My quickest Half Marathon - A Race Report

One of my (long term) goals was to run a half marathon under 120min. Some of you reading this post think it's an easy task - something which you (yourself) can do with your eyes closed or even think that it is something which I could smash out. The issue is, running (with speed) is not my strength. I am short (158cm) and I have small legs and no hips so my strides are not very wide and my cadence is actually quite high.

Like one of my squad friends Andy, we are like Diesel engines, we are slow but we are fuel efficient and can last for a long time out there.

The days leading up to the Melbourne Marathon Festival were not ideal. I didn't disclose this to anyone prior to race day as I didn't want to play the sympathy card but I started to have issues with my guts and my left knee. I had a small bout of gastro eating some bad food on Tuesday night and for 24 hours, I could not eat or drink properly and could not keep anything down (or in), even with water. Had a relatively easy training day on Wednesday with only swimming in the morning but it was tough trying to not throw up in the pool. I drank as much electrolytes as I could, when I could. The other thing which started to bother me was my left knee. I started to get a pain on my knee cap which was noticeable when I drive (my manual car). A person like me with no physiological knowledge didn't do anything about - ice, heat, massage?! I didn't have the time nor the cash to see a physio before the weekend so I decided to just back off the load on the knees leading up to the big run.

Thursday evening was a taper run and I just paced myself comfortably at about 6:30min/km pace and did about 7km in 45min with no efforts. The knees were noticeable but nothing too painful to handle.

The days leading up to Sunday were average. My gut started to feel better and I had a small 50km ride on Dale on Saturday with no run off the bike. I didn't let the legs rest as I had a small adventure to Melbourne's Ausbike Expo at the Royal Exhibition Centre. Thankfully I didn't look around too much at bikes and only walked away with small items:

• New messenger bag which I am currently using as a handbag (more practical)
• A cute bicycle necklace
• Aussie Butt Cream
• Nathan fuel belt (2 flask carrier)

I did speak with some of the reps from Look at length regarding one of their full carbon bikes. Currently, I have been eyeing off matt black full carbon bikes (the ones with the carbon weave throughout) and one of them which I had been fantasising about is a Guerciotti Eureka which costs about $7grand with Chorus group set. That bike would be so sweet to ride!

Anyways back to my run...

Typical to the lead up to any major events, I had a pretty bad nightmare about this race. To ensure that this nightmare did not come to fruition, I got to the MCG around 6:30am (my race started at 8am). I had my breakfast in the car and on the way to the G where I dropped off my bag and went to the bathroom twice before making my way casually down to the start line to watch the marathon guys as well as the 10km runners leave. I saw a few Tri Alliance people (past and present) along the start line both running and supporting.

I decided to start on the left side as I needed to pace myself during the warm up. It was a nervous moment for me as I looked around and it appeared that everyone looked so much fitter than me. I felt like a hack in the field.

Because I stop at every drink station, I ran near the 1:50 pace runners (allowing myself a few minutes to walk at the drink stations and to be able to finish under 120min), this proved to be difficult to pace with so I ended up just running to how I felt. I decided to not have my pace showing on my Garmin and ran like how Greg taught us - run to feel and I just had the Time showing so I could note my 5km, 10km times. I saw a few Tri Alliance guys in the field and where/when I could say Good Luck - I did. The first 10km of my run felt great, I noticed that my pace was good (maybe too good so early in the run). The run through Albert Park lake was when my calorie alert first came up at 300Cal and I was no where near a drink station. As I have been experimenting with some nutrition, I decided that I would consume my gel slowly and hopefully enough to last me to the drink station so I could wash it down my dry throat better. My sugar levels were evidently low and this is where I fumbled (with my visor) and dropped my hairclip. To be honest, I don't really wear a visor on my long runs but always do during an actual event. A slight disturbance in my run - I had to pick up my hairclip whilst dodging other runners and walked to the side to fix up my fringe so it would flap on top of my head above the visor (I hate that look). This gave me some time to compose myself but I lost about 30 seconds doing so. The next 5km was good, I had dropped off my pace but kept running. Around the pitt stop at Albert Park was where I saw the 2:00 pace runners on the other side and this is where I panicked as I wanted to stay ahead of this pack! Running on St Kilda Road towards the city, I increased my pace comfortably and thank God it was also slightly downhill.

The loop around the Arts centre was where the wheels came off, I had about 3-4km left to go and I was struggling. I decided to take my last gel for the day at this point to get me through but I had to walk about 10m. The run through the park and the final stretches along St Kilda Rd was where the 2:00 pace runner ran past me. At this point (to be completely honest) I lost the plot. I thought the goal of running a half marathon under 120min was all lost. I nearly cried at my own failure. Had I not trained enough during the year? Did I start too fast? What will people think when I tell them that I didn't achieve this goal? Will I have to do another half marathon again next year to tick off this goal?...until I realised that it was only 1:45 and I had 2+ more km to go. Thank God I could still do basic mathematics I calculated that if I could stick to a 6-6:30min/km I could still get under 2 hours.

I had done this run 2 years ago and completely forgot about the final bridge you had to run up before making a sharp turn to run down the straight and then into the MCG. My legs at this point felt like hot needles pulsating throughout but I knew that I needed to run faster. The faster I could do this, the faster I would finish (below my cut off time).

When we finally reached into the hallowed turf of the G, I took a few deep breaths and sprinted to the end with everything I had. I didn't look pretty at all. When I stopped my Garmin as I crossed the line, I was happy that I did 21.1km under 120min (albeit with only 1:20 to spare).

When I stopped running, I was sweating pretty bad, it had been a hot morning for a run and that was when I started to notice the small painful areas of my body from where chaffing started to occur - on my chest where I had my asthma pump and a small bag for my nurofen, my chest where the heart rate monitor was placed was actually bleeding and under my arms where it rubbed on my singlet was also covered in blood. It was not a pretty sight.

I lined up to retrieve my finishers medal and found some of the guys from TA and we walked outside to where a small group were standing to cheer on the rest of the runners. After standing around for 2-3 hours or so, I decided to head home to soak and eat some real food. The rest of the day was spent on the couch watching Kona DVDs from 2008-2011 and getting updates from friends who are in Kona.

Now that I have ticked off this goal, I am looking forward to Noosa and Shepparton.

1) Noosa - finish this race under 3 hours

2) Shepparton - finish this race (full stop).

I may look into doing the full marathon (alone) next year as I really enjoyed running long distances (especially out at Fairfield) - will assess soon enough when Ollie gets back and I will talk to him about it. I will probably aim to finish a marathon within 4:15-4:30.

My first marathon distance will be after a 3.8km swim and a 180km ride in March with no timing expectations but to be a FINISHER.

Before I forget, the knees were good (enough) during the run and I saw a physio this morning who said that it was just swollen with some bleeding from overuse - ice and voltaren should do the trick.

Kona World Championship winners for 2012 - Pete Jacobs (Aussie) and Leanda Cave (born Aussie but races under GB who is also my personal favorite).