Sydney Marathon Race Report

How tough was that??



I was going to subtitle this report as "hot, humid and hilly" but got lost looking for a decent "h" word to describe wind.

An early start to the day and after parking the car at North Sydney we got down to the start line just in time, 6:30am, to watch the half marathon start in overcast and humid weather. We (wife, 2 eldest girls, sister in law and her partner, they were all running in the family fun run which was 3.8km) then found a few fellow Striders and CR's and set up camp while I went and picked up and dropped off various bits and pieces. Around this time it actually started to drizzle rain which I was actually quite pleased about as the previous day had been quite warm.

They called the marathon runners to the start and so I bade the family farewell and went and lined up. While we were waiting for the start it started raining properly. A few words from the obligitary politician and we were off. An early "highlight" of this run is the first km is an uphill climb to loop onto the Harbour Bridge. A magic feeling running across the bridge. The blue line from the Olympic marathon is still there in parts (and was so on quite a bit of the course) and so given this was the shortest/direct route I decided to follow it whenever possible. I was amazed to see most of the runners not doing so. Was running with Riz here but he drew away from me and I did not want to stretch out any faster at this point.

Across the Cahill Expressway, which we were to visit again 39km later and then into the back of the city and down to Mrs Macquaries Chair. Already the pacing seemed a little hard to monitor with undulations, combined with poor Garmin signal strength and seemingly inaccurate kilometer markers. At about the 3km mark the pacer with the red balloons (Sailaway??) ran past which was a little surprising as I thought he was the 3:15 pacer and I was ahead of 3:15 pace as evidenced by the 5km split 21:50!! (more like 3:00 pace)

I knew I would slow up a bit on the climb back out of Lady Macquarie's Chair and then it was also a bit of a climb up Oxford Street. The contrast of people still lined up to get back into nightclubs/discos and marathon runners moving past was quite comical, but even funnier was the cheer squad at the top of the hill of a heap of drag queens etc from the local gay bars. Felt a little happier about the pace at the 10km marker with 44:12 (22:22 5km)

The next 5km was through Anzac Parade and then around Centennial Park and this felt really comfortable (and uneventful) with the 15km aplit being 1:07:38 (23:26 5km).

Continuing the smooth running on the first out and back along Randwick Racecourse and I was quite surprised to catch and pass David Martin, a fellow Strider and much better runner than myself. This was a great section as I also got to see people both in front and behind me with the turnaround. Hit the 20km mark in 1:29:54 (22:16 5km).

A couple more little out and back loops included the halfway point (about 1:35 which was the target). Was a little surprised at the climb back up Anzac Parade but then the run down through the centre of the city was good being mostly downhill. Through here another Strider Barry Rutter caught up to me, we had a bit of a chat while running along Pitt Street and then I let him slowly draw away. Through here the Garmin had no chance but I also missed a few km markers.

As soon as I hit the Western Distributor I was worried, it had become noticeably warmer, with no clouds now, and there was a nice (read nasty) little headwind as well. Around here while keeping Barry in sight I started passing a few runners including Riz, Nando who seemed to be struggling and then Sailaway, looked like the 3:15 bunch had burst. It seemed again that the markers were not all there, which made it hard to work out splits, and I was now walking through the drink stops drinking 2 cups and then another over the head. By the next km the cap was completely dry again and the wind and heat were taking their toll. To make things worse the looong climb up to Norton Street really hammered the legs (and the mind).

It was great then to see fellow coolrunner plu there and muttered several curses about the hill. Even though I was slowing I was not overly concerned as I seemed to be about the same proportion of time behind some of the faster runners that I saw comning back from the turnaround. Saw Action at the turn around. Enjoyed the cruise back down the hill but then the ups and downs through Pyrmont really slowed me down.

Caught Mohammed along Hickson Rd and then set about "the climb", forget a single sniper on "the grassy knoll" I reckon it was more like a machine gun nest as a lot of people were struggling here. I succumbed to walking for about 100m on the steep bit up from Argyle street and then it was downhill (well sort of) to the finish.

The CR cheer squad was superb, it really picked me up and I actually caught and passed a few more people in those last couple of km. Again the reception from the crowd at the finish was great.

Finished up with 3:25:05, not a PB but I am actually happy with the run. Clearly the back half had a high attrition rate on the runners with lots of slowing down, will not be a pretty analysis of positive splits of first vs second half times.

Legs actually feel pretty good, whacked the skins on to go home and also downed some opti. A day later and I am very impressed hopefully the legs are feeling so good because of my recovery efforts rather than not having gone hard enough.

Having the family there meant not a lot of chatting/socialising but it was great to cheer Horrie and Belinda as we were moving the troops home.

Maybe more thoughts later, time to go introspective for a day or 2 and cement into place some plans/goals for the future.