The Accidental Marathon – Western Sydney Marathon Race Report

I know, I know… how do you “accidentally” run a marathon?!?

The Plan

After a fairly unspectacular 2018 and lazy lead up to London 2019 (April 28), it was probably no real surprise that disappointing race time was the result. It had been 10 weeks since my last 30k plus run (March 27) with the previous 30ker a month before that (Feb 24) excluding London so with few weeks of very low mileage training and what seemed to be a monthly 30ker so far this year, things were not looking amazing (as the Barangaroo HuRTs boys would say “at least my taper was on point!”). I figured the only way I was going to get any decent long runs in runs to get things was to run some regular half marathons as tough compulsory long runs. Sadly, having caught the crazy cold/flu bug doing the rounds my plans for the SMC half had been thwarted. With a couple of days off to try and get better but still feeling very much under the weather, I managed to drag myself around North Head for 20k with fellow HuRTs runner Ryan Fisher and local Dave Bell who were subjected to endless moaning about how slow/fat/unfit/unmotivated and sick I am (Sorry Ryan and Dave). Sometime that afternoon, lightheaded and drowning in mucus and self-pity (maybe I’d had too much cough syrup), I for some reason decided that it would be a good idea to sign up for the Western Sydney Marathon the next weekend expecting I’d be all better in a day or two and use it as a good 30k training run knowing my habit of calling it a day shortly after 20k. The plan was to run 4 laps max plus the extra 2k to round it out to 30k making the most of the aid stations and race vibe to keep the pace respectable and not stop along the way.

Race week

As Monday rolled around I got an easy 13k in around Blackwattle (still snotty and coughing). Tuesday lunch flew past and I found myself once again dawdling around Blackwattle (still coughing at every stop). Wednesday lunch, now questioning how sensible any sort of long effort on the weekend, I tried to do some 2k reps… 3x2k later, having barely averaged 3:50 ave pace in the wind I coughed my way back to the office and decided that I was dropping to the half marathon and dawdling through it. Thursday’s gate to gates scared me so I just rolled around to Mrs Mac and back and could only watch on helplessly from the sidelines as a few jostled for dominance ahead of the Striders 10k. A day off on Friday meant carb, magnesium and vitamin C loading combined with a lot of prayer that I might miraculously be better by morning.

The race

Conditions on race morning were perfect. As I arrived at the regatta centre, I was greeted by the sun rising over the lake, a cool 8°C and absolutely no wind. Unfortunately, by the time I got myself over to rego to pick up my bib I was too late to switch events to the half, so it was straight into pre-race prep. I arrive at the start line with about 2min to spare with no warm up and no idea what pace I was going to run or how many laps I would even last for. A short count down later and I’m on my way… (I thought to myself “at least I’m not like this guy calling for help from the start”… though it was a very real possibility it would be me in a couple of laps time).

Predictably the rivalry between Alex Matthews and Brendan Davies was on from the start and the two of them sped off into the distance chasing sub 2:30. The race excitement certainly helped me put the coughing and sneezing behind me as I headed out for a 4min first km. 2km in and I felt comfortable enough to commit to running through the first three laps in 85min (4min pace give or take). I figure I’m running about 10^th and closing in on a few runners ahead. Still thinking 2-3 laps max I say “Hi” as I catch up and see what their goals are and if I can lend a hand on what is undoubtedly a time trial sort of race for those targeting a time. It seemed no one was really targeting anything that meant I was going to be any help for the first half and as such I carried on. Lap 2 came around soon enough and I kept an eye out for the start of the half marathon to see who was racing. Soon enough I heard the steps fast approaching from behind as the eventual Half Mara winner, Myles Gough, came storming past. He seemed to be pretty comfortable and chatty as he asked me how my marathon was progressing on the way through. I reassured him (and myself) that I had no intention of finishing the thing but was just enjoying a morning out. By the end of lap 2 I found myself in 3^rd place as I heard the race announcer call my name crossing the timing mat and a few familiar faces were now out around course letting me know where I was ahead of the 10k start. Still feeling pretty comfortable around a 4min pace at the end of lap 3 I decided to head out for lap 4 hoping that by the end of the 28k Nathan in 4^th would be ready to run on by chasing a 2:53 so that I could have a nice reason to call it a day. As lap 5 approached I wondered where this Nathan guy had got too and figured I should maybe do the extra 2k to round it out to 30. I had slowed the pace from the start of lap 5 but old mate in 4^th was nowhere to be seen at the 1st turn around as I started counting the seconds between us. I realised he might not be holding pace quite as well as I hoped and that was confirmed a km later as he seemed to have slipped another 10-15 seconds. Now at 32k I was back on the internal path fighting through the back end of the 5km crowd which of course made me feel like I was flying in comparison and the splits headed back down towards 4min inadvertently. With lap 6 looming having already run 35k I was starting to think I should just finish it off but was struggling to find the motivation. The pace slowed to a 4:16 looking for my out but the next two turn arounds proved what I feared that 4^th place was now over a minute behind and dropping fast, so it was time to just get back into it and finish the thing off. Back to 4:05 pace to the end had me rolling through in 2:54 on the clock with an ave pace of 4:04 thanks to an extra 50m between the course marker and the IAAF paint mark on the road adding around 100m/lap. That extra distance had sadly robbed Alex Matthews of his sub 2:30 and Brendan from certainly his quickest Mara in a long time, if not a PB. While it was nowhere near a PB, the race felt great and a nice podium finish training run has my hopes of another sub 2:45 soaring. I also appreciated the race announcer noticing and calling out the “Top Gun” glasses as I crossed the line.

Lessons

• Wife seemed pleased with the flowers (Note – winning race flowers for wife does not count as buying and is therefore not eligible for marital reparations or credit)
• Time to pull the finger out and train properly for a change… no more 1 rep wonders!
• Turns out marathons are not scary if you don’t think about it