APRIL 10 to 16
I used the Maidenwell 56 km as practice, not so much for running fitness, but fueling, pacing, packing and all that sort of stuff.
We drove via Toowoomba to pick up Jennelle's sister, Carol, and stayed at Nanango on Friday night. I slept well until midnight but the bed wasn't the best and I think I ate too much tucker. I don't usually eat any sugar and avoid too much carbs, so not sure about train -low- race- high protocol.
Anyway, up at 3 am. Had my usual Sunday long-run breakfast of three buckwheat crisps with avocado and vegemite topping, a cup of green tea followed by a cup of coffee. We had organised for a late check out, but the motel changed their minds and wanted us out at 10 am. So no shower or lay down before the drive home. It was a 512 km trip overall. Carol (Jennelle's sister) came back to Brissy to spend Easter with us.
The race was a learning experience. I don't know how to explain it. But I have run so many marathons and geared all my training for that distance that I unconsciously just tend to dig in around the 2hr to 2:20 mark. My lap times were 1:10:40; 1:05:25;1:05:08;1:06:45 for each 14km loop. The first loop was 200m further for the marathoners? So I wasn't too impressed with my last lap fall off. I was planning to run progressive laps. I put it down to getting a bit carried away between 35km and the full marathon which went by in 3:20 with 50km in 3:59:30.
The course was mainly on a well maintained dirt road. Slightly uphill overall on the way out, so I found I was coming home quicker and easier than when heading out. There was a section through a paddock that Digger had mown. But it was a lot like the Cross Country course where I hurt my back and lost near 6 months to that injury. So I was very cautious and, thankfully, had no problems. Some people complained but I thought it was just a part and parcel of an old-school, country marathon course. The only problem, if you could call it that, was I had to have a pit stop on the first lap. So too much roughage is not a good idea the night before. Live and learn.
The first lap I ran with, Kelly Potieger, who has run Comrades and is a South African. She was after a sub 3:40 qualifier and ran 3:35:55. She had such an efficient, compact style. It was classic and I felt like a real old gumby as I ran along beside her. I wasn't sure what pace to run and ran with her for a while but decided that I might be dragging her along past what was sensible for her goal. Of course, when I needed to have a pit stop...well, there is not a lot of bush to duck into out there and with a female following it was a bit worrisome. So I was so glad when I spotted the port-a-loo at the 10km refreshment stop. Nevertheless, when I told her why I was overtaking her again, she assured me that there was plenty of port-a-loos on the Comrades course. Always, a worry for me since the surgery.
The race was fine and I learnt a bit for Comrades. However, at the finish I had one of those:
It seemed like a good idea at the time experiences.The fun part began about 20 m from the finish. You see I had an entourage of children come out to greet me as I finished my 56 km run. They ran along ringing cow bells and having great fun as they ran me into the finish. Me -being a big kid myself- hatched a plan in my head to make more fun.
Okay, so the plan was to jump across the line like the Easter Bunny. Well it worked in my head
:) and it went well for the first three metres, but I just couldn't hop to clear a black snake. I damn near fell over and my bunny hop was more like a new-born poddy calf trying to stand for the first time. The children started skipping and then copied me floundering as I tried to skip.
:) Arrh well...fun is fun. A great way to finish a great day at Maidenwell Easter Running Festival. Many thanks to the Maidenwell Community volunteers and organisers.
