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.