Maaaaarvellous March.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Four good runs to report, including the all-important last long run of the campaign.

First though, three tempo runs in the previous week whilst on holiday in Western Australia, at Busselton in the south-west corner, to be precise. Busselton is a very flat town. So flat, in fact, that the jetty they built there to facilitate the shipping out of the region's produce is the longest such wooden structure in the southern hemisphere. At 1.8 kilometres long, it is an impressive structure, and quite good fun to run along, especially early in the morning with the sun coming up.

The town is served handsomely by a well-constructed and generally dead flat cycle/run/walk path which snakes along the foreshore for far more kilometres than I was able to work out, so well-suited to running. We stayed in a villa just a couple of hundred metres from the beach, so it was a short jog to the running path each morning for a memorable run along some glorious coastline. Very popular the track proved, too, with a great many locals and holiday-makers using the path each morning, and in general, all of them in a good mood and more than happy to exchange greetings.

I did each of these three holiday runs at a good clip, treating them as mid-length tempo runs, and feeling frankly pretty damn good about them. On our return it was time to confront the last long run of the campaign – the 36km monster. There’s no real way of skirting around these buggers – they command a full day’s attention or more, by the time you take into account preparation, running the damn thing and then recovery.

Accordingly, I ensured I had a decent night’s kip, ate some appropriate breakfast and then cleared away a few household tasks before changing into the running gear at about 11:30. As I had a night shift at work to attend to after the run, there was no real option but to run in the afternoon – not ideal, but there was no real alternative.

The benefit of having had a fairly busy morning meant that I didn’t really have time to think about the run, and approached it in a business-like manner as something that just had to be done. And so I quite suddenly found myself off and running, only instead of a casual jog round the block this was a 36km behemoth. I had at least planned this one in some detail. I had decided I would run in my old shoes – I have been breaking in new ones for race day, but for this longie I thought it prudent to stick with the older Adrenalines. I was also going to stick with water only (no isotonics) as that’s all that is provided on race day and I’d decided to run without my camelback this time round. I also thought three gels might be about right for the run, but on opening the box found I only had two left, so two it was. Pace-wise I had only two thoughts – to take it steady and as evenly as possible, and if possible do it in negative splits.

And so I was off before I knew it, feeling good and moving evenly. Sticking to about 6:30 – 6:40 per kilometre pace I was running comfortably and generally enjoying things. Nothing of note happened in the first 15km, at which point I remembered to take a gel and very gently upped the pace a little. Things continued on this way until the 28km point when I took my second gel and upped the pace ever so slightly more. To be honest I was surprised how quickly the first three hours passed. I had kind of zoned out and was just running well within myself and not being particularly challenged. The last 7 – 8km were memorable only for me becoming bored with it all and wanting it to be over, but also excited in knowing I was running comfortably and well within myself.

And that was all there was to it, to be honest. It was quite simply the least challenging, or should I say, best executed long run I’ve undertaken thus far. I finished in 3h54m and in negative splits (1h58m for the first 18km, 1h56m for the second), and felt great at the end.

So now for the two-week taper. I’m feeling confident after that long ‘un, and whilst 4h30m might be a slightly optimistic target for race day (but perfectly possible) I’ll be happy with what should be a good PB, which is all I’m really gunning for.

I do have – believe it or not – one more race before the marathon. Seven days before the Canberra marathon is my local 10km fun run ... and I’ve entered! It’s quite a hilly race – in fact it’s a bit of a brute, and I’m thinking it will be a good little final toning run before the big race.

12.5km 1h11m
10.3km 0h57m
10.0km 0h56m
36.1km 3h54m

YTD: 475.8km

Here’s a few holiday photos to finish with:


AC/DC's Bon Scott and me, in his home town of Fremantle (this one's particularly for Sweder!)


The 1.8km long Busselton jetty, along which I happily ran.


Boobook Owl, at a rescued wildlife centre, giving me the "what are you looking at?" look.


Me making friends (sort of) with a (wild) Black Kite at the same centre.


Some insanely cute Barn Owls, again at the same centre.


Stingrays and pelicans at Blackwood Inlet, in the far south-western corner of Western Australia.