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Month: February 2016

Wangaratta Marathon

Wangaratta Marathon

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When I drew up the schedule for running a marathon in every state I hesitated when it came to Victoria. There were two obvious choices – Wangaratta, right at the beginning of the Australian running season, or Melbourne, closer to the end of the season. I couldn’t make up my mind. Wangaratta made sense in some respects because a lot can happen over the course of a year and leaving Victoria for last to run Melbourne, with only one month to go before the cutoff for Marathon Maniacs when there was a possibility I could get injured sounded a bit risky. On the other hand though, the temperatures forecast for Wangaratta looked very warm, and there was no easy way to get there other than by road – a drive of 7:30.

My confidence was down. I’d had a go at Caboolture Dusk to Dawn marathon and pulled out at 14km because I wasn’t well and the whole thing was a big struggle. This had been hard to swallow after the success of Punta Arenas and in a moment of doubt I thought perhaps I should abandon the quest for the 13 marathons. I had however already booked my flight to Auckland for 5 March 2016 so with encouragement from Craig decided to go ahead and enter Wangaratta.

For the first time ever in a marathon, I went to Wangaratta in stealth mode. My running friends had been wonderful after Caboolture but I felt I had let them down by pulling out. They were running the segment for UTA50 the same weekend so I just said I had plans for the weekend, and Craig, Verity and I drove to Victoria on the Saturday. It was very hot when we arrived and we went straight to the local oval for bib pickup before having a nice Italian dinner in a local restaurant. We scoped out the course which was two laps, mainly on a cycleway.

The marathon was a really nice event. The course was flat and had a lot of shade. We set off just before dawn and in truth it didn’t really get hot until the very end.

Pre-dawn start
Pre-dawn start

Craig and Verity had a map of the course and popped up all over it with snacks and drinks. There was a lot of support from runners to one another and I used the phrase “You got this”, learned in Punta Arenas, on everyone I passed. Encouraging others made a massive difference to me and kept me focussed on finding the next person to speak to.

Stopping for a drink
Stopping for a drink

I also ran for a time with a fellow who thanked me after for getting him through the tougher section in suburbia. Perhaps the only highlight of that particular section was the fabulous man who stood on his front lawn with a hose and sprayed everyone going past!

On the cycleway
On the cycleway
Early morning suburbia
Early morning suburbia

The only difficulty I encountered was coming back through the start to commence the second lap. I came in on the tail of the 5km walking event heading out and quickly became lost in a sea of people. Fortunately a keen-eyed volunteer spotted me and yelled for me to run toward her, as the marathon course went a different way for a time!

I really enjoyed the final kilometre and running over the line to see Craig and Verity.

A picture tells a thousand words!
A picture tells a thousand words!

From there we went back to our caravan park and I jumped in the pool. It was tremendous! And then I confessed to my friends what I’d done! And then we drove back home!

I made the marathon newsletter!
I made their marathon newsletter!

Wangaratta Marathon was number 10.

Caboolture Dusk to Dawn Marathon

Caboolture Dusk to Dawn Marathon

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I was excited to organise my year of running 13 marathons in 13 different states and/or countries, and in choosing the Queensland marathon had elected Caboolture to avoid the large scale Gold Coast Airport Marathon. The risk was it was on only two weeks after the big week in Antarctica and Punta Arenas, but I was confident I could do it. I booked flights to Queensland for me and for my two daughters and we flew into Brisbane the day of the event. As the name suggests, the marathon starts on dusk and runs on through the night.

I was attracted to the fact it was run through an historic village and was in laps – lots of them. In fact the laps were 400 metres. Every hour the running direction altered. There were multiple events ranging from a half marathon through to as many laps as one could do by dawn. The marathon was just one event.

The week before the marathon, not long after arriving home from Chile, I developed a nasty upper respiratory tract infection. This had already done the rounds of the tents in Antarctica and I had hoped to escape it. I’d been quite unwell for a few days, even having to take some time off work for the first time in many years. Once again, everything for Caboolture was booked so I decided to have a crack at it and hope for the best.

We found some noodles and muesli bars at the local supermarket and I ate those around 4:30pm. It was tricky thinking what would be best for nutrition with a 6pm start time. We then made our way to the historic town. It was a quaint little set-up with a ring road between the buildings. It was on this ring road the race was run.

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I’m not in this photo – advertising promo.

The temperature was around 30 degrees Celsius when we set off. The first few laps were quite fun – my girls were sitting in one spot and I waved each time I passed. There were heaps of other runners who all knew one another and were calling out and chatting as they ran, both to one another and to spectators.

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I’m not in this photo – it’s of part of the course.

It all started to go bad from about 5km. I wasn’t feeling well and running became a struggle. The sun started to set and while there were flood lights in places, there were some really dark patches where I couldn’t see the ground. We changed direction and with that my pace slowed even more. The girls took it in turns running or walking sections with me. I just wasn’t feeling it and thought it was unfair for the girls to be sitting by the side of the road for hours while I walked around and around. I decided to quit – a DNF two weeks after the highs of South America. Awful. But I knew it was for the best – I wasn’t well and probably shouldn’t have started in the first place.

What was good about this event? Well if you belonged to the running club I think it would have been fun. There was a lovely atmosphere and the write-ups in Cool Running were all very positive. It is a weird little event and attractive for that reason. If I ever went back (which I won’t) I’d be better prepared with an esky of food and drinks, and some more comfortable chairs for the spectators!

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More of the course. I’m not in the photo!