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.
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.
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