So, when can I do this again?

The Post Mortem or A Tale of Two Halves

Before I go any further I have to say that I have no regrets about choosing the Christchurch Marathon as my first marathon. It was superbly well organised, the course was pancake flat and in great condition and for an event that was run on country roads the crowd support was fantastic, not to mention the support from the wonderful and hardy volunteers. Special mention must go to how they handled the special drinks we put out, there was a spotter about 10 metres ahead of the table yelling out a race number, by the time you got to the table someone was handing you your drink, brilliant! I spent most of the second lap thanking the volunteers.

Race HQ was in a big sports hall, it was so nice to sit around in a warm building waiting before the short walk to the start line. We were there pretty early so Carol and I dropped off our special drinks and retreated the car for half an hour or so before heading back to the sports hall.

Being that the course was on long flat country roads, there was a potential for lonely and isolated running. Not so, the organisers had obviously thought about this and each 5km drink station was accompanied by entertainment, bands, singers and even a bag piper to serenade us around the course. Locals were encouraged out with coffee and food fans dotted around the course as well. Quite a few had set themselves up at the end of their long driveways, in spite of the weather, to cheer on the runners, they were still out there when us 4 hour runners where coming through. The highlight was the young guys, getting increasingly drunker, at the 15/25km ish mark, they had a megaphone and were providing a running commentary and high fives all around, it gave me a boost, not to mention a giggle, although I declined the offer of a beer.

The race start was delayed by 15 minutes as people were still arriving, aghhh, come on, let’s go!!!

The weather in Christchurch had been warmer than what I had left in Melbourne, I’d gone for a couple of runs before the big day and was perfectly comfortable in shorts and a T-Shirt. Standing on the start line conditions were perfect! There was scattered cloud cover, not a breath of wind and although I don’t know what the temperature was but I have stood on far colder start lines waiting for AV events to start. Optimism was high and I wasn’t too nervous.

I had worked out 5km splits for a 3:40 finish as I felt confident I could do 3:40-3:45, however I opted not to write the splits on my arm. On the morning I decided to run on feel, enjoy the day and learn from the experience, rather than getting stressed out if the splits started to slip.

Well, a marathon is a marathon, you don’t need a km by km break down….

0 – 10km
51:52 – average pace 5:12

Rookie mistake, started waaay too fast with the first 5km in 25:13. It felt comfortable but after passing the 5km drink station I made a conscious effort to pull it back a bit, it was about this point that the previously clear sky had darkened and the rain that was to persist for most of the rest of the race started up. At this point it was hitting us from behind and I thought “Ace, a tailwind!”

Then we took a left hand turn and the headwind hit

11-20km
53:58 – average pace 5:24

Settling in now and finding a more manageable pace, pushed into a headwind the entire time, it was pretty inconsistent, coming in quite hard, easing up for a mercifully short time and then picking up again. I tried to put it out of my mind and maintain a good pace, no point getting stressed out as there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Gels and water were going down well and to plan and my stomach wasn’t protesting at all.

Halfway!
1:52:09 (gun time) – average pace 5:18

I was a little wobbly coming into halfway, physically feeling OK, I think it was more nerves than anything else knowing that I had another 21.1km ahead of me, not to mention the psychological blow of having so many people who had been running with me peel off to finish their half marathons. The support here was great though with heaps of people cheering the runners on. I thought at this point that all I had to do was a run a 2 hour second half and I’d still have a time I’d be happy with, easier said than done.

21-30km
58:37 – average pace 5:52

Oh dear, starting to go downhill here. Everything was fine up until 26km and then BANG! It started to get very hard, it was cold, wet and the fecking headwind would just not let up. I’d turn a corner and it would still be there, like some hideous dervish, if it wasn’t a headwind it was an equally debilitating cross wind but never a bloody tailwind!

The pace started to slow as the endless kms of battling the head wind and the fast start began to take a toll, at one point I rounded a corner and the cross wind nearly took my feet out from under me. This is were I was doing a heap of talking to myself, just picking landmarks ahead and working towards them with the promise of my little bottle of lemonade waiting at the 31km mark.

I am embarrassed to admit that from around 27km to the end there was walking I was very ordered about it, only 100 metres allowed at the .9km mark, for example, 28.9km would hit and I’d stride out until my Garmin beeped the next lap and I’d start up running again.

31-40km
63:23 – average pace 6:21

Feck It, I was getting pretty angry with myself but I was determined not to let the damn thing beat me, I was finishing if I had to crawl over the line with my eyelids. Another small bottle of flat lemonade was most welcome and drained gratefully at 36km. Once I passed 37km and was into unknown territory I was counting down the kms to the finish, 5 to go, 4 to go, I can to this!! A photographer caught me when I was having a walk break, bastard!!

Around 35km I couldn’t feel much on my left side from my hip to my knee, at one point I was hitting my leg with my fist to see if there was any feeling, it was a little freaky, I think it was because that was the side that was bearing the brunt of the rain and cross winds so I was just cold.

Amazingly over the last 15km I was still overtaking people as I doggedly worked my way to the finish.

41 – 42.2km
7:53 – average pace 5:38

Determined to at least look like I was finishing strong I rallied for the last 1.2km and reaped the advantage of a small field by hearing my name announced as I crossed the finish line.

I was pretty emotional, the bottom lip was wobbling as I staggered around the corner to sit down and take the timing chip off my shoe. As it happened the three or four people that finished around me were all guys so I had to suck it up, no way was I going to cry in front of them!! It was sooooo lovely to see Carol there waiting for me with a big smile and a congratulatory hug, I’d never appreciated having someone at the end of a race more than at that moment.

It was disappointed, I so wanted to see 3:4X on the clock as I finished, not 4:01:21 (gun time), my chip time was 4:00:58, so close to sub 4 hours.

The second half was run in, 2:08:48, a massive positive split, oh dear.

Now I’ve had almost a week to ruminate on the run and I’ve got a head full of ideas and a gut full of enthusiasm to give it another crack.

I was asked not long after if I was disappointed with my time after all the work I had done. At first, yes, I certainly was, angry and disappointed. Then some time away from forums and blogging while I relaxed with my family this week helped me put it in perspective.

Now I feel proud that I gave it my best, I got through the training uninjured and I pressed though a run that was at times frustrating due to the weather (can’t be helped) and the fact that I wasn’t going to run as well as I’d felt I was capable of. It is so easy to pull out if you think it isn’t going to go your way, but there was no bloody was I was DNFing my first marathon!

I’ve escaped relatively unscathed too, my left knee was sore for a couple of days but has now settled and I got a wicked blood blister on a toe on my right foot, but that is pretty normal (gross to pop though!), no post marathon blues have set in and I am already planning a second assault, though it won’t be this year as nothing suits. I have only had one run so far, not a deliberate ploy, I just wanted to enjoy my time with my family and have a mental break from running as much as a physical one. I went for an easy 5km on the treadmill next to my brother at his gym yesterday (it was 1 degree in Toowoomba on Thursday morning, we both wussed it), nothing hurt and the only issue was the boredom of being on a tready.

Now, after 4 months of marathon training I am very keen to run a heap of races now, time to have some fun and capitalise on all that hard work. I have entered a 3 race trail series, am hanging out for the entries for the You Yangs trail race to open because I want to do the 30km, I’ve entered the Devil Bend half marathon again and of course there are quite a few AV races left in the season.

Oh yeah, I am also planning on entering the 56km Two Bays race next January

Finally, a massive THANKS to all the comments and advice here over the last 4 months and all the comments on Facebook this week, I was very overwhelmed and it certainly helped mitigate some of the disappointment I was feeling.

Next post – Some more thoughts on my training and what I will change for next time as well as some pics and stuff about Christchurch.