Warm sunny Queensland... I think the weather Gods missed that memo. I got to the Gold Coast and it was windy and colder than I was expecting. But coming from here, any improvement on 4 degrees was welcome.
First step - register and get that all important race number.
I went to bed the night before the race trying to work out what my splits should be at each KM if I wanted to run a 3hr 20 marathon. I had no idea if I could run a 3.20 marathon, but there was only one way to find out! By the time I'd figured out the fifth KM split I had forgotten what the last couple were supposed to be. So I scrapped that idea and decided to go out close to the 3hr 15 pace guy and back off as I needed too.
Race day came and the weather was looking great. A warmer morning than the last couple, and only a slight breeze. After an easy walk to the start, I put my bag in the tent and went to join the crowd at the start line. Lucky for me I popped out just behind the pace guy I was looking for - at my height finding anyone at a race start of a couple of thousand people isn't likely.
Well, off goes the gun and we're off. I followed the pace guy, not too closely, for the first hour, and as he started to move ahead I decided that the pace I had going was fine with me. There were plenty of people around me talking about what times they're hoping for and what pace they were going to sit on so I picked some people to run with. The first 20km's went pretty quickly. They weren't at all hard km's, except for the annoying speed bumps that felt like they were every hundred meters or so.
We ran back past the START/FINISH area at about 26km's. The giant stereo belting out some cool Pat Benetar song lifted my tempo a little and I found a new friend to run with. We ran along chatting for a while, heading out to the 34km mark and the turn for home. I'd heard that this section was tough. It was boring dead road that seemed to go on forever - I was thankful for the company of this pommy guy from Byron Bay who was up for a chat. If one of us dropped behind a little, the other gave a quick word of encouragement that lifted you to catch up.
At the turnaround I still felt really good, and I lifted my pace a little. I was on track for a 3.20 finish, which was getting a bit exciting. Still on the dead boring bit of road, it seemed to take ages. I had lost my pommy mate by 36km's, so focused on staying strong and getting to the end. At 38km's I started to run out of steam and my left quad felt like a rock. 'Not long to go now' I told myself. Still on track for that 3.20 finish (it was easier to count with only a couple of K's to go), I thought if I can just keep this pace, I'll get in smack on my goal time. But my legs had other ideas. The silly little camber on the road that I had run on for a while now was taking its toll on my feet and knees. So I made the decision to slow down a little, let the time goal go, and get to the finish line without blowing myself up.
I crossed the line in 3.22:20. A PB for me by 5 minutes which I was enormously happy with. I waited just past the line for my pommy mate who came in 1 minute back and he was chuffed to be feeling reasonable too.
Once I got the timing chip off my shoe (which was a lot harder than it sounds), i stumbled to the waters edge, got my shoes and socks off and stood in the cold water for a while. It was perfect. All I needed now was a hamburger...