my right thigh still has a bit of a “dead leg” feel, so I knew this morning’s run was going to be on the slow side. but that didn’t matter — in the end it was all about getting out there, letting the muscles warm up and ease a little, and basically enjoying it!

90 minutes to do just under 11km — yeah, not breaking any records, but overall there’s no serious damage and I can now focus on plodding through 32km on Saturday morning.

Amazing to think that Saturday’s run will be the “peak” of the training schedule, and things will taper down to the full marathon on Jun 16th.

Only goal in mind is to finish. Other than that, there really are “no expectations”.

03:15 — cookie, glass water
03:30 — 10.67km run — 1:30:59
05:00 — honey muesli flakes, 1 slice toast with apricot jam. bacon & tomato omelette. orange juice
06:25 — bus, nap
08:30 — black coffee. dried apricots
09:30 — orange
11:00 — wholegrain roll with vegemite
12:00 — chicken burger with tomato & mayo on ciabatta roll
12:45 — pikelets with strawberry jam. green tea
13:45 — red apple
14:45 — rice pudding
15:15 — bus, nap
17:00 — slice toast
18:30 — chicken kiev, chips & peas

really starting to love the way my body knows what it needs. today it needed a little more sleep, and my legs needed a break from training. so it woke up late, leaving me no time for the gym.

it was honestly the very thing that is needed — my thighs in particular have been feeling the effects of sunday’s run, and an unscheduled rest day actually fits the bill perfectly. especially with a 32km long run coming up this weekend!

04:15 — muesli, 2 slices toast with apricot jam. orange juice
05:25 — bus, nap
07:00 — black coffee. apple & cranberry fruit snack
08:00 — red apple
09:00 — roasted almonds
11:00 — smokey bacon & tomato pasta. citrus sultana oat biscuit
12:00 — fruit cup
13:15 — aromatic chicken curry
14:15 — bus, nap
16:00 — cup of tea, slice of bread
18:00 — lasagne & salad
21:00 — glass milk, bed

it was “only” a long run training session, as part of the lead-up to the Perth Marathon in June. well, that’s what I kept trying to tell myself, but the butterflies and excitement built up anyway.

intending to do some computer work on the saturday, I found that I couldn’t concentrate. so I gave in, did some reading and basically spent the entire day resting, relaxing and trying to stay as calm and serene as possible.

amazingly, I slept well.

up at sparrow’s fart

the joondalup half marathon start time was 7:30am, I awoke (as planned) about 4:30am, ate a bowl of porridge, some toast and some water.

with an hour’s drive and needing to line up for my non-member’s race number, the rest of the crew (wife and son) were up at 5:45am, and we set off at 6.

in my mind, we were going to get to Neil Hawkins Park nice and early, so parking wouldn’t be an issue. We actually got there about 6:45, and had to park on the verge. The car park was full!

feeling out of place

unlike the fremantle 10km fun run last year, there was a distinctly more “professional” feel on the air. a distinct lack of “fun runners”. I started to look around desperately, hoping to see other “also-ran” potential.
it was wall to wall compression suits, barefoot running shoes, gel pack waistbands. one woman even had a t-shirt on proclaiming “highest marathon in the world”. it was a competitor’s t-shirt for a marathon in the Himalayas!

*gulp* I was farked…

no time to dwell on it

one final visit to the bladder unloading station, race number attached to my shirt, runkeeper loaded on the phone and ready to be started… the pa announcer called the half marathon runners to the start.

we walked for what seemed like ages, I walked very slowly, making sure I was safely tucked away at the back. not in anyone’s way.

eventually the crowd started to move forwards — we were off. I started runkeeper, made sure the earphones were securely in place and started to shuffle forwards.

a cracking start by my standards

it didn’t take long for the crowd to disappear over the horizon, clearly I was going to be well off the pace. but I was determined to stick to my long run pace, despite the fact that the only people within sight were an elderly lady and two younger female participants.

I was stunned when the runkeeper voice informed me that kilometer number 1 had been completed in 6 minutes 50-something seconds.

That was well beyond where I had planned to be. my usual long run pace is closer to 8:30 per km.

I determined to slow down, even if it meant the elderly lady pulled away from me!

but at 2km, my average pace was still hovering around 7:00 per km! I decided “to hell with it — let’s see how this goes”.

personal best and water station overtaking

it came as a surprise to me that I held the same pace for quite some time. it wasn’t until the 12 or 13km mark that the pace started to drop. even when it did drop, it hung around my usual pace!

and so it was, at 10km distance, runkeeper informed me that I’d been running for 1 hour, 10 minutes. I had just completed the first 10km, and had done so in 4 minutes less than I had completed the fremantle fun run!

this was madness. I started dreaming of the possibility of breaking 2 hours 30 minutes!

any illusions of elite athlete status were easily shattered however — at the water stations, the ladies were stopping to drink, while I swept through, skilfully grabbing a cup as I glided through. then promptly spilling half the water down my chest as I clumsily gulped at the cool refreshing liquid.

for me stopping is bad, once I allow myself to stop even once, it becomes too easy to stop again. it also becomes much harder to start again.

in my mind this approach was going to ensure I didn’t finish last — I’d passed the ladies at least, and was sure that I might be able to overtake some stragglers later on. real “tortoise and hare” type excitement.

and then I was overtaken by the elderly lady with a shuffling style that still defies explanation — it looked such a slow style, yet it was faster than mine (which in turn was substantially faster than I’d run this type of distance before).

when I say “elderly” — I’m guesstimating the lady was in her 70s.

then the teenager tried to bring me down

it was about 13km in, I’d been left standing by the “silver tornado”, overtaken by another lady, and facing a long straight climb along the far side of the lake. I was in the middle section of the race, had run 13km faster than I had ever done before, and started to feel it a little bit.

that’s when the voice piped up. telling me that I’d started off too fast, that it was an accomplishment to have got this far and that there would be no shame in stopping now.

I named this voice “14 year old Gary”. The teenager that had never finished the school cross-country course. The teenager that had always given up as soon as things got a little bit tough.

I actually had a conversation with myself (yeah, I know it sounds crazy…) I pointed out to 14 year old “me” that we had already run 2 or 3 times the distance of that cross-country course. That I’d run further than this on training runs many times. That I was going to finish this.

I then invited the 14 year old to “either fuck off, or sit down quietly at the back and let me show you how to actually finish something”.

it did the trick — the voice remained silent until the last few kms… but more on that in a moment…

surprisingly uneventful 5km or so

after my little schizophrenic moment, I settled into a slightly slower, but still steady pace. I mentally counted off the kms, did mental arithmetic to calculate speeds etc, listened to my music and even took in the scenery.

at about 18km I started to feel the effects of my efforts. it started to feel as though I would simply stop at any moment. not because of giving in, but simply no longer having the physical ability to take another step.

at this point I have to say, the race volunteers are bloody brilliant. whenever you come to a water station, or someone holding a stop/go sign where the path crosses a road, they give you encouragement. a little applause, a few words of encouragement, being told “stay strong, you’re doing a great job”. it really does help keep you going.

but after 18km I found encouragement from a very very unexpected source.

14 year old Gary — as insane as it sounds, that little voice had been silent since I gave it an ultimatum and now, with just a few kms to go, it was telling me to keep going, urging me on to the finish, telling me that Helen and Kian (wife and son) would be there to see me finish this.

and that was the kick up the arse I needed — the final 2km seemed to go on forever, were mostly uphill and I also got overtaken by another lady.

but all I could think about was what I wanted Kian to see — did I want him to see Daddy limp pathetically over the line, having given up, or did I want my son to witness his Dad finishing strongly?

Did I want Kian to have as a role model a quitter, or a finisher?

final bend and a final flourish

I turned onto the path that headed to the finish line, and my wife and son came into view. I couldn’t really hear them with the music on, plus I didn’t really have any spare energy left to waste on things like hearing!

Kian was skipping towards me, jumping up and down excitedly, taking photos. I smiled and waved at him. This is the image I had wanted him to have.

With 100m or less to go I picked up the pace, no longer shuffling, striding out. I could see the finish line, I was actually going to complete a half marathon — officially.

I sprinted over the last 30m or so, the applause was brilliant, I crossed the line, came to a halt, and had a medal thrust into my hand.

2 hours 47 minutes. It felt amazing.

after finding it quite uncomfortable to walk at times yesterday, I didn’t quite know what to expect this morning.

The legs weren’t too bad when I got up, but the first few steps of the “run” (more like a shuffling jog) made sure to remind me of how much work they’d been asked to do on Sunday!

All was well after the blood had been pumping around the muscles for a little while and I was able to maintain a slow shuffling jog for the full distance. It felt quite good afterwards, though the soreness did creep back in after being on the bus for a while.

Still, it wasn’t so long ago that I would be wiped out for a whole weekend, just by kicking a ball with my son for 30 minutes. So still being able to jog for 6km after a weekend that included a half marathon — well if that isn’t progress then I don’t know what is

03:15 — biscuit. glass water
03:30 — 6.81km run — 1:05:40
04:45 — berry wheat bites. ciabbata roll with bacon, egg, tomato sauce. orange juice
05:25 — bus, nap
07:00 — black coffee. choc & oat bar
09:00 — spiced fruit cookie. orange
11:30 — thai green chicken curry. kiwi fruit
13:00 — sweet corn fritters & spicy tomato salsa
14:00 — spinach & fetta muffin
14:15 — bus, nap
16:00 — slice toast. cup of tea
18:00 — chicken, steamed veggies, cheese sauce
21:00 — glass milk, bed

when I went to bed last night, I decided that the time I woke up today would determine whether this was to be a rest day, or an active recovery run day.

as it turned out, I had a good night’s sleep (on top of the whole afternoon of post-run sleep) and woke with just enough time to get ready for work.

so a rest day it is — just as well really as I’m not sure my legs would appreciate a recovery run, no matter how gentle!

feeling really good after yesterday’s efforts, but now it’s time to put that behind me and focus on the full marathon, which is now only 4 weeks away.

04:30 — baked beans & cheese on 2 slices wholemeal toast. orange juice
05:25 — bus, nap
07:00 — black coffee. peanuts & rice crackers
09:00 — fruit salad fruit cup
10:00 — green tea. vanilla yoghurt
11:30 — roast chicken tenders, salad, croutons. tropical crush (pineapple chunks & passion fruit)
13:00 — tomato soup & multigrain roll
14:15 — bus, nap
16:00 — cup of tea, cinnamon scroll
18:00 — roast lamb, roast veggies, mash & gravy
20:30 — cup of tea
21:00 — bed

some of my birthday gifts were quite revealing this year. a few new shirts that didn’t need to be 3, 4 or 5XL helped reinforce the fact that 44 year old me is a fair bit slimmer than the 40 year old version. but more than this, the inclusion of the following items was particularly interesting:

• 1 pair compression shorts
• a book called “Running With the Kenyans” by Adharanand Finn (see his blog on the Guardian website)
• 2 running shirts
• a new armband phone holder (my current one is worn out)

in other words, a heap of running-related paraphenalia

very thoughtful, appropriate gifts

that’s the crazy thing — there is no way on earth I’d have wanted any of that a couple of years ago. but now?

I was thinking about it as I plodded through a 10km run this morning (wearing one of the new shirts and the new phone holder). In less than 2 days I have devoured almost half the book and am enjoying it thoroughly.

it (the book) has also triggered a few lightbulb moments that (I think) help explain why I had this crazy idea of running a marathon.

reminders of boyhood memories

there are sections of the book where references are made to top-level athletes from the author’s formative years. being of a not dissimilar age (and from the same part of the world) these names and events are familiar to me too.

as I read, I remembered seeing things in the “Grandstand” annual, watching the olympics on TV, even seeing the movie “Chariots of Fire”. names like Brendan Foster, Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe, Steve Cram, Said Aouita…

I remembered that I used to love watching them. used to get excited about watching the Olympics (still do).

and that’s when it hit me. I’ve always admired and envied these people.

a tale of unrequited dreams?

even if I had trained from the age of 3, I wouldn’t have been anywhere near the same league as the runners mentioned above.

I showed no natural athletic ability at school, and no amount of training would have seen me being a competitive runner at any level.

so I never had any “dreams” as such. but I think that along the way, “not being very good” got confused with “cannot do this at all”.

because I was never going to “win” anything, or achieve anything of significance with sport, I allowed sport to become something I was “completely shit at” and “completely unable to do”.

and that’s (maybe) been sat there inside, burning and gnawing and eating away, all these years.

a new-found “love”

I wouldn’t necessarily use the word “passion” in relation to running at the moment, but I can certainly see potential signs of it becoming an obsession (obsessing is one thing that I do very well).

with the wisdom and experience of the years, I can now approach running as something other than “competitive sport”. for me now it is simply an option in a healthy lifestyle, a chance to slide through the streets before dark, alone with my music and my thoughts.

it’s something I can do wth minimal equipment, at minimal cost, but which rewards me with:

• a continuous sense of achievement
• an appreciation for the power of sticking at things
• “me” time — very rare when you’re married, with a kid, working full time and nurturing a small business
• improved health & fitness
• enjoyment (most of the time)

it also gives me something to obsess and blog about

image courtesy of stuart anthony via Compfight

while, realistically, it’s only part of the latter stages of training for the perth marathon, this morning’s run was significant for a few reasons.

it’s the first time I’ve run 10km as one of my shorter runs
although only a “training run”, the time was very close to the 1:14:41 recorded at the fremantle 10km fun run
after freo, I spent the day resting. whereas now it’s “just” a morning run before work
it’s the last training before I take part in my first ever half marathon!

03:45 — plain biscuit, glass water
04:00 — 10.02km row — 1:16:04
05:30 — almond & vanilla porridge, 2 muffins with poached egg, tomato & cheese. orange juice
05:55 — bus, nap
08:30 — black coffee. apple & cranberry fruit mix
10:00 — rice crackers
11:00 — orange
12:30 — sesame beef noodles
13:30 — apple crumble
14:45 — bus, nap
16:00 — cup of coffee
19:30 — steak, blue cheese sauce, mash potato, chargrilled veggies. 1 pint beer. sticky date pudding & ice cream. long macchiatto
00:00 — glass milk, bed

bit of a slow start to the day after the birthday festivities of the night before — hit the gym feeling a little on the bloated side, but overall not too bad.

did a gentle  10km row and felt a whole lot better afterwards. weight was the same as last week, so (allowing for the feast from the night before), I reckon things are tracking downwards still…

as for today’s music… this is the music video of the year in my opinion, so it had to make an appearance at some stage!

03:45 — jatz cracker, glass water
04:00 — 10km row — 53:32
04:30 — nut cluster crunch, fruit toast, fruits of the forest yoghurt. orange juice
05:25 — bus, nap
06:30 — black coffee
08:00 — roasted almonds
11:30 — chicken tenders, avocado & salad wrap. orange
13:00 — kiwi fruit
14:00 — indian chicken & rice. apple & banana bread. green tea
14:45 — bus, nap
16:00 — coffee
18:00 — fresh crab & gnocchi
21:30 — glass milk, bed

another year gone, another yearful of memories have flowed into the pool of life, and what a year it was!

in the 12 months since the 22nd anniversary of my 21st birthday there have been a number of massive achievements/changes.

“officially” younger and fitter

it was about a year ago that I did the body clock testing and recorded some decent results in terms of health and fitness. when the test results came back, they confirmed that I had indeed succeeded in knocking a few years off my real age.

the changes were visible, and even if they weren’t, they could be felt. more bounce in my step, better sleep, less illness, and quite simply enjoying life a heck of a lot more.

in many ways it is hard to recognise my life now, compared to where things were in January 2012, and all for the better.

actually finished something

as discussed previously, I’ve tended to drift through life, go with the easy options, and abandon an idea when the going gets a little uncomfortable.

that has changed, and though I have yet to tick off the main goal I set myself at the beginning (to run a marathon), I’ve already proved (most importantly, to myself) that I can indeed stick with things and push through when the going gets tough.

the fremantle fun run is/was the proof of that. having never completed the school cross-country run, I actually ran (very slowly) around an entire 5km circuit, twice.

indeed, the whole 16 months has been proof (if any more were needed). I’ve continued to train regularly, generally paid attention to my dietary intake, and also started to see the discipline, attitudes and approaches pay off in other areas of life too.

started to enjoy running (yeah, I know, like wtf?)

in the beginning, a marathon was selected because I loathed running (it all goes back to that damned cross-country), but something has changed. somehow along the way I’ve started to do weird stuff…

like enjoying a gentle 5km run, like getting annoyed when illness prevents me from doing a 29km run on a Sunday morning. like starting to look forward to the half marathon (this coming weekend) and the full marathon (4 weeks after that).

crazy, crazy shit.

and even crazier, I’m now signed up for the “Tough Mudder” event in October. That’s beyond crazy, but it gives me solid reasons for pushing the training further, and losing the next 20kgs.

and it’s dead, dead easy for anyone to replicate

I literally started with a 20 minute walk with the dog - if you can do that, then you can build up the same way to achieving so much more than you even imagine is possible.

it’s not like I’m particularly gifted with physical ability, far from it. it’s just a case of making a commitment and then doing it, persisting with it, and making progress little by little.

assuming you’re starting from a fairly average base, you should probably be capable of running a marathon yourself in 6 to 12 months. easily.

 just start. see where it takes you!

image courtesy of Don via Compfight

ah ’tis me birthday today, so what better way to start the day than with an 8.68km run…

incidentally, today’s music choice is based on the fact that Mike Oldfield was born on May 15th 1953, and the original “Tubular Bells” is one of my all-time favourite pieces of music.

birthday cake is a source of temptation today, it was easily dealt with. I simply ate some

03:45 — jatz cracker, glass water
04:00 — 8.68km run — 1:09:46
05:30 — 2 slices ciabatta toast, spinach, bacon, 2 eggs, hollandaise sauce. orange juice
06:30 — cup of coffee
07:25 — bus, nap
09:00 — black coffee
10:45 — chocolate cake, fruit cup
11:45 — peanuts & rice crackers
12:30 — chicken dim-sims, veggies & canton sauce. an apple
13:30 — muesli cookies
15:00 — penne pesto pasta
15:30 — apricot pudding
16:30 — bus, nap
18:30 — birthday dinner out — seekh kebab, goat curry, rice, naan bread. 1 beer. profiteroles (with a candle on top)
22:30 — glass milk, bed