Melbourne Marathon Oct 12th 2014

‎I entered this with no idea of my fitness. Because this year I have not entered any races since Boston except the C2S. 

I ran better than I thought I would in the C2S and managed 57.30.

But I have done no 10k races and just didn't know what would happen in this marathon.

I had also only attended the Star runs irregularly and often struggled. 

However I did plenty of running on my own. This included some great runs up and down the escarpments behind Cairns‎, behind Wollongong, and here and there.

The best training I have had is running to St Vincents from the office several evenings a week to visit Serena. I am usually delayed at work so I am always under the Gun to get there and have to sprint. I also often have little races with the bike rider along the Moore Park track.It must have helped.

I went to Melbourne mainly as a family outing. Serena drove down with me and got some time on her L's. Michele and Honor flew down. We stayed in a great semi in South Yarra close to the Chapel St clothes shops and cafes. So the ladies were happy.

I jogged in to‎ the MCG to pick up my bib early Sat morning. It was about 4k. My legs felt like artificial limbs. Heavy and stiff. I thought I would be lucky to beat the 3.12 in Boston. Quite likely 3.15 would be realistic.

Next‎  day I had a pleasant jog to the start. My legs did feel better. I met a number of Striders at the start which was very well organised. The weather was calm and about 12 degrees.

Off we went and I ran with no plan at all. Just a vague goal of 90mins for the half. 

I quickly fell into 4.10 pace and found myself next to a guy in a red singlet who ended up running near me the whole way.

It was flat and.. well a bit boring. But it was easier to concentrate than at Boston with the intense crowd, the noise and the emotion.

Here there were very few spectators, and by 20k I was just in a little group. I just tried to concentrate on an even pace.

It hurt till 12k then it didn't. I started feeling good. And confident. The pace wasn't falling off. I passed 21k in 87.30. Then 30k in 2h5m30s. Still felt pretty good.

I had a bag of minties ‎and kept one in my mouth the whole way.

I knew the pace couldn't last, but I was surprised it had lasted so long. 

I also knew the hill up to the war memorial would be tough. It was.

At 35k my pace suddenly dropped as I entered the park. It dropped gradually down to 5min k's with three k's to go. It hurt. 

With about 1k to go the red singlet man said the only thing to me in the whole race, He sensed my pace plummeting and just gasped "let's go mate" 

I tagged on to his shoulder and we ran the last couple of corners together and over the line.‎Finish time. 3h01m31‎s. My second fastest time ever.

‎Red shirt guy and I shook hands on the line and then I walked through the nearly vacant finish area to where Michele was waiting in the park.

We then‎ walked back to South Yarra passing the Marathon runners and I observed the many different states of the runners faces. Some were grinning, some were in pain, some just looked like they wished they had stayed in bed. I wondered why they do it, why do I do it?

‎Honor and Serena met us at the Tall Timbers cafe (really really good) and we had a very excellent breakfast followed by a full afternoon of browsing in clothes shops.

The weather was magnificent. We had hotpot in the evening.

We had another pleasant day together in downtown Melbourne on Monday before M& H flew back and Serena and I drove back on Tue.

(Also had the best ever Lamb Shank with sweet potato at a restaurant called Culina)

‎All in all a good weekend that somewhat rekindled my desire to run marathons.