Advertisement
Published: August 18th 2010
Edit Blog Post
I’ve never been much of a runner. Whilst I do enjoy running once I am out there and in the moment, it’s that inherent laziness that stops me getting out there. Something always hurts, whether it’s a leg muscle or my head, there is always an excuse. So off the back of getting reasonably fit over a nice Melbourne summer and completing the 15km fun run at the start of April, it made logical sense to complete a 20 week marathon program that took me to the
Gold Coast Marathon on 5 July 2009. It was also a perfect excuse to take a week off work during winter and enjoy some Queensland sunshine. The 20 week training program was rather brutal. The long runs on the weekend generally saw me hobbling around the office each Monday, priding myself on ticking off each run on a wall chart at my office cubicle.
Of course 3 weeks out from the marathon, my illio-tibula band (ITB) friction started and my right leg was in serious trouble. My tapering was mostly stretching.
So when I hit the Gold Coast a couple of days before the marathon, the best preparation had to be a
Wet N Wild
Quality marathon preparation trip to
Wet and Wild!! It was great fun and we spent the day tearing up the stairs to maximise our ride time. So many slides, not enough time. The next day I woke up a little sore, which was less than ideal but had a leisurely day gearing up for the big day.
The Gold Coast in July is a bit of a ghost town. The pubs were quiet (not that we were drinking) and even the casino had half-empty tables (sadly we were gambling). The Gold Coast looks as though it peaked in the late 1980s as a tourist destination. Our hotel, like most around it, was in need of an overhaul.
A 5:30am rise to get the shuttle bus to the start line was a little nuts. But there is nothing like the pre-race atmosphere of a run. A mass of people in lyrca, all with the same nervous energy, stretching (or in my case, pretending to stretch) as the sun rises for yet another glorious 22 degree day in the Gold Coast. It sure beats a Melbourne winter.
At 7:30am we set off heading south along the road which winds its way along
Getting ready to race
Hydration is the key to marathon success the beach. Luckily it was dead flat and the first 20kms were pretty cruisy, the masses on the side of the road cheering everyone along just adds to the motivation to get through such a massive run. At about the 25km mark my ITB friction kicks in. By 28kms it is absolutely killing me. As I limp past another guy walking, he tells me not to break myself, there was still 14kms to go, just enjoy it and take my time. And so I did exactly that. At 32kms I took my headphones out and limped/walked along, talking to people along the way. Sure, it wasn't the marathon I envisaged, but once I wasn't going to break 4 hours, it was just about finishing and enjoying it and not about the time. 4:45 wasn't a bad time in the end. I reverted to skipping to keep up the pace due to the pain in my knee restricting me from bending it. The last 2kms were a bit of a blur, people were constantly yelling out to you, which was made easier by the fact that the race numbers had a nickname. Mine was Heathy, but unfortunately, a stack of people mis-read it as Healthy, which was really annoying me (it's funny how little things annoy you when you are in pain).
Finishing a marathon is great and well worth the crazy amount of pain. At the finish line, people are so exhausted they are struggling to peel and eat bananas and are just sprawled out on the ground. For me, every muscle and joint aches. I felt like an 80 year old. That night, I couldn't sleep as my back was killing me. I think my spine was de-compressing! I was glad that my first marathon was on the Gold Coast. It was a nice flat loop course, the weather conditions were perfect (although by 11am it was getting a little warm), and the long weekend away from cold Melbourne was ideal. My first marathon will most likely be my last - unless I stupidly forget the pain one day and can't resist another trip to do a marathon - maybe in Europe somewhere.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.291s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0601s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb