0
Just back in Sydney after a great weekend away in Southwest Rocks. What a beautiful part of the world! The road is so much better now than it used to be, we will try to get up that way more often.
Sunday was perfect in just about every way, right down to getting my lucky number 4 as my race number. As blog readers will know, I have been planning for this for ages, and have had some fabulous advice from the like of Eagle, JD, Tesso and so many other coolrunners, thank you all! Also to my coach Sean Williams who gave me a pace to stick to, I was only a few seconds under it nearly all the way. And the weather was perfect too, cool (7 degrees to start) and mostly overcast.
For those who don't already know the news, I finished pretty comfortably in 4:02:45, with a small negative split.
The hardest part of the race (as I told Seris at the postrace debriefing) was watching everyone else disappear into the distance within the first km while I tried to stick to 5:50 kms or so. It was downhill to start, so I allowed myself a couple of faster kms there, but otherwise tried to stick to fairly even splits (taking the odd hill in the first, and last, 8kms into account). It worked brilliantly for me having Gary the Garmin set to show pace in big numbers, with distance and time in the smaller fields underneath. I had 2 screens set up, one was avg pace over the whole run, and the other was average pace of the current lap. Once I got out of town and past the 9km aid station it was clear that I was very comfortable at 5:48 rather than the 5:50 Sean had suggested. There are about 11km of flat road running along the river at this point, fortunately with a few bends to keep the interest up. I kept my focus up by trying to get each split as close as possible to 5:47 (since I was walking each drink station so needed a few seconds up the sleeve). I started overtaking people at about 11km, and kept overtaking for the whole rest of the race. At about 15km or so Uncle Dave appeared and the next 7 or 8km were kept interesting by greeting other runners going the other direction. I reached the turnaround point at 2:02 on the watch and decided to up the pace a bit on the way back because I knew the hills in the last 8km would slow me down and I was aiming to get about 4:04 (to keep the lucky number theme going). So I stuck to around 5:41 for the next 10km or so, overtaking lots of people in this section. Got to the 33km/9km drink station a few minutes ahead of schedule and Mr Sook was there, so was able to offload my armwarmers and gloves I'd had sitting on my belt up to then (gave him a big kiss too!). About a km past that was the first of the 3 hills through town - I knew it would slow me down a bit but I was able to keep my focus and still had power in the legs, and it was a great surprise to see Mr Sook waiting for me at the next corner to give me a cheer. There was a long slow incline leading up to the next hill, which took me past the 35km mark and into unknown territory. At this stage I was wondering about whether I was going to hit the famous wall, and if so what it would feel like, but although I was tiring I was able to keep the pace up pretty well, with one 5:39 km in there (on a downhill of course). At the top of the second hill I knew I was going to be fine, still plenty of power and overtaking people, but the third hill was tough, one of those that starts out gently and gets steeper near the top, levels out a bit then gets steeper again. One of the marshalls said to me, "you're doing your first marathon, aren't you?" and gave me a big smile and a GCR, that gave me a boost! The course goes right through the main cafe strip and it was a bit crowded there, then before long I was at the 37km aid station, and Mr Sook was there again! From here it was mostly on shady cycle path, sometimes going away from the main road, and I'd promised myself the day before that I'd really enjoy that after the hills coming up to town, so even though I was really having to concentrate to keep my cadence up I really enjoyed that bit. A willy wagtail (a special bird for women in Central Australia) jumped onto the path in front of me, which seemed a good omen too. I had been going to skip the 39km aid station but decided to take on some gatorade for the hill I knew was not far ahead. Just before the turnoff to Trial Bay (just after the 40km mark) another nice marshall said to me, "that guy ahead of you is gone, you've got him and probably the one ahead of him too!". Not only was this a nice confidence booster (that someone thought an elderly woman on her first marathon was capable of such things) but it also took my mind off the last hill. I'd run the last 3km of the course the day before, as my last training run, and of course had done it easily on fresh legs. But I'd been fretting about it in the back of my mind somewhere for the last few kms. Yes, I did take those 2 guys, and another one besides on the hill! That was the km I was proudest of all race, 5:59 but so satisfying to be able to power up the hill. By now I could hear the race announcer and I knew it was only a matter of navigating the last few hundred metres through the caravan park, and mostly downhill to boot! I didn't have much in the tank by this stage but gave it my best shot, especially when Mr Sook spied me and called out. Just before the finish chute I had to battle my way through traffic would you believe! several large 4wds were driving out of the area and more were parked on the side of the road, and there wasn't much room to squeeze between them, and then I was running over the mats, the announcer was calling out my name, friends screaming and I crossed the line waving my arms and feeling great! The last km was 5:18 (I later figured out).
Once I'd stopped I realised that I wasn't going to be able to bend over or sit down very comfortably, but I have actually come through it remarkably unscathed. I had a gentle 10minute leg massage about half an hour after finishing and it really made my legs feel so much better, then Mr Sook gave me another harder massage in the evening and legs have been pretty good, no trouble going up and down stairs, though today's long car journey was tough when I was driving through stop-start traffic at Newcastle and got a bit of a cramp at the top of right hammy. Otherwise, no blisters, a tiny bit of chafing. My iffy left ankle gave me no trouble whatsoever and I hereby declare it completely healed. The most spectacular symptom is a rash all over my tummy similar to the one I get when coming down with a virus (suppose it must show my immune system is overloaded). And my right forearm aches a bit, I realised it must have been from all the turning of my wrist to check my watch!
For the record, I walked through all the drink stations, and took on at least 2 cups of fluid at each one. The aid stations were at odd distances, so gels weren't as evenly spaced as I'd have liked. I had 4 gels at 9, 20, 27 and 37kms (in retrospect it might have been better to do 9, 22, 33). I had water with the gels and at 5 and 15km aid stations and gatorade at 33 and 39kms.
When I looked at my watch just after the finish line it said 4:03, and that's what I was telling people I'd done. Then when I was sitting down to have my chip removed I realised that it was still going (showing 4:04 at that stage!). I was quite surprised to see 4:02:45 in the official results, I assume that is a net time because I'd seeded myself towards the back of the field (of 111) and probably took 15 seconds or so to cross the starting mats. I suppose some people might think I would be disappointed not to go sub-4 hrs, but that was never the plan. I felt that it would have put a lot more pressure on me through the race and I might have gone too fast too soon and got a worse result. I honestly believe that was pretty close to the best time I was capable of on the day, and I'm really really proud and happy with it!
AND in upcoming blog entries...
#1 Thanks to some special coolrunners...
#2 How lucky are we to be running in 2010!
EDIT just checked the results website and my net time was actually 4:02:32, blimey!
Sunday was perfect in just about every way, right down to getting my lucky number 4 as my race number. As blog readers will know, I have been planning for this for ages, and have had some fabulous advice from the like of Eagle, JD, Tesso and so many other coolrunners, thank you all! Also to my coach Sean Williams who gave me a pace to stick to, I was only a few seconds under it nearly all the way. And the weather was perfect too, cool (7 degrees to start) and mostly overcast.
For those who don't already know the news, I finished pretty comfortably in 4:02:45, with a small negative split.
The hardest part of the race (as I told Seris at the postrace debriefing) was watching everyone else disappear into the distance within the first km while I tried to stick to 5:50 kms or so. It was downhill to start, so I allowed myself a couple of faster kms there, but otherwise tried to stick to fairly even splits (taking the odd hill in the first, and last, 8kms into account). It worked brilliantly for me having Gary the Garmin set to show pace in big numbers, with distance and time in the smaller fields underneath. I had 2 screens set up, one was avg pace over the whole run, and the other was average pace of the current lap. Once I got out of town and past the 9km aid station it was clear that I was very comfortable at 5:48 rather than the 5:50 Sean had suggested. There are about 11km of flat road running along the river at this point, fortunately with a few bends to keep the interest up. I kept my focus up by trying to get each split as close as possible to 5:47 (since I was walking each drink station so needed a few seconds up the sleeve). I started overtaking people at about 11km, and kept overtaking for the whole rest of the race. At about 15km or so Uncle Dave appeared and the next 7 or 8km were kept interesting by greeting other runners going the other direction. I reached the turnaround point at 2:02 on the watch and decided to up the pace a bit on the way back because I knew the hills in the last 8km would slow me down and I was aiming to get about 4:04 (to keep the lucky number theme going). So I stuck to around 5:41 for the next 10km or so, overtaking lots of people in this section. Got to the 33km/9km drink station a few minutes ahead of schedule and Mr Sook was there, so was able to offload my armwarmers and gloves I'd had sitting on my belt up to then (gave him a big kiss too!). About a km past that was the first of the 3 hills through town - I knew it would slow me down a bit but I was able to keep my focus and still had power in the legs, and it was a great surprise to see Mr Sook waiting for me at the next corner to give me a cheer. There was a long slow incline leading up to the next hill, which took me past the 35km mark and into unknown territory. At this stage I was wondering about whether I was going to hit the famous wall, and if so what it would feel like, but although I was tiring I was able to keep the pace up pretty well, with one 5:39 km in there (on a downhill of course). At the top of the second hill I knew I was going to be fine, still plenty of power and overtaking people, but the third hill was tough, one of those that starts out gently and gets steeper near the top, levels out a bit then gets steeper again. One of the marshalls said to me, "you're doing your first marathon, aren't you?" and gave me a big smile and a GCR, that gave me a boost! The course goes right through the main cafe strip and it was a bit crowded there, then before long I was at the 37km aid station, and Mr Sook was there again! From here it was mostly on shady cycle path, sometimes going away from the main road, and I'd promised myself the day before that I'd really enjoy that after the hills coming up to town, so even though I was really having to concentrate to keep my cadence up I really enjoyed that bit. A willy wagtail (a special bird for women in Central Australia) jumped onto the path in front of me, which seemed a good omen too. I had been going to skip the 39km aid station but decided to take on some gatorade for the hill I knew was not far ahead. Just before the turnoff to Trial Bay (just after the 40km mark) another nice marshall said to me, "that guy ahead of you is gone, you've got him and probably the one ahead of him too!". Not only was this a nice confidence booster (that someone thought an elderly woman on her first marathon was capable of such things) but it also took my mind off the last hill. I'd run the last 3km of the course the day before, as my last training run, and of course had done it easily on fresh legs. But I'd been fretting about it in the back of my mind somewhere for the last few kms. Yes, I did take those 2 guys, and another one besides on the hill! That was the km I was proudest of all race, 5:59 but so satisfying to be able to power up the hill. By now I could hear the race announcer and I knew it was only a matter of navigating the last few hundred metres through the caravan park, and mostly downhill to boot! I didn't have much in the tank by this stage but gave it my best shot, especially when Mr Sook spied me and called out. Just before the finish chute I had to battle my way through traffic would you believe! several large 4wds were driving out of the area and more were parked on the side of the road, and there wasn't much room to squeeze between them, and then I was running over the mats, the announcer was calling out my name, friends screaming and I crossed the line waving my arms and feeling great! The last km was 5:18 (I later figured out).
Once I'd stopped I realised that I wasn't going to be able to bend over or sit down very comfortably, but I have actually come through it remarkably unscathed. I had a gentle 10minute leg massage about half an hour after finishing and it really made my legs feel so much better, then Mr Sook gave me another harder massage in the evening and legs have been pretty good, no trouble going up and down stairs, though today's long car journey was tough when I was driving through stop-start traffic at Newcastle and got a bit of a cramp at the top of right hammy. Otherwise, no blisters, a tiny bit of chafing. My iffy left ankle gave me no trouble whatsoever and I hereby declare it completely healed. The most spectacular symptom is a rash all over my tummy similar to the one I get when coming down with a virus (suppose it must show my immune system is overloaded). And my right forearm aches a bit, I realised it must have been from all the turning of my wrist to check my watch!
For the record, I walked through all the drink stations, and took on at least 2 cups of fluid at each one. The aid stations were at odd distances, so gels weren't as evenly spaced as I'd have liked. I had 4 gels at 9, 20, 27 and 37kms (in retrospect it might have been better to do 9, 22, 33). I had water with the gels and at 5 and 15km aid stations and gatorade at 33 and 39kms.
When I looked at my watch just after the finish line it said 4:03, and that's what I was telling people I'd done. Then when I was sitting down to have my chip removed I realised that it was still going (showing 4:04 at that stage!). I was quite surprised to see 4:02:45 in the official results, I assume that is a net time because I'd seeded myself towards the back of the field (of 111) and probably took 15 seconds or so to cross the starting mats. I suppose some people might think I would be disappointed not to go sub-4 hrs, but that was never the plan. I felt that it would have put a lot more pressure on me through the race and I might have gone too fast too soon and got a worse result. I honestly believe that was pretty close to the best time I was capable of on the day, and I'm really really proud and happy with it!
AND in upcoming blog entries...
#1 Thanks to some special coolrunners...
#2 How lucky are we to be running in 2010!
EDIT just checked the results website and my net time was actually 4:02:32, blimey!
Plu