Perth Marathon 2011

First up - congrats to Biscuitman, who ran a sensational PB today. It was well deserved after the most disciplined/thorough training program focussed on this run that I have seen by a runner of our level.

And commiserations to Sling Runner who made the journey over despite physical injurie and environmental hazards, only to be forced to pull out fairly early on.

As for me - it was an interesting run. I ha the lowest key leadup ever for me an a marathon. On saturday I worked til lunch, spent the afternoon dealing with the ins&outs of a Mother-in-law in hospital, and then went out for a family dinner to celebrate my little sister's 21st ( held myself to one glass of red only). So there was not alot of time to ruminate on the run.

At the start I headed out with Laurie Dembo - unfortunately I lost contact with Sling from the very start. I had been expecting a 3hr pace 'bus' of sorts, but there was none really to be seen - I was running at about 4:10s for the first 15k and there was a group well over a minute ahead, and another a reasonable way behind. Unfortunately this meant I ran the entire stretch along the freeway alone, only towards the end seeing Mick Francis and one of the leading women abou 100m ahead

7k 29:12
14k 58:30 (29:18)
21k 88:07 (29:37)

These were Garmin distances, which reads a little long
I ran past the half way clock in 88:50

I was feeling OK for most of the first half, but it seemed there were no pre-dropped drinks at the Como station, which left me without a drink from 6k-18k, and I was starting to feel it. Luckily I had drinks at 18,23&28 so caught up a bit.

During this middle section I passed a few people, including Mick and the aforementioned female runner. I also saw Geoff Reynolds falling back after his very fast start and focussed on slowly reeling him in - hoping to be the fastest doctor in the race at least!

Doing this I had sped up a bit and ran the 21-28k 7km split in 29:07. I had decided I wasn't in the mood for pain and thought I'd get over the Canning Bridge and to 32k then walk/jog home.

Just as I was preparing for this, DB came by on his bike with some words of encouragement and rode with me for 600-700m, just enough to get me back in some rhythm and a more positive mindset. I also started making some ground on 2 guys ahead.

Next came Clown, again as I was fading mentally - and I gratefully accepted his offer of running along with me (ironically, after dismissing the idea when discussed on Friday night!). This really helped my mindset, and I decided at least to push on to the Narrows and 36km before adopting the walk/jog strategy. In the process I passed the two runners and then a third at the narrows.

28-35k split 30:05 so still on pace

I managed to run on to about 37k when my mind and body ran out of juice and I walked a few seconds and had a drink, but got going pretty quickly. I did this again one more km down the road, although the splits didn't slow too much - 4:21/4:42/4:37 for 38/39/40th kms

Next ahead was Colin Francis, and I managed to pass him too, although one of the runners I passed earlier was resurgent, passing me when I stopped and me returning the favour when restarting. I managed 4:46 for the 41st km and unfortunately knew that I was going to just be off the pace. Despite picking it up to 4:00 pace for the last 600m, I came in 3:00:30 by the Garmin

For those who like 5k splits: 20:53/20:57/20:52/21:13/20:47/20:58/21:35/22:34/10:37 last 2.4k on Garmin

So I'm happy with the result,and although I would have been very happy to run a minute , I'm not upset as I may have been with other marathons which I had trained specifically for. It was my 7th and fastest Perth Marathon.

Now for some rest