Booked on there 3pm ferry to sunny Rottnest for the inaugural half marathon on Sunday. I then have a week on the island with my coach Dan ‘I have a plan’ Macey. (and the family of course, its not all about running)

Check out the Island on the their website, inspiring. ( http://www.rottnestisland.com )

Excited to get a holiday but tinged with a sad feeling knowing I won’t be running my favourite marathon on Sunday. Two weeks to the World Masters is just too close to do both justice and Rottnest will be here next year, the World Masters is a once in a lifetime, in Perth anyway.  It will be so surreal not running the marathon this year. As I have mentioned before consistency is a key to improvement and this even goes to entering the same events each year. This would have been my 9th Rottnest on the bounce, to go with my 8 City to Surf marathons and 10 Perth marathons. I am a creature of habit and not doing Rottnest will be a big ask. Even now while typing this I’m thinking could I do both and treat Rotto’ as a training run with a medal at the end. The answer is of course no but it doesn’t stop you asking the question.

Running marathons is what I do and the reason behind all the hard work, early mornings and time in the ‘pain box’.  When you finish your marathon and you achieve your target it is so worth it. The ‘runners high‘ is real and on a number of occasions I have experienced it. Comrades in 2010 when I ran a 7hrs22mins and got a silver medal (awards for running the 89k course quicker than 7hrs30mins) , City to Surf this year and last when I ran times I though beyond me and finished top 5 on both occasions, and Perth 2013.

You don’t have to achieve PB’s to get that feeling. In Bunbury 2012 I went into the marathon under done due to a nasty calf knot and set off confident of an easy sub3. I went through halfway in 1hr28mins and thought to myself ‘I’m in trouble here’, needless to say the next 21k I was watching my average pace creep up and it was touch and go right up to the last 1-2k, I eventually made it in 2hrs59mins and 20+seconds. Man that felt good. After putting myself under pressure from the halfway mark I was under the pump the whole second half and mentally it was a real struggle. That feeling of seeing the finish line will go with me to the grave.

So what really is a runners high ? To me is it a overwhelming feeling of relief when you achieve something that really is so hard you need to push your mind and body to breaking point. You don’t get a runners high jogging in to the finish line 30 minutes over your best time, you get it when you have pushed yourself to the limit, drawn a line in the sand and then step over it. When you cross that line there is a wave of emotions that wash over you and on a few occasions I have been brought to tears of joy. It’s a funny sport when you end up crying tears of joy when you finish. Not many golfers experience that, more like tears of frustration. (Being a Fremantle Docker AFL supporter I have also experienced tears of frustration of course, so I can understand what you Golfers go though trust me!)

Is it addictive, hell yeah ! It is still achievable, I think so. You may not get PB’s as you get older but you can always push yourself harder and further, maybe this is why Ultra-Running is becoming so popular. It’s a double whammy, as I mentioned before you get to eat as much as you want while ‘racing’ and if you run long enough I’m sure you get the runners high at the end. You’d want to anyway.