761 replies to this topic

[rachinaus]

The Sloth, on 15 April 2011 - 10:05 AM, said:

Looks like he was on his way from the tent to the shower block and came across a marathon and thought hey, I'll give this a bash.

classic - thanks for the laugh....I had pictured him waking up in camping chair, fishing rod in hand, heard the gun go off and thought...I'll have some of this.

Fantastic stuff...might even inspire me to leave the watch at home one of these days

[sfGnome]

The Sloth, on 14 April 2011 - 10:27 PM, said:

Recovery
Stood around a lot, legs more smashed than in any other Marathon I've run...

EDIT: Wanted to note that although the legs were smashed, this was mainly upper leg - Hammy's, Quads + supporting muscles.

Funny you should mention that. Unlike you, I didn't push myself, but I did say to my beloved afterwards that I was much more smashed than expected, and it was all in the upper legs. Strange...

[Brendan90]

Stayed in Canberra up from Melbourne for the marathon, my second 42.195. Ran 3:53:53 and had an absolute ball, really loved the course, especially as i hadn't seen Canberra before.

Had a bit of trouble with my right foot though. Ive been wearing asics gel kayano16s (as i over-pronate) since i began running a year ago (about 300km into my second pair) and noticed my right ankle was rolling in a bit and i spent the whole race running on the sloped right shoulder of the road to "correct" my ankle and minimize pain... Will need to get this looked at soon as i plan to run the GC marathon in July. - Otherwise was a great marathon experience

[Rico]

Great report Sloth!

[woswwf]

The Sloth, on 15 April 2011 - 10:05 AM, said:

Looks like he was on his way from the tent to the shower block and came across a marathon and thought hey, I'll give this a bash.
Couldn't believe it when he stormed past me and JP at around 8k. Squeak, squeak, squeak..all the way to 2:43:00!

Amazing guy. Imagine the sort of times he could run in the proper equipment.

[Supersam1979]

woswwf, on 17 April 2011 - 12:55 PM, said:

Amazing guy. Imagine the sort of times he could run in the proper equipment.

Maybe or maybe not. I would love to be able to run in minimalist shoes, but don't have the courage despite running barefoot for much of my formative years on the track. In those days my parents could not afford spikes and the like and basically just told me that if I wanted to run then I should barefoot or not at all.

Imagine how much money he saves on shoes?

[RobByrne]

Been lurking on this forum for a long time, just registered when I saw this thread. Reason is that Canberra marathon 2011 was my first full marathon. Never been a big runner before, but its something my wife and I wanted to tick off the bucket list. We ran the whole thing together in 4.05 (Even though she tried to sprint me with 100M to go!) and I am extremely proud of the achievement.

However, I do feel completely robbed of my 1st Marathon experience. I know the rain clearly took some atmosphere away (And THANK YOU to all those people who did stay out and cheer us on) but it seemed to me like the whole thing was run by a bunch of monkeys. I know its been discussed already, but the "Expo" was a joke and the fact that they had no souvenier merchandise was the biggest dissapointment of the weekend. One of the main sponsors was the hotel we stayed in and not one staff member we spoke to (Including the gym staff!!!!!) knew the Marathon was on!

Seriously, as a running hobbyist (Is that even a real word?) I felt robbed of my first marathon experience and to be honest, it would have been resolved very easily by a T shirt and a bit more advertising.

Ok, so the positive points were that we finished, beat our goal of 4.30 by 25 mins and made the most of the rest of the weekend. So now the severe pain is gone and I can look back at the event, its the positives I will focus on.

Doing the Sydney C2S and then the Sydney Half in Sept, hope to do another marathon next year too....but trust me when I say I will be researching in great detail and it WONT be CANBERRA.

[BlueZed]

RobByrne, on 28 July 2011 - 04:10 PM, said:

However, I do feel completely robbed of my 1st Marathon experience.

....but trust me when I say I will be researching in great detail and it WONT be CANBERRA.

Hi RobByrne.  Congratulations for your combined achievments.

My first marathon was GCAM 2010 and the things I recorded afterwards (so I would not forget) were almost entirely about the atmosphere, spectators, costumes, announcer etc.  I can see how you might be disappointed about the event here in Canberra.  I ran my first half marathon in Canberra this year and it was used as a build up for this year's GCAM.  I was pleased with my effort but felt a little flat afterwards as there was little else to do but get into the car and go home.   Canberra will never have beaches nor a harbour to run past but I have often thought that doing a couple of laps is a dull way to run distance.

I guess after the ownership issues and the almost cancelled event the previous year; it was nice that we had a running festival at all.   I am sure it will be better next year.   You would have to appreciate the cool weather?

Good luck for your future efforts!

[Corsa]

Canberra 2011 was also my first marathon and while I don’t feel ‘completely robbed’ I did feel a bit let down. The race itself was fine and I was happy with my time (3:22) but there just seemed to be something lacking. I’m not sure what I expected from the event, I didn’t go to the expo as I wasn’t interested in looking at overpriced gear I don’t need. The FAQ section on the marathon website promised me a free copy of the Canberra Times and on-course entertainment. Maybe I was too busy in the race or ‘in the zone’ that I didn’t notice any entertainment. I didn’t get my newspaper either but not being a Canberra local a copy of the Canberra Times is not much use to me(unless it was the following days edition with the race results because they weren’t on the web till mid-week). When I finished someone gave me a medal and took my photo. I didn’t know what to do then so I walked off to find my family, had a quick chat with some other runners and walked back to my hotel. Game Over.

[chariotlegs]

is there a website where I  could get more information on this race for next year's running plan? I've tried the website www.canberramarathon.com.au but don't seem to get anywhere. Chasing a first marathon to run around April this year, and this looked like a goodie.

[BlueZed]

Hi CL,

The website is Canberra Marathon

It has the date for next year and a countdown clock but apart from that it has not been updated since the 2011 race.  You can find the course map at this site.

Hope this helps.

[chariotlegs]

Thanks Bluezed. Much appreciated.