Archive for September, 2010

Athlete: Nicola

If you add on another hour and a bit of pain and suffering that would just about be my story too. My Garmin was working and we were doing very well up until the 22 km mark and were on target for a 4 hr finish. I said goodbye to Angela at 24 km “save yourself, just leave me, I’ll be fine (besides I didn’t need any close witnesses to my slow decline) Then….. the long windy Kings Park hill. Halfway up I decided that if I ever said I was going to do another one of these marathon thingys that I should remember this pain. I told myself to get out of Kings park, find the crowd and let the excitement carry me the last 11 km. I found the crowd and was buoyed for a bit but then I turned left and the crowd kept going and I was alone again. I had a weird sense of achievement when I passed the man with the wheelbarrow. I can run faster than a man pushing a wheelbarrow! The next plan was to get to 35km where hubby and the kids would be watching. I decided to skip across to the other track only to find they had the same idea. I waved at the kids through the fence and when I found an opening I ran back to give them a hug. Some smartypants told me I was running the wrong way. A quick smile/imbecilic grin for Louis with the camera. My arms were working really really fast but my legs couldn’t match the pace. Then my mobile beeped (I use phone for music) and as I was walking at that stage I decided to see who the message was from. It was Alison sending congratulations and hoping it went well… hmmm, I decided it would be rude not to reply so at 39 km I was walking up a hill sending a text message. I managed to trot up the last bit of the hill past Fiona and my arms propelled me to the finish for 4 hrs and 15 minutes. I particularly enjoyed the 4km walk back to the car with a medal round my neck the size of a Jim’ll Fix It badge. I am in awe of anyone who can run a marathon in less than 4 hours let alone close to 3 hours, it is incredible to me. My theory now is that if I never run the
same marathon twice, I never have to beat my time.

x Nicola

p.s when I got home and the kids asked the usual question – did you win mummy? I said nope and my son said well it must have been Bob then.

Athlete: Big Kev in the City 2 Surf Marathon

Well, where do start..at the beginning.?..All preparation went well and got to the start line confident of another sub 3 time to go with my 2:58 at last years city-2-surf. Perfect conditions, felt great, good preparation..it was all looking rosy. Even the added benefit of some pretty nurses dressed in short skirts to look at (though the moustache was off putting!)…so turn on the Garmin..and ….nothing ! Bugger !  If you’re ever running for a set time you need a Garmin, the GPS tells you your current speed (which is always slower than you think it is..?), average speed, distance etc etc.. a wealth of useful information which can help while away the kilometres. I love my Garmin, when I run I check it continually and without it I am lost. I actually have a spare one just in case my main one breaks..I am that anal about the whole timing thing…so..as you can imagine..NOT HAPPY JAN !!

My mate Jon promised to pace me through the race and with his help I got to half way in 87mins which was right on time but it was around this time I felt the legs had lost some of their zip. Malcolm Street served to reinforce this and where as last year I powered up this hill, this year I struggled. I made up time running to the bottom of the Kings Pk loop (aided by gravity!) but again the hill out of Kings Park was painful and when I reached the top I was in a world of pain.

I did manage to find my second wind down into Subiaco but had given up all hope of a sub 3 by then and with no watch had no idea what speed I was running or how long.  I found myself chasing a   runner a few hundred metres ahead and I could feel one behind me so I had enough going on to keep me interested. The heat was starting to get noticeable by now and the hills were becoming steeper than I remembered them from previous years..!!

One of then benefits of being nearer the front of the pack is there is little or no congestion but this can backfire when you’re not having a good run as each water stop you are faced with about 10-15 people all looking at you , offering you water/powerade etc and cheering you on. You then feel you need to make an effort to run past them with some ‘gusto’ which then saps more energy…the worse ones were the Westpac stations on Oceanic Drive when they would start cheering you a good 500metres before you get to them and you have to step it up for this distance…sometimes it’d be nice to sneak past the odd aid station and suffer quietly…!!!!

Anyway…I digress..back to the race…when I turned onto Oceanic Drive I knew I was in for some serious pain and I was not disappointed..that last 6-8K is hard yakka and the heat and distance weren’t helping..I managed to catch the runner I was chasing at the bottom of the last hill (mountain!) and made my way  up the final hurdle before the run home. Fiona was cheering me up the hill and I’m sure she was then glad her Hami’ had gone at the half so she’d not have to go though what I, and probably a large proportion of the marathon runners, went though on the last hill.  I’d like to thank the city-2-surf organisers for adding this gem of a hill at the end of a marathon..priceless move !

So…to the top ..and the ocean…a welcome relief..gravity again was my friend and I even managed to catch someone on the line for a 30^th placing and a 3hrs 3min finish. This was the first sight of my time so I was disappointed that I hadn’t gone closer to the sub-3 barrier but with no watch it was always going to be a challenge….

..so next year..2 watches ..and game on….

Melbourne next and then Rottnest the following weekend…gotta love racing..

BK