It's hard to believe it is over. I flew down to Canberra on Saturday morning with Tesso, Iliketoast, Ihatetoast, Matt and Pretty Ellie. Tesso and I arrived in Canberra to find that Qantas had kindly left our bags in Brisbane. This caused some stress as you can imagine. Fortunately I have had the practice, that when flying to marathons, of carrying my running gear in my carry-on luggage. However, stuff like my Garmin, sunscreen, anti-chaffing cream etc., were in my bag. Tesseo had the same problem. During the day we gathered together what we could in case our bag didn't show up. When we came back from dinner the bags were in our rooms. What a relief!
Sunday morning, and the the weather was absolutely dismal. It was threatening rain and was quite cold. About 20 minutes into the race the rain started coming down very steadily and continued for about another hour or more.
I guess, though I hadn't really put in the work for a PB, I did harbour a desire to perhaps create an new one yesterday. My PB hopes were seriously set back when I was overtaken by the 3:15 pacer at abut the 2K mark. I was a bit thrown by that and never managed to catch him, though I saw him and his ever dwindling group as I approached the turn-arounds and as they departed. I certainly did not feel as good this year as I did last year in the various stages of the race. I think the cold and rain caused me to find it a bit hard going and I didn't feel relaxed. I passed the Half mark on 1:38 and was happy enough with that. I knew I was only halfway through and there was still a whole 21.1 Ks to go and anything could happen. I was inspired by Lucky Legs along the way and felt ashamed of any negative thoughts and decided to make the most of what I had left in me. At about 32K my legs were tiring quickly and feeling heavy but I knew from experience that it was possible to get through that stage and make some recovery. This did happen to a degree and I kept going fairly well until the 40K mark where it became a real mental battle to overcome the quickly fading capacity to keep going. Thanks to CR Tim, who was running with me at this stage, I was able to find the resolve to keep up a reasonable pace. I finished the second half in 1:37:28, a negative split. My official net time was 3:15:28 (gun time 3:15:38). This was 33 seconds outside my PB. I was very happy with the result.
My running buddy, Tegwen, came home in 3:28:28. She had planned to do the 50K but the cold and rainy conditions caused her some respiratory and feet problems and she wisely decided not to continue on.
Thanks to all of my regular Blog readers and commenters, for all your encouragement and support. It really does make a difference. It was good to catch up with Ewen, Robert Song, Superflake, Lucky Legs and Horrie and Belinda and Tim, Johnny Dark, and Eagle in Canberra. Iliketoast and Ihatetoast put in an awesome effort on the cheering front. Terrific work! As usual Tesso, Queen of Telopea, was in residence over the weekend and made the stay very pleasant.
12 comments:
Well Done Eddie!
So close to a PB in those conditions must be a little disappointing, still has to be counted as a great effort. You're still faster than my marathon PB by a few minutes, not bad for an old fella ;)
What's next Eddie?
Good race Rob. Pity the weather didn't bring on the PB. Looks good for next race though to knock it off. Glad your clothes turned up. The naked post race beer wasn't looking good.
Well done Rob, you have run a couple of very good marathons down here in Canberra. Pity our age group is the most competitive of all of them!
Well done maaaaate!! A superb effort. funny how you can feel it's not going well and yet do so well. I know 3o odd secs outside PB might seem like "a miss is worth a mile" but it just shows how solid your running is mate. congratulations, you put in a huge amount of hard work, and stuck with it at the times when you felt like backing off.
Don't tell Spody this, but I was cheering for you to run him down in the last half, and you did!
Negative splitting and being so close to your PB is a brilliant run Rob. You'll get the PB at the next one.
Sorry I didn't make it down for the 'after' drinks - ended up having a late lunch with a friend and then afternoon tea with LLs.
By the way, we put on the rain to make you Queenslanders feel at home ;)
Gee, whenever my life gets tough I sure find out who my true friends are.
I thought the Queenslanders brought the rain with them, then complained about it. I enjoyed the rain, it was the best part of the run!
Come back anytime, we need more.
A great run Rob. You are very consistent and a great inspiration to us young fellas. I hope to be able to finish it off like you some day.
Yay Rob the Runner!!!! Congrats on your great run.
Canberra wouldn't seem the same without you. And is it bad of me to say I found it comforting that we were both in the same 'no bag' predicament ... thing is even in those circumstances to continue to smile and crack jokes.
It was nice to get to know your running buddy Tegwen, such a shame things went the way they did for her. Still, a great result considering. Can't wait to see you two out on the streets again.
Oh, and I have a sneaking suspicion you are going to break that GC hoodoo and run a PB :)
I meant to say "even in those circumstances YOU continue to smile and crack jokes".
Well done rob now get back to the next cubby house project.
cheers PLu
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Eddie,you ran a fantastic race! Congratulations ^ manymore to come....even fster ones!
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