M7 Westlink Marathon - 25th July 2010

My goal for this race had 3 finish times :

Plan A - Sub 4hr16 - This would mean I would have smashed my first marathon time by an hour! I couldn't ask for anything better..

Plan B - Sub 4hr30 - A great finish time and gives a realistic goal of 4hr 15 for my next marathon

Plan C - Sub 5hr 16 - This would be a PB and would mean I've improved since last September

Training in preparation to this race went to plan with a strong sub 2hr half marathon PB two weeks ago and constant hard training. I was well aware that I haven't done as many long runs as I would've liked to but didn't mind testing and risking out to see if this would have an impact on the race and if so, how bad it would impact me.

My longest run to date was only 25KM! This was the longest I've run since my first Marathon last year (Sydney - 5:16)

Tapering was going to plan until a minor last minute sore throat / cold scare 2 days before the race. I managed to sort it out and I was ready for the race. Having done one marathon already, you would think I was confident to atleast finish the race.. But I had the same nerves, same butterflies, same doubts, same 'what-ifs' in the days leading upto this..
Afterall, it was going to be 42.2kms of road running - it is a long time to be out there maintaining high motivation levels and listening to your body and catering to its needs and convincing it to do things which is out of the norm! The marathon has no short cuts.. The new shoes, compression clothing or a flashy watch was not going to get me to the finish line!

I thought I would have a challenge bigger than the marathon itself first thing in the morning - waking up Shyamala at 4.30am to drop me off at the start line :) However, she was up and more than willing to drop me off and was excited :)
The start at Ash Rd, Prestons was a very casual affair unlike the Sydney Marathon - There were no road closures, no overcrowded trains, no police, no PA announcements.. just a bunch of about 200-300 runners and a bunch of great volunteers.

My plan was to do my own pace for the first 10ish Ks, then either drop back or catch the 4:15 bus (the 4:15 pacer + runners hoping to do 4hr 15) and hope to hang on to them until about 30-35ks. At that point, I was going to reasses myself and either pick up the speed (wishful thinking that was!) or drop back and hope to finish as close as possible to 4:15.
The race started shortly after 7am. The weather was wonderful - no rain, not much of a wind but still nice and cool! I started doing my own pace and constantly monitoring my heart rate. After a K or so, I was around the 4:15 pacer and a group of about 15 runners! Being a narrow bike path, I couldn't run next to (or close to) the 4:15 pacer. But I wasn't too concerned and stepped back and made sure I kept those runners within about a 20m reach. This was my first ever experience running with a pacer! At the Sydney marathon - I only saw the pacers at the start line and in the photos few days later :)
btw - the 4:15pacer was a bare foot runner!!!!

After about 10ks, few of the runners in the 4:15 bus dropped off and few others from the 4hr group dropped back to join the 4:15 group. I was still hanging on the group and was feeling quite good..
Around the 15k point, 4:15 group had lost most of its runners and it was just me and Nat from the hills tri club keeping the pacer company. The pacer did a great job of (obviously) pacing well and keeping us distracted and chatting about everything else but the race and how long we've got left. He was an IT consultant working in the city.. (Out of all places) we had a good chat about IT and the GFC while running the marathon :) He was also telling us that he used to be a triathlete and was invited to Hawaii for the Ironman championships!

At the half way mark, we were about 30 seconds faster than our pace but this was part of the pacer's plan to 'put some time in the bank' for the second half. Nat and I continued to run with him.. I was still feeling good and was secretly beginning to think that I maybe able to tag along with them until the finish line. Especially because all the big uphills climbs were supposed to be in the first half and the second half was supposed to be "nice rolling hills with only one steep hill at the turnaround point at 32.5kms" (source: m7 marathon website)
My parents were there to cheer me on at the 27km mark. I was beginning to feel the fatigue and soreness at this point but was able to still hang on to the other two until 30ks... At this point, the "Nice rolling hills" weren't nice and definitely weren't rolling!!
I managed to keep up with the pacer for another KM thanks to his encouraging words.. But it was becoming very clear that 4hr 15 marathon was not going to be obtainable today. I decided to let them go and aim for a 4:20ish time.. This was working well until the steep hill at Quakers Hill to the Warrimoo drive turnaround point. This was a slow gradual uphill climb immediately followed by a short steep hill!
At the 32.5km turnaround..It did feel like a great achievement to have stuck to a good pace until then but it was time for another re-assessment and I slowed down further and was happy to aim for a 4:25ish finish time.
I managed to walk/run for another KM or two until I started cramping badly in my quads and calves, could not control my heart rate anymore and was feeling a sharp starving pinch in my stomach - I had officially run out of gas and hit the wall.

My parents and Dhilip was at the 37km point. I managed to run about 200 m to 'smile for the camera' :) and had to stop shortly after that!
It was time for yet another reassessment - This time the goal was visible. I saw the 4:30 pacer's flag about 300 meters behind me and plan was to not let him beat me!!
I managed to stay away from him until about 39ks. My legs were cramping, by body was sore and couldn't run anymore..
With much pain, I managed to do a combo of run/walk to the finish line at Blacktown Olympic Park!!
Official time was 4:36.. A sub 4:30 would've been much nicer but neverthless, it is a PB and I've smashed my PB by about 40 mins!

Being actively invovled in forums and training with a tri club, it is sometimes easy to get carried away, get competitive (not a bad thing at times) and forget why I got into it in the first place - To get/stay fit and have a bit of fun.. I'll keep reminding myself of it and look forward to my next race :)