The Three Act Comedy and Tragedy of Marathon Running. PT2: The Brisbane Marathon 2014

The funny thing about us human beings is that we’re stubborn, sadists who crave physical

punishment….

…Don’t agree? Look at the amount of women who have more than one child, and the amount of people who will pay money to pierce and tattoo themselves over, and over….

Then there are those of us who run marathons.

And no-one LOVES running marathons, they’re really, really hard. You spend the whole extended time period trying to maintain a pace that hovers between the fine line of safe physical exertion, and death, whilst negotiating inedible gels and plastic cups of water that are (frankly) nearly impossible to co-ordinate grabbing and drinking...and all of this while still dealing with the constant threat of muscle failure, dehydration, injury AND chafing.

How many of us have made THAT promise to ourselves mid-race?

You know THE promise?

“If you get me through this body, I PROMISE I WILL NEVER do this to you again!”

I have. 

I made that promise in the Blackmores Marathon in 2013, 

then again at the Hobart Marathon in 2014, 

then again at the Gold Coast Marathon in 2014…

...suffice to say my body is probably glad that it has eyes to roll (in disbelief).

Regardless, there is that rare occasion on a training run or, if you are especially lucky, in a race when everything goes so much to plan that you finish your race, sore and tired (because we’re stubborn, sadists who crave punishment remember?” ) but your soul and spirit are soaring and you find yourself high-fiving strangers! What a glorious feeling!!!!

The irony is, for all of the hours, days and years of training…..this feeling is unfairly and disproportionately limited and oh, so rare.

And so….in 2014 I ran the 2014 Brisbane Marathon…

ACT TWO: The Brisbane Marathon Festival

A few weeks later, and notably after a week of snowboarding to cool the severe burns to my ego, I was back and ready to shake it at the event I affectionately refer to as ‘Brisfest’.

I’ve had an awful amount of bad luck with this festival in the past, over the 10km (twice finishing outside of the podium, in disappointing times, in heat and with tears), then last year in the half marathon (where I finished a very humbled 4^th behind some quality runners) and with Gold Coast still fresh in my memory I consciously made a concerted effort to relax and not let my imagination get the better of me. I was going to run purely for fun….nothing else.

My lead up had been decent enough too, with a couple of reasonable 10km wins in the weeks preceding the race, but the times weren’t earth shattering, and I certainly wasn’t feeling like a thoroughbred.  

Alas, I approached the start line like a teenager approaches EVERYTHING, aka; with an almost reckless nonchalance and indifference.  A couple of close friends of mine were racing, and whilst my competitive streak would have normally eaten away my stomach with anxiety,  that morning, I stayed true to my promise to myself to ‘run for fun’.

 I can honestly say, I would have been on cloud nine to see ANY of them on the top of the podium and it was really cool to run and share a journey with pals.

So there I stood, totally cool, and promising myself; ‘I’ll give you the first km to do what you want, then after that, let’s see what it feels like to stay consistent, pick a pace and roll through!

Then something magic happened.

I did.

I ran firm, but not hard and hit more of those constant splits than normal, coasting along the race with a smile and enjoyment I’d never felt over 42kms before! And for this I was not only rewarded with a win, but a HUGE pb of 2hours30mins43seconds! My friends (Moritz and Scott) rounded out the podium, which made the day as perfect as could be.

Finally the curse of Brisfest for me had been broken! And whilst I didn’t reward myself with a trip to the snow in New Zealand, I did drag my wife, friends and parents into the ‘Eat Street markets’ to eat a mind-shattering amount of bad food in every second of the 'guilt-free post-marathon period'*.  

With such a race under my belt, I was offered the sweet deal of free accommodation and entry into the Sunshine Coast marathon (set to run a few weeks later)….With my ego at an all-time high, and the knowledge of how to run a solid marathon down, how could I refuse?

But then, things don’t always go as planned right?

(At least I have the photos to prove it! - see the gallery below! Also watch the event highlights video here - I feature - with my good mate Moritz from 1min30 - 1min51)

* FYI - The 'guilt free marathon period' is my idea of heaven, and the reason why the owners in the restaurants where I live have expensive yachts and children with nice teeth.

Till Act III (and beyond), thanks for reading! 

Have fun, stay running & smiling

Clay Dawson

Intraining Sponsored Athlete and proud member of the QLD Running Community

The Three Act Comedy and Tragedy of Marathon Running. PT1: The Gold Coast Marathon 2014

As I sit down to write this, I feel nauseous and tired with shivers throughout my whole body that I can neither attribute to being hot OR cold. As John Travolta would say; "I've got chills....they're multiplying".I’m also nursing a headache that I’ve had for over 48 hours now, and my legs and lower torso feel like they’ve gone through 12 rounds of Tyson’s best.

Without any professional medical advice, I know enough (from the college of common sense) that my body is massively fatigued. The worst part of it all is that this was my own doing….

….welcome to the simultaneous comedy and tragedy of marathon running.  

The general rule of thumb is that most runners should only ever attempt 2-3 marathons in a year, certainly no more, and especially when any of these are particularly tough/hard run races with pb’s as the end goal.

With this in mind attempting FIVE in the last SIX months, with THREE particularly hard ones within the last SEVEN weeks may have been an ambitious task, to say the least. And to many of my family members, friends, fellow runners, and rational thinking acquaintances the sheer thought of attempting this was almost enough to label me officially crazy for life. I know many have attempted similar (or even harder) physical challenges, but for me, ‘The Citizen Runner (I’ll get to that later!) it was a gargantuan undertaking.

I do have my reasons for attempting the unthinkable….and I will get to them….however, as with most stories, I must start at the beginning!

ACT 1: The Gold Coast Marathon

On the Australian Running calendar there are few races that hold the prestige of the mighty ‘GC Mara’. An institution of an event whose history goes back longer than I would care to research or fact-check. Regardless to give you a better idea; this year the race was officially granted IAAF Road Race Gold Status (the first Australian Marathon to achieve this).

Whether this is because the course is meticulously measured and keenly participated by the best national and international runners or the fact that the course is picturesque and generally has quite favourable weather remains to be said. Regardless the ‘GC’ is pretty much a staple marathon for any runner chasing glory, prestige, sought after finishers medals/shirts, or the fabled PB.

This year ‘Goldy’ was also the host event for the Queensland State Marathon Championships, as well as the Australian National Championships, AS WELL AS the Oceania Marathon Championships. With the temptation of the calibre of runners that this would attract and with the offer of free accommodation and the opportunity to wander around the race briefing with some of the fastest Kenyan, American and Japanese Marathoners simply pretending that I was in the same league as them was a cool enough reason for me to jump on board!

Plus….with half a year of solid prep-work under my belt, clearly this was my time to shine…

…Or not. Particularly, as I learned one of the most important marathon running rules that is possible to learn, this being;  

NEVER attempt to go out with the Kenyans.

Look up the footage online (it’s on youtube here - (skip to 25:20 to see me on the left - losing my mind!)). You’ll see a plucky young go-getter in an Intraining singlet mixing it quite well with the big

guns for….at least the first one and a half kilometres of the race! I even pushed on when they kicked away from me, still handsomely in the lead of the Oceania runners (and No.1 in Australia) until the 5km mark (at a handy time of 16min29sec). Just prior to this point three or four of the more favourable Oceania runners passed me, which was fine (and a little later than expected)….stupidly, these alarm bells still hadn’t sounded loudly enough for me to notice.

When the reigning Oceanic champion Rowan Walker passed me around the 6km mark with the encouraging words of “Hope you enjoyed your 5 minutes of fame”…..reality STILL hadn’t sunk in.

I felt FANTASTIC, and to show him, I made the resolve to gobble him back up and spit him out in the later portions. I barrelled on towards a half marathon split of 1hr 12min 42seconds completely eating up the applause of my spectating friends and fellow competitors, who were quite vocally blown away by my AMAZING first splits. 

At this point, I have to tell you; I was on cloud nine! I even remember fist-pumping and loudly ‘Whooping’ the crowd when I hit the turn-a-round.

This is, of course, the moment before the wheels fell off.

More specifically, they slowed, and even though the passion and my adrenaline was sky-high, the fatigue from a poorly ran first half began to take shape. My legs began slowing, and no amount of hydration, effort or silent prayer would encourage their deceleration to stop!

I was in a world of trouble, and as I hit the 30km mark, with a lazy 10km to go, I was officially in a world of hurt too! Almost to add insult to injury, the heat began to build at this point too, making the uncomfortable moment when the leading female runners powered effortlessly past me hurt even more, particularly as I knew many other fast runners would be on their heels!

How did the race end up? Long, and painful; short story. I managed to get to the line in 2 hours 32 minutes and 10 seconds, a mere 2 seconds off a PB. I’d somehow held onto 24th place overall, 6th place in Australia, 5th in my age group, and 2nd in Queensland. I'd won a state medal! Unfortunately in the process I'd wasted an opportunity to run a much better race. 

For the record, Rowan Walker (the guy who passed me earlier with those kind words) did go on to win, easily smashing me with the amazing time of 2 hours 21 min 47 seconds. The guy is amazing….I’ll always be in awe of him. If you’re reading this Rowan, next year I’ll learn from your lesson bro.

Next to come was a snowboarding holiday in New Zealand, then; the Brisbane Marathon – in a little over 4 weeks time! 

TO BE CONTINUED.....but until then, please enjoy my Gold Coast Photo Gallery Below: 

Keep running, and smiling! 

Clay Dawson

Intraining Sponsored Runner & Occasional Kenyan Marathon Pace runner*

*for 500mts.