was completed in a shade under 50 minutes - no real diversions except the drink stop.

I tracked my wife down, enjoyed half a powerbar, made up another bottle of Endura and then ran off toward the Cultural Centre with the Endura and an additional bottle of water in my hands.

Certainly the run back from Uluru to Yalara wasn’t as enjoyable as my two laps of the Rock. Running along the road was a little dull, but whenever it got too dull I simply looked back over my shoulder to see the Rock slowly receding in the distance. My legs started to tire with about 10km to go, but I finished feeling great about 4 hours after I had started.

Not only was disaster averted, but possibly I have pioneered a new marathon course!

Five down, three to go.

Gold Coast Marathon

I've happily reached the halfway point for my Eight in 08. Woohoo.

I ran the Gold Coast Marathon last weekend (6 July 2008). I had had to readjust my race goal in the week leading up to the race when I developed a bit of a cold. While it was just a bit of congestion and a headache, over the length of the marathon I wasn't sure what full impact it may have.

So I headed out even more conservatively than I would normally and covered the first 5km in a pretty slow time. At about the 2km mark I passed an old friend from Melbourne - Chris H. who was running his first marathon. He was running comfortably and was sounding nice and confident. He planned to run just behind the 3.45 pace group and would be happy finishing just under 4 hours. We chatted for a few minutes, but I lost him coming out of a drink station.

The weather was reasonably cool - at least compared with the previous two GCMs that I had run. The cloud cover and rain the previous days meant that it also seemed quite humid. In the latter part of the course this seemed to become more apparent.

The 10km mark came and went, and soon after the 12km mark I saw the leaders returning. At that stage (probably about 17km for them) there were two Africans in the lead with a Japanese runner in third position. It's always quite exciting on out and back courses to be able to see the leading groups - gee they were clipping along.

The southern turnaround point was a good mental milestone to reach and then it was a retrace of steps back toward the start/finish area. My left hip began to tighten up at its customary distance around 18km, but a momentary slowdown for a couple of minutes shook that out. I can't recall my timesplit crossing the halfway point, but it was a little slower than it had been in Canberra or Busselton.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that my watch battery ran out just prior to the start, so I couldn't record the same level of detail for this run as previously.

Back past the start/finish area and I could see a lot of the half marathoners at around their 2 hour point heading down the finishing chute. We marathoners headed north for the shorter of the out and back loops. For some reason, the loop out always seems to take a long time!

Just after the northern turnaround point, I enjoyed half a banana kindly prepared by a roadside stall and then settled into the business end of the run. Ml legs felt heavy and tired, and by the 38 km mark my right hamstring was cramping. A couple of short walking/stretching breaks followed, and by the time I was ran down the finishing chute, things were good again.

I ran over the line in 3:51 something with a net time of 3:50 on the dot. I am quite happy with the time considering the immediate lead up to this race.

The plan now is to put in some faster paced and more intense training over the next few weeks leading up to Alice Springs. I plan to run Alice nice and easily 3:40 - 3:50, but push harder in Adelaide two weeks later (if I can).

Bunbury Marathon

Bunbury was a delight! All the runners in the marathon and the half marathon enjoyed terrific weather.

It was coolish at the start - but nothing like Canberra and, as the sun rose further in the East, the temperature warmed quite comfortably.

While my original plan had been to aim for about 3.30 or so as an improvement on the Canberra Marathon time, my final couple of weeks of training had been a little hampered by work commitments, and I didn't feel that I had really put in enough work to shoot for this better time.

So I ran Bunbury with a similar plan to the Canberra marathon. Start out nice and steadily trying to run as comfortably as possible to half way and then reassess. This worked well and my heart rate stayed below 145 to about the 15km mark. I ran through the halfway mark in 1:45:36. Looking at my 1km split times, I was running them a little quicker than Canberra in the first half (10-15 secs faster), but I found the 30-35km section tough. I really slowed up there as my legs tightened up, but just after the 35km drinks station I seemed to recover again, motored up a biggish hill and it was only a few km to the finish. Chip time was 3:43:28.

But what a rapid recovery! I got back to the hotel, had a quick swim in their pool, then showered and headed back to Perth with my lovely wife driving. We stopped off at the 'Centre of the Universe' cafe for a very greasy hamburger and packet of burger rings, before arriving at a friend's place for the night. A few beers and fish & chips for dinner, coupled with the afternoon and the night in my skins and I felt great the next day.

By Tuesday I was even better, and my first run this week was Thursday morning at 5.30AM before I ran a workshop. I found I had to hold myself back!

I'm looking forward to some more faster paced training over the next couple of weeks as I get ready for the Gold Coast marathon. The plan for the Gold Coast is to run it reasonably hard - so about 3:20ish is the target.

Canberra Marathon

Well, that's the second of the eight marathons down!

I ran the Canberra Marathon yesterday (13 April) in 3:43:30. I had a very relaxed and enjoyable run (HR <150 for the first 25km), primarily because mentally I had told myself just to treat this as another training run. I didn't set myself any real goals - although I wanted to finish somewhere between 3 1/2 and 4 hours. If I had run faster than 3 1/2 hours then I think I would have pushed too hard with six more marathons to come, and if it had been slower than 4 hours then something would have gone wrong!

The conditions on the course yesterday suited me just fine. We had some showers and light rain for the first hour or so, but we finished in bright sunshine. So the temperatures (unlike in Hobart in January) were nice and cool, but they weren't cold. I found the running surface a little skiddy in places, probably because Canberra hasn't been receiving a lot of rain recently so there was a touch of surface grime on the roads.

It's a very professionally run event and the volunteers were fantastic. It was particularly great to see so many family and friends out supporting the runners on the course - especially when the weather wasn't nearly as friendly. I always make an effort to high five any of the kids that hold out the their hands!

I also really enjoyed catching up with two of the girls from the Gunn Runners group in Melbourne. Sharyn Fitzgerald and Alex Gibson flew to Canberra on the Saturday morning, we had lunch together and both of the gals ran really well yesterday. Sharyn was particularly pleased to have smashed her marathon PB by about 10 minutes running under the magical 4 hour mark for the first time. She gave me a great big hug at the end and remarked "I'm a real marathoner now".

I'll take the running pretty easy for the next week or so with probably three easy runs Tue, Wed and Thur, and then a very relaxed 20km shake out run on the Saturday. Then it'll be back to the 100km routine (hopefully) next week.

Next marathon is in Bunbury, Western Australia in about a month's time.