2021 Barossa Marathon

Barossa Marathon 2021 - Sunday 30th of May, 2021 - Tanunda, South Australia

The Training

My last marathon distance run was in September 2020. While I did train for the run, I had left it late and was not prepared to beat any previous personal marathon records - it was more about the challenge. 

My best time for a marathon was the 2019 New York Marathon in which I ran 3 hours 19 minutes 35 seconds - I didn't write about that race because I was devastated that it didn't go anywhere near to the plan I had in mind. I felt if I had stuck to the plan I wanted, I could have achieved something closer to 3 hours and 10 minutes. 

Following my September 2020 marathon, in which the preparation was hindered by the lack of events and goals, I knew I wanted to lock in a marathon in early 2021 and work hard towards approaching a marathon with a much better plan and hopefully a much better time. 

The Barossa Marathon was in my sights. It sat around the time I thought I was going to work on my speed and endurance and was also a local marathon meaning it was (hopefully) the least likely to be cancelled by inability to travel interstate or the potential for COVID outbreaks. 

I worked on my own training in the last few months of 2020, but I knew if I wanted to drastically improve my time and eventually achieve my goal of a sub 3 hour marathon I needed some proper coaching and guidance. 

My main concern about joining a running/coaching group was that I would have to commit to running at times that I didn't necessarily feel like running. I've always loved that there can be very little commitment involved in most aspects of running. Unless you are training seriously for an upcoming event or to meet your goals, running is always so simple. Any time, any day, any weather - just go out and run!

But, I had goals in mind which I knew would require some kind of further commitment. 

A lot of the group I ran New York with in 2018 had joined a coaching group called RunAsOne. Having followed various runs from the group via Strava, and seen posts on Facebook and Instagram. It seemed like a good group of people and the training, while serious (if you wanted it to be), also came across as a relaxed approach to achieving individual goals with people with all sorts of different running abilities. 

I joined the group at the start of 2021 and within 2 months I had run 2 personal best times for 5km. The coaching was giving me confidence and the structured training environment was improving my running immediately. 

My biggest test leading into the Barossa Marathon I feel was the McLaren Vale Half Marathon on the 11th of April, 2021. I had been hoping to run a personal best time and from there work out what time I should be aiming for in the marathon 6 weeks later. 

My lead up to that event was a little hindered through illness and although I had a good race, it didn't quite go to plan, I didn't get a personal best time, I found the course tough and overall I was probably far too harsh on myself upon review. Having said that, because it didn't go to plan, it was a huge motivating factor in ensuring I made the most of the next 6 weeks of training!

At the very next group training session (the following Tuesday) while others who had completed the event took it easy, I (rightly or wrongly) was determined to go hard. I did and I felt good. I was upset at my performance in McLaren Vale and used that emotion in the next few speed/interval sessions working as hard as I could - and I am quite possibly lucky I didn't sustain an injury in doing so!

I was used to running with a great (new) mate Matt from the RunAsOne group. Unfortunately he had pulled up with an injury from McLaren Vale and so to start with I felt, despite being part of the large group, on my own with my training. While it is extremely disappointing that Matt wasn't able to run as he wanted to, I took that time to work in my own headspace and get myself to where I wanted to be. 

The work paid off and I was feeling good. At the start of April I had asked coach Riley to ease up on my training plan as I felt I was at my limit (which reflected on the half marathon). At the start of May however, I was feeling great and suggested we go full steam ahead on the next monthly running plan.

Speed and interval sessions were working and towards the end of April and start of May it was time to focus on my weekly "long" runs. Following the McLaren Vale half marathon I'd met a girl - Naomi. She is training for a half iron man!!!. She'd run the McLaren Vale half marathon as well. 

In terms of my training (and hopefully hers as well) the timing was perfect. While I am a faster (I wouldn't say stronger) runner, she is most likely a faster bike rider and definitely a faster swimmer. My focus was on running obviously. The timing was great because we joined each other for a portion of our long runs. This meant I was able to run an "easier" section of my run in the first half, then push my pace a little closer to my goal marathon pace in the second half. While it might not be scientific, I feel like this method of training was a huge confidence boost for reaching my goal pace in the marathon. 

 I was feeling great. My longest run was planned to be 32km - I ended up with 33km with the last 6km of that right up to my goal marathon pace. Prior to that run, I was confident I could complete a marathon in 3 hours and 10 minutes. Following that training run, my goal changed and I was now moving towards the idea of 3 hours and 5 minutes - in the back of mind of course 3 hours was also within reach. 

I had 2 long runs to go before the marathon - a 22km run which again I picked up the pace at the end to just test myself a little bit, and then finally an easier 14km run to finish off the training nicely.  

We had a couple of light runs as a group in the final week, and then it was game on for the Barossa Marathon!

The Marathon

We arrived a bit after 6:30am at Faith Lutheran College in Tanunda, the start/finish for the marathon. It was a very cold morning, around 5 degrees and a little bit of wind coming from the North East. Almost ideal marathon conditions. 

Time crept up on me a little and with only 15 minutes to go I had not been for a short warm up jog or a toilet stop! Based on previous marathons, I deem a toilet stop to be very important - a side affect of being extremely hydrated prior to a marathon! I found a toilet and then headed straight to the start line, joined by Russ and Zen from our RunAsOne group in wave 1.

While I had a plan in mind for the marathon, I hadn't written anything down to follow as I went as I had in previous races. I knew what I wanted to do and that I would be happy with 3:05:00, relatively pleased with 3:10:00 and ecstatic if I could actually achieve a sub 3 hour marathon today. I knew the corresponding paces per kilometre and I had planned to start out at 3:10:00 pace (4:30min/km - 13.33km/h) and see how I felt. 

The race started at 7:30 and we were off. There was a group of runners following the 3 hour pacer (4:15min/km - 14.12km/h) which I knew was faster than my goal. I sat a little behind them and off I went. My first kilometre was 4:20min/km which I was pleased with, given that it is quite common for most runners (I am certainly included) to go out far too fast in the first part of a marathon. 

My legs were cold but I was hoping they would warm up after a couple of kilometres. My heart rate monitor (a strap around my chest that runners tend to wear for no particular reason) was loose and when I tried to tighten it it just fell off. I wasn't going to stop to put it back on, I took it off and luckily Mum and Dad were waiting to cheer me on at the 4 kilometre mark so I could ditch it!

I was through the first 5 kilometres in 21:53 (4:23min/km) which was right on target for a 3:05:00 marathon. My left shin started to ache which I became quite concerned about in the next section - I tried to tell myself it's just cold legs. It must have been that because the pain did eventually disappear (or other pains took over...?). 

Naomi was on her bike for the day with a plan to attend a number of different spots for support. I was expecting to see her at the 5km mark but she wasn't there. I figured either she changed her mind or got lost. Perhaps she would be at the next corner which was around the 8/9km mark. This thought process kept me going and when she wasn't at the next turn, I figured she was indeed lost - it was something to keep my mind occupied at least!

I made it through 10km in 43:20 (4:20min/km) so I had increased my speed, particularly after turning away from the wind. Kilometres 8, 9 and 10 were 4:14, 4:17 and 4:16 min/km respectively, 9 and 10 were with the wind behind me. 

I had found a groove and upon review of my splits I realise I kept this pace up for the next few kilometres. Mum, Dad and (believe it or not) Naomi were waiting for me at the 11km mark. Ok good, she wasn't lost - I can think about something else now!

The 11km mark is the turnaround point and coming back I was able to look out for some of my RunAsOne team running on the opposite side of the road. This kept me occupied for quite some time and probably contributed to a slight increase in my pace. 

By kilometre 15 I had increased my average pace to 4:17 min/km. Almost on target for a 1:30:00 half marathon. I put this down to the fact that RunAsOne had so many people racing in various events. I'd turned and seen some of our marathon runners, but shortly after some of our half marathon runners were also catching up! 

My support crew were waiting again around the 16-17km mark which was something to look forward to as kilometres 15-17 were back into an increasingly stronger wind.

 As I ran past, I mentioned to them I was feeling amazing, and I was - I felt like the pace I was doing was manageable and that I could keep running like this (or faster) for the rest of the race. I could see the 3 hour pacer in front of me, I figured if he is in sight, I'm a chance to catch him. 

I crossed the half marathon point at exactly 1:30:00 (4:15 min/km). Oh boy. My goal was to run the second half faster than the first, this is exciting and I am a real chance here of a sub 3 hour marathon. The 3 hour pacer was still about 30 seconds in front of me, so if I could catch him, I'd be ahead given he probably should have crossed the half way point at the same time as me! 

It was all a great plan in theory - but then I turned back into the wind. I didn't think too much of it for the first part, just searching for a few people in front of me to hang on to. A couple of people who had gone with the 3 hour pacer started to drop off a little. My tactic to stay alert (or distracted) here was then to pass them one by one if I could. 

I was starting to feel a little bit hungry so I figured I needed to rearrange my nutrition intake plan. I'd packed 3 gels, and Naomi had a 4th with her in case I needed it - I'd already taken 2 and was just about ready to . As I ran past the support crew at about 25km I asked her to have it ready at the next meeting point. 

I kept a decent pace up to 25km (1:46:31 - 4:16min/km). I caught up to Coralie from our RunAsOne team and the leader for the women's race. I passed her and told her to keep up, but she was clearly feeling how I would start to feel in a few more kilometres!

I was keeping up a good pace up to 30km although I was starting to feel like I was struggling a little bit, and one kilometre in that section was at 4:23 min/km, I was through 30km in 2:07:55 (4:16min/km). 

The wind was now behind me - one would have thought this would make it easier... I found the opposite. All of a sudden, without the wind whistling in my ears I could hear myself. I could hear and feel my body starting to scream, and perhaps part of me figured that I should be going faster with the wind, but it just seemed to be so much harder!

I got a gel out as I figured I needed it now to get through the last section. I was still wearing my gloves to keep warm, but my hands felt comfortable - until I went to open the gel. My fingers were almost stuck in the position they probably had been for the last 2 hours. I couldn't get them to grip and open the gel. It took me a good little while but eventually got enough of it open to take it. It was getting harder than it needed to be!

I passed my support crew again at the 32km mark. Naomi passed me my 4th gel which I put in my running belt, but given the last gel was so much effort to open I figured it was going to be unlikely I'd give it a go anyway. As I passed I also commented and said "it's getting tough now". I was still keeping a decent pace, but I knew it was getting slower, and essentially I verbalised exactly what I was thinking - negative thoughts, not ideal.

I also started getting somewhat emotional for some reason at about this point. I would think about finishing and the joy that would come with that (albeit still about 45 minutes away). The problem with getting a little emotional however was that it completely stuffed up my breathing. I started struggling to catch my breath - not ideal when running! It happened a couple of times towards the end and was a horrible feeling, but thankfully I was able to get it back under control each time. 

Kilometres 31-35 were all over 4:20min/km except for the kilometre I passed the support crew, which was back at 4:17min/km , probably due to trying to show off to everyone as I ran past. Kilometre 33 however was 4:33min/km. I was starting to become inconsistent and the wind and slight hill was affecting me.

My last marathon in September 2020 I blew out to almost 1:00min/km slower in the final section than I had been for the rest of the run. I had to tell myself to hold on now. I knew I couldn't keep up a 3 hour marathon pace now, but I had to hold on. 

4:40min/km was my goal - don't drop below that. Coaches Riley and Jacob cruised past at about 35-36km and offered words of support - but then kept running ahead on their training run at a pace of about 3:50min/km - thanks guys. It did help a bit though, I sped up slightly (4:23min/km) for the kilometre where they appeared. 

I crossed 35km at 2:30:02 - my average pace for the last 5km had dropped to 4:25min/km. As I write this, I realise that that is not nearly as bad as I thought it was and is almost right back on the target of 3:05:00. But it felt a lot worse at the time!

I was feeling a little dehydrated. I had taken a drink at almost every drink station - particularly the last few where I had taken 2-3 drinks, both water and electrolyte drinks to try and get through this last tough section. I started walking at drink stations just so I could get as much fluid into me as possible, but without stopping. 

Naomi was waiting again at 37km, and the rest of the crew, now with Michelle and Tahia as well were waiting at 38km. I was keeping my pace below 4:30min/km still but feeling terrible. I was no chance of having the last gel. While I had been feeling as though I was hungry earlier in the race, I was now feeling nauseous and knew I wouldn't be able to open the gel anyway...

Naomi was back on the bike and rode ahead, stopped and cheered, then rode ahead again a couple of times. It's hard to describe, but I was both extremely pleased she was doing this, but also frustrated. Having run events before, she knew what she was doing and she knew how I would feel about it. It did keep my mind off my screaming legs for a bit though!

The last drinks stop was about 3km from the end. I didn't stop here - I figured I was almost at the end, another little drink was not going to make much difference, and I would have to slow down to take a drink anyway - it was more beneficial in my mind just to keep a steady pace to the end. 

I reached 40km in 2:52:30. I wasn't going to make 3 hours. But I was certainly going to beat 3:05. The maths from here was easy. I knew I had a tiny little bit left in me - not much, but something was there. I had been toying with the idea of picking up the pace to empty my tank but didn't want to go too early. 

My 41st kilometre was my slowest (4:42min/km). As soon as I knew I only had 1km left to go however I picked up the pace as best I could. I knew a whole lot of people were waiting for me at the finish line. I was ecstatic. I started smiling - I was almost there and the last 400m was lined with quite a number of people all cheering me on to the finish (friends and strangers alike). 

My name was called out over the PA system as I approached the finish. It was all a blur from that point to the finish line but I made it over the line in 3:03:13, a 16.5 minute personal best and well above and beyond my expectations from only the start of this year. Also well above and beyond my realistic expectations for this race!

The great thing about a local marathon is that as soon as you cross that line, your best friends and family are there waiting for a hug almost immediately (as opposed to New York where it is over an hour before you even talk to anyone). 

Ange and Kendall were the first to be there, and then the rest of my amazing support crew arrived. In the midst of it all a number of people rallied around and congratulated me on my run. It was all a blur and I knew I had run a good time, but the reality of how well I had just run didn't really sink in until about Tuesday...

It was so good to get around the rest of the RunAsOne team as well who had all had an amazing day out across the various distances on offer for the day.

Recovery

I've recovered reasonably well this time around. Muscle soreness I think is a given after a marathon so that has definitely been prevalent, and there was some evidence of swelling in one or both of my knees which isn't ideal either. Despite that, I did exit the race in probably the best condition of my 4 marathons with the only real blemish being a small blister on one of my feet (too much information yet?).

I have spent a couple of days walking to free up my leg muscles and on the following Wednesday managed a 3.5km jog. 

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of my running and particularly those family and dear friends who made the effort to come out to freezing cold Tanunda to cheer me on and celebrate the end of my run with me. It means so much to have such supportive people around me and I hope that I can return the favour in one way or another soon. 

I'm already looking forward to the next event - my next goal is obviously a sub 3 hour marathon and then, who knows, perhaps something a little different/bigger/further. 

Until the next event, 
Nick

2020 Berlin Marathon (in Adelaide)

Berlin Marathon 2020 - Sunday 27th of September, 2020 - Adelaide, Australia

The Journey

In December 2019, I was busy trying to gain an entry into the 2020 Berlin Marathon. The ballot had been drawn in November/December and I was not successful in receiving one of those places. Instead, I was trying my best to secure a place via a travel agent. Unfortunately, a lot of other people had also decided to do the same thing. 

I put my name onto 3 waiting lists to be contacted if someone decided to cancel their entry. Finally, in mid-February, I was emailed by one of the travel agents who advised there was a place available if I wanted it. 

I took the opportunity and paid my deposit. Finally I was in.

Marie (my German girlfriend) and her family, as well as a number of my family members were all waiting on this news in order to book their trips to Berlin/Germany around the Berlin Marathon Event. 

At the time, COVID-19 wasn't a huge worry, but by chance none of us ended up committing to any flights or accommodation (other than what was included in my marathon package). 

As time progressed, the doubt around whether or not the marathon would proceed in September or not. We all decided not to book anything until there was more certainty around whether or not it would proceed. 

On the 24th of June, 2020 the Berlin Marathon was officially cancelled. While I had assumed this was going to be the case for a while, it meant that I no longer had an event that I was aiming for which I do like to feed off when it comes to training. 

The thought of running a marathon on the 27th of September regardless did cross my mind a number of times over the next couple of months, but I never committed to it and therefore never trained specifically for a marathon. 

In mid-August however, I noticed that Dementia Australia were running a fundraiser called Marathon to Remember. Participants could choose from 21.1km, 42.4km or 60km distances to raise money to help support people dealing with dementia. 

I had seen this advertised a number of times, and the thought did cross my mind that it would be quite nice to tie into such an important cause, and one that I have a connection to with running (or missing out on running) the Berlin Marathon in 2020. 

My grandfather on my dad's side of the family suffered with Alzheimer's Disease for a number of years before passing away in 2012. While it has been a number of years now since he passed, our family has committed to quite a number of fundraising events arranged by Dementia Australia. I somehow managed to win the first instalment of the Memory Walk and Jog in 2016 and have since tried to reclaim that title. But more importantly, running in that event, and raising funds and awareness of the disease, helps those currently struggling with dementia as well as the families that are dealing with a loved one that is suffering from the disease. 

Despite thinking about signing up and running, it still took one of my lovely aunties to comment on a post that this fundraiser had my name written all over it for me to take the leap and commit to fundraising, and of course commit to running a marathon. 

I signed up and by the end of that same day I had already raised $350 - with 6 weeks to go from there until my planned marathon date, I knew I would have the support of those around me. 

The Training 

That weekend I had already been on a (split) 25km run (I stopped for breakfast halfway) so I figured my training was sort of on track for the event in 6 weeks anyway. 

The following weekend I ran a flat 27km at what I thought was a decent pace for my marathon. I was wrong. My pace was around 5:00min/km, but by the time I reached the 22nd kilometre, I was struggling big time.

The fact that I could only keep this pace for HALF a marathon concerned me, but while this messed with my mindset a little, I knew I still had a few weeks of training to go, and would be better rested before the marathon anyway. 

During the week I did a few smaller runs (5-10km) before a 34km run on the 29th of August. Having learnt from the previous weekend, I went out with a 5:40min/km goal in mind - this plan paid off while I was running downhill or flat, but the last 3km with a slight uphill back home was a bit more of a struggle!

This pace works out to be just under 4 hours for a marathon - so, I decided that 4 hours would be my goal. This was slower than my previous marathon efforts (3:39:49 and 3:19:35) but given that I hadn't been focusing on marathon training specifically, I thought 4 hours would be a pretty good target.

It was time to taper my training from there to let my body rest for the marathon, the following weekend I would do 23km with a few more kilometres of running throughout the week. The 2 weeks prior to the marathon I managed a total of around 10km which meant my body was feeling quite good at that point. 

I had experienced a few issues with my upper back which had made running a bit uncomfortable since about April. Being me, I decided that it was about time I went to the physio 2 weeks before my marathon. It wasn't a huge issue, just uncomfortable. I saw the physio twice in the two weeks before the marathon, we both hoped that it fixed something, but didn't un-fix anything else. 

I mentioned my 4 hour goal to the physio who (having run a marathon himself in the past) agreed that was a realistic goal. What I didn't tell him was that I was secretly considering going for 3 hours 30 minutes instead... I knew he would not likely approve. 

I figured I had run a marathon faster than that in the past, and I can maintain the required 5:00min/km pace for a while, I might as well give it a whirl. I did consult a couple of other trusted sources on my goal pace, they (rightly so) were a little more conservative than me and gave me a 3 hour 40 or 45min goal instead. 

The day before the marathon I had a good carb loading plan prepared by my New York 2019 Marathon running buddy who was living vicariously through me this marathon. It was a lot of food, but I got through it ready for the big day to follow. 

The Marathon

I was up at 6:50am the morning of the run to make sure I had time to eat (and digest) the 4 Weet-Bix I planned for the morning. I headed to Victoria Park on the bike, a 3-4km bike ride which I figured would be a good warm up. 

The course I chose around Victoria Park was about 4.5km meaning I would need to do 9 and half laps to complete 42.2km.

I had asked a number of people if they were interested in joining me for a couple of laps. A fantastic group of people who often organise a run on a Sunday morning joined me at 8am for the start. Dad was also there with an air horn to start just to add to the excitement!

It was very nice to start the marathon with about 10 others who had all run marathons before - it made it feel more like a "real" or organised marathon event. I also had two supporters who made the early effort to be there in Dad and Tahia!

With a pace of 5:00min/km in mind, I managed to run the first 200m at about 4:15min/km (a mistake I made last year in New York for about 15km...) before bringing it back to the correct pace. I lost a lot of the starting group behind me as they were not racing as such, but was joined for a full lap by 2 that did keep up with me.

I ran the second lap alone as one of my first lap runners was suffering an injury and needed a break, although Dad joined me on his bike to provide support and my first lot of water/Powerade and food. 

Lap 3 started again with the same few runners from the first lap, and early in that lap I was also joined by Tristan who had already been out for an 8km run on his own. 

At this point of about 11km in I was feeling pretty good and was keeping just below my 5:00min/km goal pace - perfect!

Tristan joined me for laps 3 and 4 which we managed to keep consistently just under 5:00min/km. Dad decided to pop up along the way on his bike to provide water/Powerade when needed. 

Mum arrived on her bike to join me and to again carry some sustenance for me. It was very handy to have someone carry my drinks and pass me food bags when I felt like having something (or needed to get something into my body at least!). We passed the 21.1km mark - half way there and well on track for my goal time. 

At the end of the 5th lap, Steph (and her mum, Deb) joined me around the race track. Deb kept with us for a little while before leaving us to head out onto my 6th lap. 

It was clearly late enough in the morning now that people had started to get out of bed. As I approached the end of my 6th lap, I could see a large crowd of friends and family gathered where I had started my run. 

Michelle and my Uncle Peter joined me on her bike for the 7th lap, while I was also joined by Will and Jonno on foot! Steph was also still there. Jonno kept up for as long as he could (about 1km which was impressive!). He then took some shortcuts to try to catch back up but got lost...

Steph made the comment that it was like I was Eliud Kipchoge who holds the marathon world record (of just over 2 hours!). While it is nice to think I was running that fast, she was actually referring to the "Breaking 2" challenge where he had a number of people running around him. It really did feel a bit like that, every lap someone would join me while I would never break pace to let them in. Everyone had to start their run immediately at my pace to join. It is hard to describe in words but it really was quite a cool and surreal experience.

Will was originally only planning to join me for just 1 lap, but at the end of lap 7 he decided he was feeling alright, and kept going!

At this point, I should probably explain that for about 30km of the run, while someone was running with me I was keeping up with general conversation. Not a huge amount as those running with me respected that I was going to need the energy at the end - but casual conversation with the person I was running with was comfortable, and quite natural. 

This casual conversation also made each lap go by very quickly, and took my mind off of other things. Over the course of 3-4 hours of running, your body goes through quite a bit, and if you are in your own head there is a lot of opportunity for your mind to wander into places that are unhelpful. Ideas such as how far is left to run, pain in your legs (or most of the rest of your body) start to be accentuated. 

Having someone to talk to makes it easy to take your mind off, or completely forget about most of those signals that your mind is sending you. 

At the start of lap 8 (32km completed) I was still averaging under 5:00min/km. 32-35km however is the typical place where a marathon runner will "hit the wall" - and I hit the wall. 

Last year in New York, I hit the wall very, very hard. This year thankfully it wasn't as bad. I stopped talking as much. Will was still running with me and Michelle was with me on the bike. Great to have that company with me to keep me going. 

My body started hurting, my legs felt heavy and I was in my head. While it probably would have benefited to have someone talking to me, that was the last thing I felt like. Steph had left me at the end of lap 7 and told me "keep eating and drinking". This was playing in my head as well. I knew she was right, but I did not feel like eating or drinking anything at all. 

If I had taken her advice, perhaps I would have run a little faster towards the end - but this is the kind of battle you have with yourself on the course. It is easy to sit here and reflect on that mistake, but I know at the time I was battling hard to try to convince myself to eat - but I lost. 

The next 4km were run between 5:08min/km and 5:22min/km. Progressively slower. I dreaded the slight uphill (maybe about 0.5m of elevation over 500m?)

The last lap arrived. Will asked if I wanted him to join me - I gave him a thumbs up because speaking was becoming less of an option. Dad, Mum, Jonno and Michelle joined me on their bikes. 

With the pace dropping with every kilometre, I was telling myself this is the last lap, this is the last full loop you have to do. A large stick got caught in my shoelaces, and that almost broke me. It took what felt like a minute to dislodge (it was probably 3-5 seconds) and then it gave me a good whack on the way out. 

This is a good description of where I was at mentally - a stick almost ruined my whole marathon...

Halfway around we ran into David who had been searching for us. He tried his best to keep up as well and was pretty pleased with himself that he was only a little behind for half of the lap. 

I came into the criterium circuit with 3km to go. By this point I was at 5:30min/km and just wanted to finish. I did 2 laps of the circuit (5:43min/km and 5:57min/km) and took in the cheers from a 15 person strong group of friends and family - and then the strange looks from strangers in and around the grandstand area who heard the racket, but had no idea what it was about.

I am sure it was obvious to my cheer squad that at this point I was struggling. I had acknowledged them at just about every lap prior to this, but at this point I was so deep within my own head and just wanted to finish, that I most likely just focused on the road in front of me. 

I was determined to finish where my support crew were located. This took a little bit of maths. With 600m to go, I turned around and ran in the opposite direction. This confused everyone - even those that were running/riding beside me. I crossed the "finish line" in front of the grandstand but still had 200m to run! My supporters had moved to the line but I ran past them!

Suddenly I had just about everyone running with me pushing me forward and we all finished the marathon together! My final time was 3:34:04. 

I have to say, if I run another major marathon in the future I will miss the joy of running that last 200m and finishing with family and friends around me the most. The finish line at the New York Marathon (and I am sure many other major marathons) is such a strange feeling. No one you know is around you - you just finish in your own thoughts with hundreds of strangers doing the same thing around you. 

Dad called Marie in Germany who I sort of realised was on the phone (she stayed up between 1am and 5am for regular updates from dad each lap). I was in a bit of a daze and tried to tell her how I was feeling but was still sort of in my own head, and talking on the phone was not easy. 

I called her about 10 minutes later but then had to hang up after a few minutes because I couldn't hold my arm up to my ear!

My legs were getting tighter but it didn't matter anymore - the marathon was done and it is definitely comparable to the joy of completing my first marathon in New York - even if it is in little old Adelaide.

Recovery

I managed to ride the bike back home (3km) and again into and from work the next day. I was fairly sore until about Wednesday and went for a very small jog (2km) on Thursday. We will see how quickly I can get myself motivated to get back to running longer distances than that. Perhaps next week?

Previously I have been very unmotivated to run following a marathon, but I am quite eager to run another marathon in early 2021 so no time to lose - keep running!

Thanks

Thank you to everyone who donated to Dementia Australia as part of this event. At the beginning of the marathon I had raised around $1800. That is a very generous effort from everyone for only 6 weeks of fundraising. 

To everyone that came out on the day and ran with me or cheered your guts out each time I passed by, that made for such a memorable experience and I would run a marathon again tomorrow to experience that support.

A few people messaged me in the days afterwards to say that I inspired them, and in some cases inspired them to go for a run. This is why I run - to bring people together and to inspire you to be the best you. To be told that I inspired someone is very humbling. 

I don't want to name too many more names because I am bound to miss someone - but Ange and her members at EFM Burnside are amazing and continue to support me to run and run and run and run. 

If anyone is interested in donating to Dementia Australia, you can do so at the following link until about December 2020

https://fundraising.dementia.org.au/fundraisers/nickedwards 

Thanks everyone - see you at the next marathon!

Nick

2018 TCS New York Marathon - Leaving New York

NEW YORK MARATHON SERIES (Part 5/5)

The Day After - Monday
I woke up at about 7am on the Monday after the race. There is a post race event in Central Park where you can get your medal engraved, buy the New York Times (which has a list of everyone's names up to finishers under about 4 hours 50 minutes), and buy all sorts of other merchandise.

I had been told that in order to miss as much of the crowd as possible you should head there at 8am when it opens. I took this on board and left Mum and Dad asleep and headed off on my own to check it out.

The line to engrave your medal was already probably 45 minutes long. Medal engraving was also not free (it was $25US). I made the decision not to line up for that and head straight into the merchandise shop. I figured I could get my medal engraved in Adelaide and possibly for less than what they charged there anyway.

I bought 2 copies of the New York Times and then spent a lot more on a couple of jumpers/jackets, gloves and arm warmers. There was a huge range of stuff to buy. The jumper and jacket that I bought state "Finisher 2018" however anyone could have waltzed in and bought those tops if they wanted to...

I headed back to the hotel where Mum and Dad were slowly getting ready. Breakfast was my choice and I had a craving for some bacon and eggs. I had seen a diner a couple of streets away so we headed there for breakfast.

The weather had deteriated somewhat and was now pouring with rain. I am thankful that this rain had stayed away on Sunday as the conditions would have been a lot more challenging and I doubt that there would have been as many spectators along the course. Mum and Dad were also pretty happy that while it was a bit cold, it wasn't raining so they were able to comfortably stand around waiting for me for most of the day.

The diner was nice, but very expensive and I don't think I would reccomend going back. The food that they offered was good, but you could get the same thing elsewhere for about half the price.

After breakfast it was time to do some more shopping. Mum had a couple of shops in mind so we headed to those. We walked in the rain and I was not moving incredibly fast either!

Lunch was destined to be at McDonalds. I had had this plan pretty much since I started training, even though I generally don't eat at McDonalds anyway... In hindsight I should have chosen one of the many burger bars around New York which I am sure would have been much more staisfying. Needless to say, upon returning to Australia I was told that one of the most highly rated burger bars in New York was in fact in our hotel...

McDonalds was underwhelming but the purpose of eating junk food was fulfilled.

We had tickets to the Ice Hockey at Barclays Arena in Brooklyn in the evening. Barclays Arena was on the same Subway Route as Coney Island (Coney Island was the end of the line) and Mum decided that although by the time we get there it will be dark and likely closed, it would be a good idea to at least go and check it out while we have time.

Catching the New York Subway the day after running the marathon really highlights how inaccessable most of the stations are for people with disabilities or limited mobility. Mum and Dad would walk done the stairs to the subway as any other normal person would, while I tried my best to grab onto both of the railings where possible and lift myself down the stairs with my arms rather than my legs! Even a slight incline on a ramp was slower than it really should have been!

We made it to Coney Island and got off on the stop before the end thinking we would walk to the end station and then get back on to go back to the Ice Hockey. This was a great plan and would certainly work however we got exited on the wrong side of the station which put us in an alleyway behind apartment buildings and their parking lots, and meant we had to walk about a kilometre further.

Eventually we walked along the Coney Island Boardwalk past all of the little amusement parks. We found the end station and got back on the train to get to the Ice Hockey.

The Ice Hockey match was between the New York Islanders and Montreal. We have very limited knowledge of how Ice Hockey works and spent a lot of the match wondering if there were 3 or 4 periods. New York got off to a good start and Montreal spent the remainder of the match catching up.

The match ended in a tie with extra time which was also tied so eventually went to shootouts. Montreal won the shootouts after about 7 shots each!

We headed back to the hotel with a short stopover for a snack in TGI Fridays at 11pm in Times Square.

Flying Home
Checkout for the hotel on Tuesday was at 10am. I was flying out from JFK Airport at about 6pm and Mum and Dad a similar time from Newark. We had some time to spare and had it not been pouring with rain again we possibly would have made use of this time to see something else during the day.

We had breakfast nearby then determined that we might as well start our journeys to the airport after checking out of the hotel.

I farewelled Mum and Dad who had a longish walk in the rain to their shuttle bus at the New York Library and I had a short walk to the nearest subway station.

Walking down the stairs was still an interesting exercise, made even more complex with a 28kg suitcase with me. What was really great though was that I had no cash and the ticket machines were "temporarily not taking card payments"... I was stuck and spent about 10 minutes trying to work out what on earth I was going to do to get to the airport. Luckily I had about 8 hours to spare so I wasn't too stressed.

I decided to trundle back up the stairs and head to the next station (which was close to where Mum and Dad had to walk to in the end!). It was wet and I hadn't prepared myself for that. Thankfully the next station had machines that did accept my card (otherwise I would have caught a taxi which is about $50US more than the train!). I still struggled with the machine as it asked for my "Zip Code" which was a 5 digit number - and I kept trying to put in my pin code which wasn't accepted. Eventually someone helped me and I got my tickets and got on the train.

I met up with another team member (Phil) at the airport who was on the same flights back to Adelaide as me and had decided to head to the airport early as well. We sat down and had a burger to pass the time and eventually got on the plan (which was also delayed).

My legs weren't too bad on the planes. I was able to get up and walk around a bit. The worst part of the plane ride was that between Los Angeles and Melbourne the journey takes 16 hours!

Finally on Thursday in Australia I arrived back home and that evening headed to the gym to catch up with as many people as I could who supported my journey to and run through New York City!

Nick

2018 TCS New York Marathon - Post Race

NEW YORK MARATHON SERIES (Part 4/5)

Post Race
I knew Scott wasn't far behind so I took the next few steps forward rather slowly, looking back to see him at the finish. In my training run 3 weeks earlier, I completed 32kms and felt absolutely deplorable at the end of the run. Those that were with me will confirm that the colour in my face was gone, I couldn't stand up and I felt like I needed to vomit for at least half an hour after. I was so worried that I was going to feel like this after the full marathon. To my delight however, I felt absolutely fantastic - I had just finished the New York Marathon, the event that I had been training for through ups and downs for 6 months, enjoying every step of the way. This day in particular had been one of the best days of my life!

Scott on the other hand didn't look too well. I won't go into too much detail but after walking together through the exit area (which is about another kilometre or more - most probably for the medical staff to keep an eye on everyone which is a great initiative) he did end up in the very last medical tent for some treatment. He is alive and well after that though!

The exit area involves first of all getting the medal for finishing (it is a huge, heavy medal, but I was very happy to get that thing over my neck!), you then pass through a whole group of photographers where I tried to get as many photos taken as possible while still moving (I had pre-purchased the $60US photo pack - I was going to make the most of it!). Following the photos they wrap a foil blanked around you (which at this point is very welcome as you do start to feel a little cold in the 10 degree weather!) and also hand out a "recovery pack" which was full of all sorts of snacks, drinks and other goodies that you would generally want to take in after running such a distance. I scoffed down almost the whole pack of salted pretzels and half a bottle of water and half a bottle of Gatorade. This was as much as I felt like taking in as I did start to feel a little unwell at that point.

We kept on walking all the way back up to 77th Street (which is where Scott decided to head into the medical tent). I walked back down Columbus Avenue, to the family reunion area. On the way they handed out a nice warm poncho (it was amazing how very well timed they handed out that poncho as I was just starting to get a bit chilly!).

I met up with Mum and Dad finally at 62nd Street (they had just made it around from their last viewing position by the time I had finally got there!) and gave Mum a big hug. Their smiles told me they were extremely proud and I was very proud myself to have completed such an amazing event.

We walked back (slowly) through the crowds to the hotel. Getting through Columbus Circle was quite tricky as half of New York was trying to do the same. I was still feeling good, but my legs were starting to slow down. Luckily there weren't any stairs to climb.

Back at the hotel I had the choice to either run a hot bath or a cold bath. The best thing for recovery would have been to stretch (which I didn't do) and to have a cold bath - but I had a hot bath which I decided was much more comfortable. At this point I had reached my goal and it wasn't going to matter how long it took me to recover so I decided to just be as comfortable as possible and enjoy it.

I took my shoes off and found that I now had a disgusting, large blood blister on my toe where the nail had fallen off 2 days earlier. It wasn't sore so was quite surprising. Mum thought it looked gangrenous... (I can now tell you that it has taken 4 weeks from the marathon to actually look somewhat like a normal toe again... let me know if you want to see a picture but I won't subject the majority of readers to that!).

After the bath I actually had a nap for about 45 minutes! Lying in bed felt amazing and bear in mind I was up at 4:30am! I woke up at about 4:45pm and got organised to go to the Roger Rasheed Team post race drinks which was located on a rooftop bar next door to our hotel.

Some of the team were still running/walking at the time the team drinks kicked off but eventually almost everyone made it up there to celebrate. Everyone from our team did finish the marathon which is fantastic, and everyone had their own stories to tell.

Although I was extremely tired, I lasted longer at drinks than Mum and Dad did. It was really good to share the experience with a great group of people who all enjoyed it as much as I did. 

I headed back to my room at about 10:30pm and struggled into bed. From memory I slept very well, despite parts of my body starting to scream and tighten up.

Nick

If you like my Blogs please consider donating via my PayPal site to help support fundraising for future Marathon entries as well as past Marathon charities (RRSF): paypal.me/marathonnick

2018 TCS New York Marathon - The 2018 New York Marathon

NEW YORK MARATHON SERIES (Part 3/5)

The 2018 New York Marathon
My first kilometre was my slowest. Despite the adrenaline rushing through my body and the excitement of finally starting this race that I have been thinking about non-stop for the past 6 months, it is actually a pretty good thing that it is just not possible to run any faster at that stage!

The start of the race takes you across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and is the steepest climb of the entire race. You wouldn't know it though because there are so many people that keep pushing you along, and your legs are very fresh so you just run and enjoy the view across Upper Bay to the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.

Our corral was on the lower deck of the bridge which meant that I was in the shade of the upper deck of the bridge with a fairly brisk breeze coming from the ocean and most likely a lot colder than it would have been in the sun on top of the bridge. The bonus was that the lower deck isn't quite as steep as the upper deck - but bloody cold!

Scott and I ran together for about the first kilometre (6:27min/km) and then he took off ahead of me weaving through some very small gaps between the other runners.

The second half of the bridge is obviously downhill and this was my fastest kilometre for the race! (4:44min/km). Everyone just takes off and it is very very hard to hold back. This was a lot faster than my planned 5:30min/km and I tried very hard to hold back while everyone else passed me. I kept thinking in my head "it's okay, you will pass all of these people in the last 10km of the race anyway"- not that my position was really important, but my nature is to be competitive!

As we got off of the bridge and onto the freeway there was a little patch of lawn on the left and side of the road that was now scattered with about 30 people (all males - see the below video) relieving themselves after being told that peeing anywhere along the bridge would result in immediate disqualification from this and future New York Road Runners events.

Our route followed the freeway for 4km and passed under both of the other corral routes (which was pretty cool to see thousands of people going over bridges above the thousands of people running under the bridges).

We exited the freeway to the cheers of the excited residents of Brooklyn. There were a couple of supporters scattered along this first part (this part was only our corral, you would have to be in a different street entirely to see the other corrals). These supporters were mostly residents of the houses that they were standing in front of. I had been told to expect people to call out my name (which was on my shirt) but when it finally happened it was quite overwhelming. There was a drinks station to start with and the volunteers there were full of energy and screamed out "Go Nick, you got this buddy!" or something similar. This was another moment where the adrenaline kicked in and I needed to be cautious not to increase my pace too much!

After the first 5km we joined back up with the other corrals on 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. This is a very wide street and had a large verge in the middle (the subway ran underneath the verge, but it was the width of a tram line basically). Our corral joined up with one of the other corrals on the southern carriageway, the other corral had the northern carriageway to itself. It clicked that I probably could have (and should have) crossed over to the other side as this southern side was very congested again - but I never did.

After the first 3 kilometres I managed to get my pace up to an average of about 5:15min/km which I was quite comfortable with. Time checks were shown at every mile (which I ignored because it made very little sense to me) and at every 5km marker. I ran through the first 5km at about the time I had planned to (mostly because of that very slow first kilometre) and ended up a couple of minutes ahead of where I planned to be at the 10km mark. The markers were still confusing as they were 3 minutes ahead of my "real time" so a little bit of maths was required. I tended to just look at the time on my own watch though as I had started that as I cross the start line myself.

4th Avenue continues for about 6km. It is a straight road with a slight turn towards the end but after 6km my mind started to focus too much on the running and I was certainly ready to change the route! Having said that, there were plenty of things to keep me distracted along the road; crowds building, sometimes 2-3 rows deep and many with signs, sometimes uplifting, occasionally downgrading... and quite often trying (and often succeeding) to put a smile on my face whether it be a few witty words or a nice bit of support.

If I was on the side of the road where people could see my name there were multiple people in a row that kept calling my name and shouting out support. It took a couple of kilometres but I certainly got somewhat fed up with so many people trying to grab my attention. It wasn't that they were deliberately trying to get me to stop and acknowledge them necessarily but there were times where certain things they would say made me feel like I needed to respond ("Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" is a good example of this, which I must have heard at least 15 times in the entire race!).

At various times along 4th Avenue I made my way back towards the middle of the road where the large verge was located and there was a bit of respite from all of the attention. It was also occasionally easier to get a drink at each stop as it was slightly less congested on that side at the drink stations.

Finally after 13km I could see a turn coming up. The crowds were building at this point and were probably 5-8 rows deep in some places at Barclays Centre (which seemed to be a popular gathering spot for the event with bands, stages, TV cameras etc.). The course veered left and then very quickly turned right into Lafayette Avenue for the start of the 13th kilometre.

Lafayette Avenue is a relatively narrow, tree lined street. At this point a bit of shade wasn't as bad as it was on the bridge, but the sun was still quite valuable when you could get out of the buildings and trees. Most of Lafayette was lined with people and at this point it was hard to get away as the middle of the street was still only about 3 metres from where they were yelling and screaming.

We turned again at Bedford Avenue and the crowds almost immediately died off. We were headed into the Jewish Community of Williamsburg. Being a Sunday morning many of the Jewish community were heading off to their places of worship, many of whom seemed to not be entirely impressed that a marathon was being run straight through the middle of their suburb. A number of people, either dressed up in their suits and yarmulkes or top hats or people in plain clothing tried and generally succeeded to cross when there was a very brief gap. There were a couple of times throughout the race where a few people cut it a bit too close (once with a pram as well!) and were given a little bit of feedback by some of the affected runners.

The Jewish influence began to disappear and ethnic supermarkets, delis, bars and alcohol started to become more prevalent. Crowds again began to pick up and especially outside bars and pubs was getting pretty loud and exciting. After averaging about 5:18min/km for the last few kilometres, my 18th and 19th kilometre were around 5:05min/km.

As we approached 20km I could see a few bridges in the distance and got completely lost in relation to where I thought I was on the route, and where I thought I still had to go. In my head I thought: great, this must be the Brooklyn Bridge and we are finally crossing over into Manhattan. When I was thinking straight of course I knew that the Brooklyn Bridge wasn't part of the race, and that we still needed to head into Queens before going over the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan!

The idea that I was crossing the Brooklyn Bridge stayed with me up and over what is actually the Pulaski Bridge into Queens. Nothing clicked even when halfway along the Pulaski Bridge we hit the Half Marathon mark which I knew was before the Queensboro Bridge. At this mark I noted my time and doubled it and was on track to complete the marathon in just over 3 hours 40 minutes! This gave me quite a bit of confidence and I was still feeling pretty full of energy so at this point, as I had planned, I tried to tell myself it is time to pick up the pace and get closer to about 5:00 minute kilometres.

We took a few streets through Queens and I had finally realised that this was not Manhattan... As I had mentally thought I was headed over that bridge and onto 1st Avenue in Manhattan I was rather keen to actually get to that point physically so do not actually remember too much of Queens - it is only 3km of Queens anyway! I do have video of what I think was Queens below though:

I do remember seeing an enormous wave of people running on the lower deck of the Queensboro Bridge in the distance. We took a couple of turns through Queens and finally headed up onto the bridge I thought I was on 3km ago!

Queensboro Bridge is a little bit of a nightmare! It is the second steepest and second highest point of the course and the curve of the roof above you makes it seem like the ascent never ends, even when you start the decent! Living close to and often training in the hills in Adelaide I felt pretty confident going uphill and I evidently passed quite a few people on the bridge. This was a bit of a confidence and energy booster as it made me feel like I was clearly in a good state compared to others at this point of the race. Having said that, other than the first kilometre, according to my GPS record the 3 kilometres on the bridge were my slowest kilometres of the race, even for some reason when going back down the other side of the bridge into Manhattan (5:30min/km, 5:20min/km and 5:34min/km).

I am quite surprised about that last kilometre of the bridge being the slowest of the race, but I could put this down to either the GPS messing up (as there were tonnes of people waiting at the other end of the bridge and at the start to 1st Avenue, as well as the start of some very tall New York buildings!) or it could be that I told my self that I needed to slow down at this point as I knew there was an adrenaline rush coming (that's what many course guides or race videos tell you about this point in the race).

At the time I was actually very underwhelmed with the entrance to Manhattan. Everything I read or watched told me that at the exit to the bridge I would be greeted with the loudest cheers I had ever heard. In actual fact, from what I remember not a single person was cheering on that turn despite the 8 deep crowd... it was very odd.

As I looped back under the bridge the length of 1st Avenue became apparent and the noise started to pick up again. At this point I was getting rather excited - I knew Mum and Dad were tracking my position and I knew that they were standing on 82nd Street (we entered at 59th Street). The next 4 kilometres were very quick (about 5:00min/km each) - after my slowest 3 kilometres this goes to show just how much not only Mum and Dad's support affected my running, but everyone tracking me at home affected my run - the support was amazing and definitely helped keep me in a good place mentally which clearly helps me physically.

I was very excited along this stretch. Mum and Dad (and the rest of the support crew which included Roger Rasheed and families of other runners in our group) couldn't have known up to this point just how I was looking or feeling. I wanted to prove to them that while my pace was good, I was still in a great place and could carry on until the end of the race.

I passed the drinks station at the 17th Mile and knew 82nd Street was coming up. I tried my best to get to the left hand side where they were standing, I did have to dodge a couple of "slow" runners to get there. There was no way I was going to be able to tell where they are by listening out for my name to be called - the rest of the crowd which was still 3-5 rows deep were yelling and screaming at me already!

Luckily Dad had brought his Crows scarf and waved it madly over the fence as he saw me coming. Mum was screaming in front of him as well. Half of me wanted to stop and chat, but the other half said if you do that you'll never start again. So I gave them a quick smile (trying to make it look like I wasn't in any pain at all - which I wasn't!) and high fived Mum, Dad then Roger as I passed. That was it, I had passed them. My left hand was actually pretty sore from connecting with at least one of the high fives - my hand must have been a lot colder than I thought it was.

Mum made the comment later on that my hand was soaking wet as well. While I was likely to be sweaty what she didn't realise was that as I had just had a drink of water and Gatorade at the preceding drink station it was pretty likely that half of each of the 3 or 4 cups that I had picked up were all over my hands and all over my shirt. It isn't that easy to grab a cup (in my left hand specifically) while running/jogging then try to get the entire contents of that cup (sometimes filled to the brim) without spilling any of it all down my front!

1st Avenue is very, very long and starts to get pretty monotonous. Worse still, I knew that whatever distance we covered north of 59th Street we would be covering again on the way back down 5th Avenue on the other side. I tried not to let that thought enter my mind and just looked forward to a bit of variance in the course at the end of 1st Avenue.

There were plenty of people gathered almost all the way up to the Willis Avenue Bridge at the top of 1st Avenue. My pace of about 5:00min/km was maintained for the entire length except for the last kilometre up 1st Avenue.

As I entered the Bronx at the 32nd kilometre I started to worry that I was about to hit the wall. Almost every guide to marathon running and advice that I had been given or overheard told me that you will almost certainly hit the wall (which means suddenly feeling absolutely terrible) at about the 33-36km mark. Fittingly, the theme of the celebrations in the Bronx were "we are here to get you through the wall".

That theme and constant announcements from various DJ's over their stages that they were there to keep you moving actually didn't help me. I found it pretty frustrating as I hadn't yet hit the wall and the fact that they were reminding me that this was the place it was going to happen started to get into my head a little bit.

My legs started hurting/feeling a little bit tight towards the end of 1st Avenue, especially as I went over the Willis Avenue Bridge (a slight, but obvious incline at that point). While I still ended up passing quite a number of people on that bridge, I certainly felt that the legs weren't as fresh as they had been for the first half of the marathon.

Throughout the Bronx there were a few drinks stations but also a station sponsored by BioFreeze (which I think is much like DeepHeat). The BioFreeze station looked interesting but I am unsure how the product could be so good that it would be worth stopping, sitting/lying down and getting treatment at this stage of the race.

The Bronx was scattered with a few people out to support however it was not at the same volume as 1st Avenue or much of Brooklyn had been. The Bronx did contain probably to most amount of twists and turns of the course which at this stage was pretty good to keep me distracted from everything else.

I crossed back over to Manhattan on the Madison Avenue Bridge and turned the corner into 5th Avenue for what in my mind and plan/tactics was the last hurdle of the race. The next 5 kilometres were pretty consistent but at a pace of about 5:18min/km which was slower than I was hoping for. Strangely one of the kilometres amongst this slower section was 4:58min/km.

At one point down 5th Avenue I looked at my pace on my watch and it was telling me 6:30min/km. This caused huge games to be played by my mind as I physically felt like I was running at around 5:30min/km - or faster (which I evidently was doing). I thought that perhaps I have hit some sort of wall and my legs just aren't moving as well any more. I can't remember exactly when I had these thoughts but there are a couple of kilometres that I ran 15-25 seconds faster which could be attributed to me trying to push that supposed 6:30min/km pace back up to something more promising. In actual fact, these kilometres were more like 5:10min/km - 5:20min/km but the GPS was playing up horribly!

5th Avenue takes a small detour just north east of Central Park around Marcus Garvey Memorial Park. After this detour it is back to the monotonous straight Avenue and at this point I started counting down the street numbers, knowing that somewhere around 90th Street (where I would also enter Central Park) Mum and Dad would again be waiting to cheer me on.

119th Street, 110th Street, 100th Street, 95th Street - these streets take a lot longer than I hoped to run through but eventually I saw the familiar Crows scarf being waved on the left hand side. There were quite a few people in this spot, there was also a large video screen which was displaying the "cheer cards" that people could send to runners through the Marathon App. I noted to myself that I would check out that screen after passing Dad.

I only saw Dad on the fence (as Mum was evidently standing a bit further back to get a shot from above - see the below video and enjoy her scream of excitement which I do not recall hearing despite all of that effort!). The problem with Dad standing at this position on my left hand side however was that the course to a right hand turn into the park and at this stage I was not in the mood to make a quick decision to veer off to the left to give him another high five. Instead I gave him what I think was a smile and waved and then veered off to the right (straight past the screen which I completely forgot about) and into Central Park.

It was now less than 4km until the finish and I knew I was going to make it. For the last few kilometres I had been playing my own mind games, specifically I was comparing how far left with a run I had done at home (12km:City to Bay, 10km:Dementia Run, 7km:My commute to work, 6km:my usual run at home etc.). This tactic sort of worked, but the kilometres felt a hell of a lot longer at the end of a marathon than I had remembered they were back in Adelaide!

Many guides of the race had stated that Central Park can be one of the hardest parts of the race. It undulates quite a bit and at this point your legs will notice every little incline and descent. I can't say that that was completely true in my experience, however I can certainly say that I do not really remember much about travelling through Central Park!

What I do remember is that it was lined with people almost the entire way. Wherever it was possible to get a spot to watch the runners there were people there watching. I took in as much of the support from strangers as I could and found myself running close to the side of the road to get that support on board to take me to the finish line.

I decided at the 25 Mile drink station that I would (for the first time in the race) not take a drink - instead I ran straight through and continued running. I figured that at this point my legs would appreciate the constant pace more than my body would actually be able to take on the electrolytes and a tiny bit of hydration to achieve any benefit.

I tried my best towards the end of Central Park to push the pace, I felt like I had a bit left in the tank but just needed to get the legs moving faster. In my 41st kilometre I managed to get my pace back up to 5:07min/km ready for a "sprint finish" in the last kilometre. I was cautious of not increasing my pace too early, but at the same time I thought "what the hell, I made it this far, it can't be that much further".

Back onto 59th Street along the Southern side of Central Park and there were large crowds again. They were less energetic and a little quieter than they had been in other places throughout the race (that or something was affecting my hearing - which wouldn't be surprising at that point I guess). I could see the other end of Central Park where we turned back in and headed towards the finish line. I was pretty confident I could push my legs to the limit and make it to the finish line.

About half way along 59th Street I saw Scott again. Rightly or wrongly - being of a competitive nature this gave me an extra bit of strength in the legs and I pushed hard to catch up with him. As I passed him I gave him a pat on the back (in hindsight that tap was a little more like a hard punch to the shoulder which I didn't mean to do) and tried to encourage him to get to that finish line. What I couldn't see was that he wasn't in a great way and he told me later he had had some sort of foot injury (possibly a fracture!) since about 25kms!

As I noted above, passing Scott did give me a bit of energy so I rounded the next corner at a pretty quick pace and headed into the final straight!

We had run this final straight on the Friday before so I was reasonably confident there wasn't far to go (there was further to go then I thought/hoped!). I looked at my watch and realised that I was very close to being under 3 hours 40 minutes. I was determined to be under that time so pushed just that little bit harder. I passed the Australian Flag with a little smile (or grimace) on my face and could see the finish line.

Finally after 3 hours 39 minutes and 49 seconds I crossed that line with my hands in the air!

Nick

If you like my Blogs please consider donating via my PayPal site to help support fundraising for future Marathon entries as well as past Marathon charities (RRSF): paypal.me/marathonnick

2018 TCS New York Marathon - Race Morning

NEW YORK MARATHON SERIES (Part 2/5)

Race Morning

I got about 3-4 hours’ sleep on the Saturday night – it was also the end of "Summer Time" in USA which meant we got an extra hour in which we were either meant to be sleeping or we were anxiously waiting for the clock to tick over to 4:30am (I somehow chose the latter).

At 4:30am the phone rang for our wake up call. I had a shower and put on all the gear that I had carefully planned out the night before. I bought a bagel at Starbucks the night before but wasn’t ready to eat that yet - the nerves were kicking in and I wasn't keen on chucking something straight back up this early! I packed the bagel into my race bag for later. I glanced at my stash of uneaten bananas and decided to pack one as well just in case. I was well hydrated with 1 litre of Gatorade down the hatch at 5:10am before heading into the lobby to meet the rest of the team.

I had written 5km splits onto my arm for a planned finishing time of 3 hours 50 minutes for the race but my goal for the event was to try to take it easy for the first half of the race (around 5:30min/km) and then if I was feeling good, increase my pace in the second half. My goal time was between 3 hours 30 minutes and 4 hours, knowing that 3 hours 30 was going to be very difficult, especially with the plan that I was aiming to stick to. This didn't bother me too much as my ultimate goal was obviously just to cross that finish line full stop.

So many people had given me advice about how to plan for the race, with many of them saying whatever you plan won't eventuate anyway. I knew that 3 hours 50 minutes was a good and reasonably conservative goal, and with that plan in place I had to confidence to take on New York.

Once the team had gathered we all walked down to the New York Public Library on 42^nd street where apparently 800 buses were organised to take 50,000 runners to the start line.

The queue for the buses went ¾ of the way around the block and took about half an hour to get through. In hindsight I should have used one of the toilets at the start of the queue – this error would prove uncomfortable later!

The bus ride was a bit of fun for the first hour, then the choice not to use the toilet earlier became a rather large issue for the second hour. None of the buses had a toilet on them (which is the only poorly planned thing about the bus convoy!).

We arrived close to Staten Island pretty quickly however because there were so many buses dropping so many people off it took forever to get across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. I had been told that this was the case and made the choice to bring a gallon bottle of water (now almost empty obviously) which I may or may not have discretely made use of while on the bus. I ate the bagel and a couple of other bits and pieces that I had packed on the bus which I didn't exactly feel like but knew I needed to get some sort of energy into my body.

As soon as we got off the bus there was a mad dash to the nearest bush for about half of the people that had gone much quieter towards the end of the rise. It was certainly an interesting sight! The starting area consisted of 4 different waves, with each of those waves having 3 different "corrals" (essentially 3 different starting points/routes so that there is slightly less congestion at the start line). Each corral then had letters A-F (I think) which was the gate that you go through to your starting position. It was all organised based on the time that you expected or hoped to run the race. I was in Wave 1, Green Corral, Starting gate D. Most of our group had to split up at this point as everyone was in a slightly different starting area and position. I was lucky enough to have 1 other person (Scott) from our group with me which kept the time passing relatively quickly.

The line to get through security on Staten Island

Upon arrival at the starting area I had about 1 hour and 20 minutes until my start. Scott and I both needed the toilet (again) and walked past a massive line in the general area. We saw a whole heap of toilets behind the starting area gate so decided it would be much better to wait 10 minutes until that opens and use those toilets. Great idea, as these toilets were also unused and very clean.

We did miss out on the drinks and food that were handed out around the general area, however I was never relying on this as it is best to eat and drink what you were used to and what you had already planned. One of the major sponsors at the starting area was Dunkin' Donuts... it amazes me that people would actually opt to eat their products at the start of the race and I do not regret missing out on that.

Scott and I were in the starting area for about 45 minutes until the 5000 people in our zone were given the all clear to move up to the starting line. During this time 2 other race starts (wheelchair racing and the elite Women's race) had already started with a very loud cannon fire. It is interesting to note that for about 30 seconds prior to those cannon fires an announcement is repeated "a race is about to start, please do not be alarmed by the cannon fire".

As we finally started moving forwards to the start line, ACDC's Safe in New York City blasted out of the speakers as we made our way up onto the bridge, legs eager to get moving, mind ready to be tested for the next 42kms!

The American National Anthem was played and then the race opening speech was made by the director of the New York Road Runners. All of the elite male runners were introduced (not that we could see anything as we were on the lower bridge level while all of this was happening on the upper level!) and finally the director asked the traffic manager for the all clear and then started the race (BANG!, another cannon gets fired).

It is always a strange feeling when the race starts, but no one in your vicinity can move yet! We could see the people at the front moving and finally after about 20 seconds we were able to take a couple of steps forward.Scott and I took 3 minutes to get to the starting line and then the race was on!

(to be continued)
Nick

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