Sunday, December 14, 2008

Joy and Woe, but not too slow.

I finished my marathon a couple of hours ago and now back at my hotel killing some time before my ferry leaves to go back home tonight. This race turned out as expected to be healthy mix of woe and joy. First for the good news I PBed with a 3:03:06. The weather was almost perfect not a cloud in the sky with the temperature ranging from 3 to 15 degrees. The course was flat and beautiful in parts with heaps of spectators giving us lots of encouragement. Just a note about the people down in Miyazaki, they have been extraordinarily friendly and helpful I really love this place.Food is excellent too but that's a separate blog.

Now the bad news, I F*#"! up at the start of this race. When the gun cracked I headed off doing a loop of the stadium and just as we were about to go out to the open road I over heard two guys talking saying they were doing the half, I panicked and ran back to the start. I thought I was in the wrong starting line but when I got back to the start I asked a guy and he said that they, the half and full marathon, were starting together. Not only did I feel like a fool I had lost 4mins and 20 seconds.

Anyway I started making my way through the crowd clocking some good 1k splits but it wasn't until the 20k mark that I had caught up to the sub 3 runners. Even though I was passing people until the end, and I don't remember anyone passing me, I couldn't, in the end, make up this lost time.

Actually at the 35k mark I thought I could but the last 7k was run along the beach and over 4 bridges and my nemesis the wind really put the brakes on things. That last 5K was bloody hard and I only got through by swinging my arms like crazy pumping them to keep my legs going against the wind.

So I'm thinking that I may have been robbed of a sub 3 but it was mostly my own dam fault. I won't complain, although I feel a like a dill, I won't give excuses. I didn't get the sub 3 chip time and that is the end of it!

Still, as usual, I did get a lot out of this race. Now I'm fully confident I can go sub 3 and I know how to train to make it happen. During the 10K from 20 to 30 I felt the best and strongest I've ever felt during a marathon and I want to get that feeling again.

As for my preparation for this I didn't do a few things I said I would, like stop drinking during the build up, run 100k weeks for at least 8 weeks, get my weight down, body fat %, and lose my little gut. So I don't really deserve it, but I have some things to work on for next race.

Well, in balance I'm a happy fella. I still have a goal, I PBed and I did my best on the day. Can't ask more than that!

By the way if you think I'm going to stop blogging when I get this sub 3 you're wrong. I have a good 5 years in me yet and I fully intend to reach my potential.

8 comments:

  1. Joyful time Scott! You've enhanced your respect amongst fellow runners by admitting to such an embarrassing stuff-up :)

    If only you'd taken Tesso's advice to read the pre-race instructions and wear an iPod, you'd now be a 2-something marathoner!

    Anwyay, now you'll just have to go and do it again. By the way, I want you to keep blogging when the bad years start coming - that's the fun part!

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  2. Nice one Scott, bad luck on the misunderstanding but things like that happen. You know you are capable of achieving it which is the biggest hurdle, you just have to give it a crack next race. Maybe it is a sign that you should attempt it in your home land :-) By all reports Canberra would be perfect!

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  3. Can you do it again? 3 hours? Let's hope so. You know, you could run Canberra and "go" when the wheelies start; that will give you a few minutes up your sleeve and balance out your recent run. It's only fair!

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  4. You may have missed the sub 3 but I reckon you will be telling the story of this race to whoever wants to listen for the rest of your life. Priceless.

    Canberra maybe the perfect race for you. No pesky Half Marathon to confuse things at the start ;-)

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  5. Ouch! But, that's still an amazing time Scott, well done! You also know how to build the suspense - you had me jumping out of my skin when you mentioned the lost time.

    Now I'm wondering how fast you can go.... if you didn't do all things you said you would, AND you've got 5 years left in you (I actually think it's more), imagine what you can do!

    By the way, can I have your training program? Please?

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  6. It is there, nice of you to deliberately sabotage this one, so your readers hang in there with the sub 3 build up almost unbearable now. Quite the showman!

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  7. That was a brilliant stuff-up Scott. It seems that this just wasn't meant to be the sub 3 race. You could claim it as a Ultra though.

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  8. Woohoo!!!! I've only just got into Blogsville after a bit of a break. I can't believe what I am reading, a 3:03 with a 4 minute stuff up.

    Huuuuuuge congrats. You doing such a massive PB, well, that has made my Christmas :)

    Hope you have a great one.

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