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
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.
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