Monday, July 07, 2008

Where to from here?



A bit of Gold Coast history .....

2004 - 3:33:03 (first marathon)
2005 - 3:25:59 (went on to run Columbus, Ohio 3:16:05)
2006 - 3:59:43 (Pacer 4hr group)
2007 - 3:26:51 (Pacer 3:15 originally)
2008 - 3:23:51

So that ruins the end of the story, right?

No .... let's step back.

So much of a marathon comes before the start .... the most important of things is the pre-race potty. Ok, you know this isn't going to be pretty. Unlike previous years the plan was to wake early and drive over an hour to make the start. Pre-packed and all organized meant we could leap out of bed and into the car, within the shortest time possible. No time to wake the body gentle and let "things" happen.

I love electric windows ... don't you? I remember being a kid and being told "don't play with the windows". I guess the Croutons are no different, but I have that magic button that locks every thing and stops the fiddling. Now that I think about it, perhaps they weren't playing with the windows, because I had that nervous stomach one might have prior to "delivery"..... Yep, that was it .... I was a little nervous and produced the occasional waft of "nerve gas". Oh, bugger, now I feel guilty for pushing the window lock button.

So moving along, let me tell you ..... "I delivered" ..... bring on the marathon. I'm ready to rock ..... *roar*

We all assembled at the start of the half marathon to watch Katy take off .... perhaps I hadn't quite dealt with all my "nervousness" and had to quickly seek out a stink room (because, let's face it, they all stink by race time). I ran past the queues 10 deep whilst doing the sums with 10 minutes to go and figured I would miss the start. And then I notice no queues at the scene of my previous crimes, Radar was fanning a door open and shut a few times before he disappeared into a cubicle. I managed to get the next door open and all was good again. By the way, am I the only one who finds warm toilet seats creepy? I know you are meant to feel relaxed pre-start and I do. I drink so much water that everything relaxes ... but not in a good way.


Standing at the start line, I caught up with the usual suspects Glenno, Rob and others and prepared to execute my brilliant plan of running about 4:40's for as long as possible.

12 Comments:

Blogger Runner Susan said...

your race bib says 'toasty' - that's so cute . . . and i'll pretend not to have read the deliver part.

9:19 pm  
Blogger mike said...

This is Part 1 i assume? Well done on your PB. Details on execution, single bloody-mindedness, calf-injury etc. required please...

9:52 pm  
Blogger Rob said...

Where to from here? On to the next one Toasty. You haven't reached your prime yet mate. You are still in the development stage. I reckon the next one will be PB for sure.

9:54 pm  
Blogger Rob said...

Just a sec, Yesterday's was PB of sorts. Well the next one willbe one too.

Congratulations! You beauty.

9:56 pm  
Blogger Tesso said...

Where does it go from here?
Is it down to the lake I fear?
Ay ah ah ah ah ah
Ay ah ah ah ah ah

11:22 pm  
Blogger 21stCenturyMom said...

So that's a PR for this course so say it, brothah! Say it loud.

I know you ahve been looking for a 3:15 on this course but maybe that's not right. Maybe you need a different course to get that 3:15. Just a suggestion

9:05 am  
Blogger Clairie said...

I'm proud of you :)

11:56 am  
Blogger Tammy said...

Congrats, congrats, congrats!
This is the first time I noticed you actin' all "foreign"... sayin' things like "Bugger" and "Queue". Guess you really are on the other side of the world ;)

Way to go on the PB! That is a finish time I can only dream about.

12:32 pm  
Blogger Ewen said...

I heard the end of the story last Sunday, so it wasn't ruined. Course PBs are worth queuing up for. That was a good one!

8:42 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

Well done! I suspect another marathon will be in order.

11:17 am  
Blogger E-Speed said...

Pretending I did not just read the second half of this post.

Congrats on the course PR!

6:08 am  
Blogger the Dread Pirate Rackham said...

i heart your bib name. nice!

well done on the pr, your bib should say 'fasty'

4:13 pm  

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