Last Saturday night I was getting ready for the Perth City to Surf Marathon the next morning, going through the runners conundrum of deciding how late you can set the alarm while factoring in eating and at least three toilet stops?  I was going to run my 10th City to Surf in a row, part of a small group of runners who had the run the previous nine since the inaugural one in 2009. This streak was important to me and even though I had been battling plantar fasciitis since April I was in a position where I thought I had a good chance of completing the race. Of course there was other issues I also had to deal with, as well as being a 10-in a row marathon I also had to consider my 27 in a row sub 3 streak dating back to 2010. I had (have) plans to try to at least get in 50 in a row before I eventually get dragged back to the pack, kicking and screaming.

So here I was at 9pm setting the alarm for the morning when Jon would pick me up and together with Mike, Adam, Chris, Mark and a few more we’d join together and try and break three hours. The foot felt good and I had ran twice the previous week, which compared to the weeks before was a ‘big week’. Gone were the 700km months and the 150km weekly average, since April my weekly average was 50km.  This ultimately was what made the decision for me. One last check of Strava ( http://www.strava.com In Strava we trust.) and I made the call to Jon and became a DNS (Did Not Start) for the third time in my running career. (I couldn’t make the Disney Marathon , the four day event, in 2015 when Chevron decided they had too many planners and terminated my contract ; and last year I pulled a calf muscle a week before Bunbury thanks to Mark and his ‘cappuccino of injury’)  Looking at the Strava extract below I think you’ll agree this was probably the right call.

How did it feel to pull the plug on a ‘Spartan’ run and also drop out of the ‘runners who have run all the Perth City to Surf Marathons’ group ? (For runners who run 10 of any marathon they become a ‘Spartan‘, don’t ask me why ?)  It was absolutely devastating. I suppose because I had got so close, I even packed my bag for the big day, I had delayed the inevitable decision to the very last minute and had been kidding myself for weeks that there was a chance I could run. I should have been honest with myself from the outset and went about getting my foot better in April and May instead of ignoring the plantar fasciitis and just hoping it would go away. In my defense I’m probably not the first and I won’t be the last runner who has adopted this policy of denial, it is the ‘runners way’.

On the morning of the race I awoke to prefect conditions and took the boys out for a walk. (I have two Golden Retrievers, Sydney and Spencer) My Wife would have realised my mood was probably bordering on depression because she elected to come with me and I must admit while I waited in the car there was a tear or two as I thought about all that I was missing. Of course I composed myself before she joined me and the moment in the car was shared between me and my boys. I think they understood ?

What next ? Luckily for us marathon runners there is always a new goal and for me it’s Rottnest in late October. I have raced the Rottnest Marathon 11 times and finished top 5 on a number of occasions (last eight positions 4,12,5,4,2,6,3,2 ) with two second places, my last one being last year where I missed out by less than 30 seconds.  At fifty-one years young I reckon I got one more podium in me and will start on a 10 week training block to make that happen. Will there be tears, hell yeah, will it be painful, of course, will I enjoy it, guaranteed. This is why I run, this is what inspires me, being the best I can be and beating my time from yesterday with a better time tomorrow. I’m racing me from last year and I’m sorry ‘2017 BK’; you’re going down !!!

Right, the point of this post after I have digressed for so long. As well as the lack of training there was also the mental aspect of marathon racing that I was struggling with. Over the last 2-3 months I had grappled with weight as I let the training disappear but still ate the same and, truth be told, maybe even turned to ‘comfort eating’ , (as a few of my training buddies have over the years, who shall remain nameless..)  the old ‘I’ll start training in ‘x’ days, so might as well enjoy the downtime’.  You need to be careful the ‘downtime’ doesn’t suddenly become the norm. I had certainly let myself go mentally and this was probably the deciding factor in the end. The extra three kilo’s, lack of running, possible injury and mentally not prepared, wow, when you type that out I’m surprised I got so close to actually starting. I really was in denial, big time ! Sitting on my bed at 9pm on Saturday evening all these points came and hit me like a ‘tsunami’ and the call was made. In the light of day it was the right call but at the time, and even now, it still hurts but that’s marathon racing, you need to have all your ducks in a row and be extremely lucky to even get to the start line fully prepared, when you do take a deep breath and soak it all in,  the next forty two kilometres are what makes it all worthwhile.

The photo below shows the boys with their marathon finishers medals. Mike won his age group , 55-64, with a 2:59 finish (Is that an age group record for the run Mike?)  while Jon was placed 11th overall and Mark L. made his Mum proud with another sub 3 finish. Mark C. is recovering from Boston, still!, and ran a good time for the 12k. Bart’s, far left of the picture, has a medal on but for the life of me I can’t understand how he got it or what he ran, if anybody knows let me know..!!!!

After writing this post I bumped into Mike on my lunch time run and he confirmed it was a City to Surf age group record, 55-64. His time of 2hours 59 minutes and 5 seconds beat the previous record by nearly a minute. Needless to say he is stoked as are we.

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