Running the Ross Marathon
So at 5:15 on Sunday morning I am having breakfast in the kitchen, dressed in my best trackies and ugg boots. One of the unfortunate things about having breakfast at this time is I can’t make a protein shake without waking other people up. This is sad because I make a very good protein shake. It might not be quite good enough to bring all the boys to the yard, but it is quite tasty.
So after some cornflakes and a brownie (as you can see I take race nutrition seriously) I am in the car and heading up to Ross. Coming down from Mt Nelson, the Derwent River looks amazing in the pre-dawn light and I could already feel excitement and nerves building for the race. Once I got to Ross, I registered and caught up with the other Solemates for a quick group photo. Then it was time for the race. I almost missed the start as I was still untangling the ear phones of my iPod. This race was unusual as there seemed to be no rules, banning audio devices, unlike a most races I have run (although people seem to follow these rules to the same extent as political parties follow political donation laws.) |
We turned right coming out of the town onto Tooms Lake Road, passing the old female factory and crossing the rail lines as we did so. The main stretch of road ran fairly straight in a southerly direction and we followed it for several kilometres. It was lovely countryside to be running through, with green hills rising and dropping on either side of us and more fields and hills visible further beyond. After about three kilometres we passed a particularly close hill, with a flock of sheep standing atop it watching us run past with some puzzlement.
I had actually been running for a few K before I even checked my watch and discovered I had got carried away again, running a fair bit quicker than I had meant to. I thought about slowing down, but felt pretty good, so didn’t drop much speed before settling into a rhythm I thought I should be able to keep up for a while. |
About 4km along the road the course turned more sharply than Charlie Sheen's career and we followed the same road back towards town. It was then that the strength of the wind became apparent, hitting me harder than the opening scene of Finding Nemo (damn you Pixar, why do I let you keep hurting me like this). I pushed hard into the wind, reasoning the sooner I turned away from it the happier I would be.
Just before the train line, we turned to the right and followed a gravel road up a small hill and around to the north of the town. It didn’t seem like much of a hill (on the first lap anyway), so I hit it pretty hard and coasted down the other side. After another couple of Km, I was running through the main street of Ross, heading back to the start point to complete the first of four laps. To run marathons at your best, it is important to get to know your body. Not in a Divinyls way- just understand how long you can run with different levels of fatigue and so on. I actually ignored this rather useful advice and- not having run this distance in nearly two years- was about as prepared for this race as Ricky Muir was for federal politics. Still feeling pretty comfortable at the end of lap 1, I decided I was fine to do the second lap at the same speed, instead of dropping back to my planned speed. This was a fairly substantial overestimation of my strength, akin to Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to call a double dissolution. |
The field had spread a bit by now and I ran for much of the second lap without anyone close by. This was kind of nice as you didn’t have to worry about getting people’s way or overtaking. You could just enjoy running through the peaceful countryside. I noticed that the sheep from the first lap had got bored of watching, which was fair enough as they didn’t have my iPod to keep them entertained.
Even though I was feeling good, I grabbed a drink at every drink station I passed. I tend to be a bit slow at drink stations as I like to say thankyou to the people running them. Time spent doing this is certainly not wasted. In my view, they make a massive difference, as do the people who stand along the route and cheer you on, so I always try to wave or say thanks to anyone that gives me a clap or a cheer.
Even though I was feeling good, I grabbed a drink at every drink station I passed. I tend to be a bit slow at drink stations as I like to say thankyou to the people running them. Time spent doing this is certainly not wasted. In my view, they make a massive difference, as do the people who stand along the route and cheer you on, so I always try to wave or say thanks to anyone that gives me a clap or a cheer.
The half marathon began about ten minutes before the end of my second lap, so the third lap was a marked contrast, with far more runners out on the course. A large number of Solemates were represented in the half, with Kate and Gabby taking out 1st and 3rd respectively in the women's event. As a result, there were lots of high fives and words of encouragement shared as we passed each other going up and down the long straight section of road. The wind seemed to be picking up, although I had to admit I was losing power as quickly as the Tasmanian electricity network last winter, so the apparent change in the wind could have been more due to this. I know the hill didn’t get steeper, but it certainly got harder.
I was beginning to cramp a little as I started my final lap. I grabbed a banana and a muesli bar from my bag and headed off, determined to push to the end. It was tempting to go straight into survivor mode (I even had Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor ready on my iPod), dropping back to a slow jog to reduce the discomfort through my body. But I wasn’t ready to do this yet. I knew I still had some strength left and wanted to push myself to the full extent. |
The wind had definitely picked up by now, ripping into me when I turned to come back up the long straight section of road. By the 36km mark, I was really starting to struggle. I would have liked to push harder to maintain my earlier pace, but was at least 30 seconds slower per kilometre and couldn’t find the strength to lift. If that wasn’t a clear enough indication that I had gone a bit hard early a few runners sped past me with the urgency of Lachie Whitfield allegedly running from AFL drug testers (chill out GWS lawyers- I said “allegedly”) and I had no chance of keeping up with them. The last few Ks were hard work, but finally the course turned so that we were not running into the wind.
I jogged happily but slightly painfully past the town hall for the last time, waving to friends who were calling out encouragement. I had the added pleasure of passing some lovely students from my school and giving them a quick high five before heading for the finish line. With the wind and fatigue, it had been a challenging final lap, but I was pretty proud of how I had kept pushing myself to give maximum effort. That moment of hubris was quickly put in perspective soon after, when I watched another runner jog past and start his final (I hope it was his final) lap. With my legs stiff and sore from the exertion, I had to admit the prospect of another hour or more of running would have horrified me, but this guy just kept going. That is true courage. I am quite in awe of people that are doing it harder but still push themselves to complete the run. Speaking of awe, the winners of the full event seemed to be running full of power when I saw them late in the race. Ali Foot (as it was Father's Day I have the perfect excuse to make a Dad joke about his name, but I'm worried I'll put my foot in it) won the Men's event in just under three hours. Just as impressive was Meriem Daoui, who I was pleased to see running in a shirt that said 'Marathon for Syria,' took out the women's (and was third across the line overall) in 3:02. For full results of all events click here. Flushed with satisfaction, I hung around for a while chatting to other runners. There was a really nice feeling around the town and I was pretty pumped. Even as optimistic as I am, I knew that I was pushing my luck attempting this event as under-prepared as I was, but I had got off lighter than Brock Turner at sentencing. Eventually, I said my goodbyes and headed for the car. It had been a very enjoyable and fulfilling event for me. One that I expect to come back to again. |