It’s a bold guy to say that a man can ever experience a pain
equal to childbirth….
….and I am not that bold.
Still, the 2014 Cadbury Marathon was a tough one, a REALLY,
REALLY tough one.
I write this in the normally comfortable abode of home, with
my legs up on the couch having faced a complete inability to walk up and
(definitely) down stairs. It is a warts and all report on the event and the
lead-up, so beware…
.
“Isn’t it funny how
they have 2km, 5km, 10km, 15km ‘fun runs’….but there’s no marathon distance
‘fun run’?” – Stephen O’Brien (2014)
The Lead Up – or the
slow demise towards the eight layer of hell…!
The most unfortunate thing about this race is also the thing
that attracted me to enter it so much! That is; its proximity to the beginning
of the year, and you cannot find an IAAF certified marathon anywhere, earlier,
in a better climate…I don’t think?
The plus side, with school holidays there are plenty of
recovery days afterwards.
The downside, with Christmas just prior, training beforehand
was going to be really hard….especially with the amount of ham and xmas
leftovers constantly available.
Small Incidental Thing: My life and lead up to this race was
made even more difficult with a tendon issue in my forefoot throughout the
entire month of December. It was pretty worrying for the first few weeks, to
the point that it was difficult to walk, let alone train in high volumes!
Luckily with a course of treatment prescribed by Steve from InTraining I was
able to begin training in small volumes.
The Clique, the
posse, bros and crew!
The whole trip was the brain child of a good friend and
mentor of mine Matthew Casos. He’s a very
...like I said ‘floodgate of stupid’.
Regardless of the outcome, all of us agreed that this would
be an awesome opportunity, and (even in hindsight) I couldn’t think of a better
group of guys to go on tour with. Top lads!
The Race!
The race conditions in Hobart (Tasmania) were MAGIC….with
the clear blue skies shining down favourably on 14degree ground below. Perfect!
With this in mind we warmed up and I mulled over my race
plan in my mind. The day previous we’d driven the course and roughly worked out
where the turn-a-rounds were, paying close attention to any undulation or where
any deviation of direction was. The crew had all jokingly even mentioned that,
with my trademark sprint start, I’d be an odds-on bet to be leading 2kilometers
into the race down the hill running away from the Cadbury Chocolate factory.
Little did we know how true that would be!
As we milled around the start line there were murmurs
amongst the crowd that last year’s winner Matty Fenech was back. I’d already
said ‘Hi’ to him (he’s a nice guy, really polite and quite the gentleman).So
there was a buzz for that fact alone.
For some reason the ABC camera man held his camera
uncomfortably long on my face, this was quite
weird…. as I’m quite sure no-one
in the whole state of Tasmania would know my face from a postage stamp….still I
nervously nodded to break the tension.
When the gun finally did sound, true to form, I bounded out
to the front. I could feel Matty F shadowing my heels, tempted to bury my
optimism where it belonged, yet knowing full well that the first 300 meters of
the race was not the time to do this. I surged forward…..I didn’t just feel
great…..I felt AMAZING! Eat my dust world!!!!!!
Onward I pushed on, with two short laps around the streets
of the factory before we all smashed down the hill and onwards in the direction
of the turnaround (for an ‘out-and-back twice’ course). True to our joking
prediction I not only had the lead at the bottom of the hill (and 3kms into the
race), but onward still I found myself
with a good 200mt lead as we headed towards what we’d all decided was the
turn-a-round yesterday.
Of course, there was no turn-a-round there.
Figuring we’d made a minor miscalculation and with a
television crew filming me excitedly, shouting “You’re going GREAT!” I fooled
myself into thinking I was racing comfortably in my element and that this
wasn’t a monumental oversight on our behalf.
Rational thinking SHOULD HAVE told me that 200meters behind
me was a much more accomplished marathoner, as well as a former Australian
Champion runner (good mate, and crew member Al).
Instead I rolled on and continued pushing the tempo…even as
the course presented a rather uncomfortable hill….eventually I hit the
turnaround.
It was on the first return leg (remember, we would all have
to do this TWICE) I came back down the mystery hill towards the turn
‘home’….Things were already becoming ‘real’ although I was still comfortable
enough in my own skin, and I had a gel should anything go ‘awry’…
….This is the point whereas the race suddenly became more
‘real’ and things most definitely went very
I’d quite unexpectedly run into one of the strongest headwinds
that I’ve ever faced! To make this worse, just a kilometre into this BOTH Al
and Matty pushed on past me. I tried in vain to use their slip stream to get a
little energy back, but before long they’d pushed on ahead.
At this juncture I’d led up until this point, but with 18km
travelled, I had over 24km left to hold onto a podium spot….half of which would
be battling that ‘special’ headwind.
Luckily I had the support of the crew in the form of a
knowing glance from Al at each turn-a-round, as well as kind words from John,
Steve and Mat Casos.
At about 38km (with only 4km left to travel) Mat Casos’
words burned in my ear “Take it easy…but hold
Even though my legs burned and every muscle ached, I
reserved myself to hold true to his words. ‘Imagine seeing him after the race
and explaining that you lost..” I told myself, and while I couldn’t build on reducing
the now quite large gap between the leaders and me, I HAD to keep pushing so
anyone behind could not get any crazy ideas about trying to make a run for
third place.
If pain really is a measure of ‘weakness leaving the body’,
the weakness must have been running out of me like Victoria Falls!
On a side note…Did I mention the marathon finished on a
300meter, steep, sweeping hill? Whilst probably not too overwhelming in any
other circumstance, at the end of the marathon this thing seemed like a sprint
to base camp, whilst carrying a week’s worth of groceries…barefoot.
Luckily for me, I managed to hold my (now quite
embarrassing) pace, and secure third place, a podium finish and a gift basket
of Cadbury Chocolate.
As I lay, quite collapsed, in the recovery area, closer to
death than I would care mention to loved ones,
I found out that Al had unfortunately surrendered 1st place to
Matty. Whilst I certainly don’t harbour any ill will towards Matty Fenech, Al
has been somewhat of an idol in my running journey and the idea of being there
when he ‘won on debut’ would have been pretty cool. Still, his second place
after such an accomplished career over shorter distances on the track is pretty
inspiring still. With a proper lead up to training I’m looking forward to
seeing what he’s capable of this year!
Still I managed to ‘scam’ my way into the VIP area, and by
‘scam’ I mean, walk as confidently as tired legs
There I managed to say ‘hi’ to fellow runners Patrick Nispel
(QLD’er and 3rd in the Half Marathon), James Attard (Ballerat boy
and 2nd Place in the Half Marathon) as well as Clare Geraghty (1st
in the Half Marathon) and some fellow in a Freddo Frog costume.
The Recovery
Suffice to say, that although none of the crew were
stunningly overjoyed with our races, we were all keen to
In the 7 days since, my own recovery has been quite
difficult. Beyond my legs being more fatigued than my first marathon (which
they were), the dark-coffee coloured peeing, and my face exploding into a
Cold-Sore outbreak unlike any I have experienced before, I also had a constant
headache and lethargy for a number of days afterwards. All of these symptoms culminated in my face
literally blowing up and becoming swollen one afternoon.
After subsequent Doctor’s visits and blood tests we were
able to ascertain that the fatigue put into my legs from the marathon was (and
I’m quoting the Doctor here) “Equivalent to someone suffering a heart attack”.
…At least he knew better than to suggest I quit running.
After all, I’m on the road to recovery, and with the Cadbury
Marathon only being a 2hr37min effort (on a course we measured as being over
43kms), I’m now eyeing off my opportunity to break the fabled 2hr 30min mark.
Congratulations Matty Fenech, Al Stevenson, and everyone who
finished the Cadbury Marathon (and all of the events on the day)! Thanks to the organisers and volunteers, as
well as to my family and friends for their support. Thanks to Intraining for
their continued support and guidance, as well to Matt Casos and the crew for
the good times!
My wife most of all, for never asking why I didn’t win a
‘bigger basket of chocolate’….she loves and understands me better than any.
Till Next time!
Clay Dawson
Intraining Athlete & Recovering Marathoner
