The most interesting thing for me here is the data on how I ran during the last 7km (from 35 to 42km).  Apparently I overtook 455 runners during this time, and only 5 runners passed me.  As I said in my race report I kept my pace going steady until the finish, which clearly was not quite the same for just about everyone else around me.  I’ll take that as a positive thing :)

Training over the past few weeks had gone really well and I stuck to my planned training schedule really well.  The easy runs were easy, the hard runs hard and I was the best prepared I’ve ever been.  In the last couple of weeks before the race you taper down your training with the result being that you feel as fresh as a daisy on race day.  Well, for some strange reason which I cannot understand my quad muscles were aching towards the end of last week – this should not be the case!  I just didn’t understand why.  I put this to the back of my mind.  Perhaps it was just a phiggle (a phantom niggle!!).

Sharon and I were up early at 5:40am, breakfast was consumed and then we headed to Twickenham station to meet up with Chris (from parkrun) for the 7:03 train.  At Waterloo we met up with Danny, Nick and Ann and then made our way onto the super busy train (standing room only) to the start area at Blackheath.

The usual routine in the start area was followed – queue for toilet, go to toilet, go to back of queue and queue for toilet… and repeat.  At about 25 past nine we were happy down to ‘race weight’ and Sharon and I took our bags (with warm post-race clothes) and dropped them off for transport to the finish.

The toilet queues... before they got really busy!

Sharon then headed off to her starting area (the areas, or ‘pens’ are based on estimated finishing time) and I went to mine.  I was back in pen 1 again which ensured a pretty swift start.  After the starting gun went at 9:45am I crossed the line after about 50 seconds.  The electronic chip timing that you have on your shoes means that whatever time you start you’ll get accurate timing.

The first couple of miles were busy and we all started off pretty slowly but before long I was on pace and pushing steady.  The weather was fantastic – cool and sunny – and although there was a bit of a breeze with the number of people running and supporters at the roadsides there’s very little in the way of headwinds slowing you down.

After about four miles or so I could feel that my quads weren’t right which was very frustrating.  I couldn’t explain why but decided that I would continue on at my pace (I really didn’t have any other choice) and try and tick off the miles close to 7:10 miling pace.  The first few miles were paced approximately 7:12, 7:15, 7:03, 6:59, 7:01, 7:12, 7:03, 7:02… and so on.

Just before the turn to Tower Bridge. That's me in the blue in the middle. Photo: Andy Wingate

The early mile support on the course was fantastic.  Music (loved running past the South London Jazz Orchestra), bands, people screaming and shouting.  It was awesome.  Cutty Sark was amazing and the wall of sound when you get to and cross Tower Bridge at just before the half way mark.

13.1 miles was ticked off in a time of 1:33:56.  Doubling this time would give an even split finish time of 3:07:52.  That’d be lovely!  Just after this point I caught up with, said a quick hello and then edged past Mike Peace, a fellow club runner.  Mike is an absolute legend.  He’s run the London Marathon every year – and I mean every year since it started.  This is his 32nd year running the race and he is one of the Ever Present runners – a club you can leave but no longer join.  There are now 16 people remaining who have run every year since 1981.

Shortly after 14 miles you head down Narrow Street.  This is the main spot where I took photos from last year.  It was so so crowded.  I was looking out for Kirsty (and family) and spotted her in her usual place.  Great screaming/shouting and a little high-five.  Love it.

You then head into Docklands.  This is always a tough time and you have to concentrate hard to stay to your split times.   I just about managed this.  I knew I’d gained a few seconds in the first half so had some leeway if I dropped off of the pace at all during the final 10 miles or so.  It was good to see fellow clubmate Marie.  I said hello, she asked how I was doing and I said something like “I’ve been better.”

There was no such ‘wall’ to fight through today (well if there was it was in my legs really early in in the race).  I hydrated well on sports drinks and water and had energy/carbohydrate gels approximately every five miles.

After 20 miles you’re back on the main road to the finish.  There’s only 10k to run and looking at my watch I (just) had to run a 10k of around 45 minutes to get to the finish in under 3 hours 10!  Surely that was possible.

Although my legs were hurting and felt like they were on fire that was the only problem.  I wasn’t breathing at all heavily.  I said to myself that I’ll push on as best I can close or better than target pace.  Ignore the pain and run till my legs refuse to run any more.  That’s all I can do.  I wanted to get this time last year at Brighton but didn’t, and I could happily go through some pain to get the time that I wanted today.  Toughen up.

Just before 21 miles I remember hearing a great tune (DJ Fresh, Gold Dust) pumping out from one of the super sound sound systems on the course.  Upon further investigation with the help of Google Maps it was coming from Limehouse Town Hall!  Nice work there whoever was in charge.  This gave me a great boost.

When you’re feeling strong and positive then the final miles are awesome.  You overtake so many people.  You do have to weave a little around people and be aware that anyone at any point could suddenly stop and start walking (or clutching their legs with cramp!).

During the final miles I remember overtaking a chap from Thames Turbo Triathlon Club and a couple of members from another local club, The Stragglers.  I obviously said “Go Turbos” and “Go Stragglers” at I went past in support – as you never know they may say the same if/when they come past you a few minutes later!

At about 25 miles I caught up with Sean from our club.  He was’t having the best of days.  He then stepped up the pace and I ran with him for about 30 seconds or so before he dropped back again (although he eventually beat me over electronic ‘chip’ time).

The main thing I did today which I’d not done previously was ignore the distance that my GPS was reporting.  I checked mile splits based on the mile markers out on the course, and not what my watch was telling me.  If I believed my watch then I’d be off of my pace (it measured the 26.2 mile course at 26.6 miles).  This was the best thing I did before the race (other than train!).

Towards the finish there were 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m and a 385 yards to go sign (at the 26 mile point).  I pushed on all the way to the finish and with the finish line clock reading under 3 hours 10 (and knowing that it took me about 50 seconds to cross the start line) then I knew I’d got the time I wanted.

My finishing time was 3 hours 9 minutes and 9 seconds.  Result.  Job Done.  This now means I can automatically enter the race for the next two years.  My first half as I said earlier was 1:33:56.  My second half was 1:35:13.  Losing a minute and 17 seconds over the second half isn’t too bad I’d say.  I just wish my legs didn’t hurt so much from so early on.  I also now have a really nasty blister appear on one of my toes which is going to be a case of bye-bye-toenail very very soon!

My finishing position was 1,958th out of 36,672 finishers.  I was 1,009th in the male 18-39 age group.  In 2009 my position was 2,699 so I’ve moved up 741 places.  This was also a big personal best time for me over the distance by 10 minutes and 37 seconds.

A couple of people who’d been tracking me online (Kirsty and Emma) said that my 5km splits were metronomic and machine like.  Mike P. who I went past shortly after half way said the same.  My 5km splits were as follows: 22:16, 22:18:, 22:15, 22:17, 22:26, 22:49, 22:46, 22:38.  The final 2.2km to the finish was run in 9:24 which would work out to be a 21:26 5k split.  Here it is as a pretty little picture.

After finishing I ate and drank pretty much everything I had with me and in my post race ‘goodie bag.’  I then went for a bit of a walk, tracked Sharon online and spent about an hour or so cheering runners along Birdcage Walk.  I then waited for Sharon to come past and then I went and met her shortly after the finish.  We then met up with Kirsty, Heather and Danny and caught the train home.

The support on the course was amazing and I found it really encouraging.  I got plenty of shouts from clubmates and friends and the ones who I remember cheering me on were as follows - Andy P., Phil A., Andy/Emma/Suzan, Simon B./Simon, Kirsty/Orlando/Mike/Liz, Deb & Simon, Jess/JJ/Anna, Ali Y., Phil K, Marc & Julia, John L., Chris O., Nigel R., Clare K.  Thanks to all of you and sorry to anyone I missed.  I know there were a few others but I cannot remember their names – sorry!

I think I was much more ‘in the zone’ this time around compared with in 2009.  I was much more concentrated on my pace and getting the time I wanted (needed).

What’s the plan now… well, another Ironman distance triathlon in a few weeks time (time to get back on the bike again) and then perhaps a quieter autumn…

I slept reasonably well, woke at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep but that was OK, to be expected. We had breakfast (my usual pre-long-run rice pudding), kit on, off to the station. We had planned on taking the 7:03 from Twickenham, which wasn’t showing on the boards. Eeep! Transpired all was well, it was running. We waited for the train, writing 5, 10, 15, and 20 mile splits on our arms.

Scrawling 5 mile splits up my arm...

The train arrived, on we hopped after meeting up with Chris and off to Waterloo. I think we look more relaxed than we felt!

Sharon and Crispy looking ready to go

Met Danny at Waterloo and then off on the train to Blackheath, crazy! Trains were so full, just unbelievable numbers of people. We walked up to the start area, the sun was shining, nice and cool. All good. We did the usual, “queue for the loo, come out, then practically get back in the queue again” thing and before we knew it we were dropping off our bags and going to the start.

David told me that at every mile marker (generally a big arch of balloons) he was going to press his lap button and leave me a kiss, so that when I pressed my lap button, I could collect it :) I only missed one kiss which was mile 21, I never saw a marker for it. So not bad.

So, back to the start. I lined up in my pen and it only took about 20 minutes to get over the line. The first mile was nice, fairly clear and easy to run, Ann went past me looking great. I kept calm and just pootled along. The second mile was funny because of the speed humps and the marshalls were there with signs, shouting, “hump”! Of course, there’s always one clever so and so who shouts, “Not right now, I’m busy”…haha. Ahem. I knew that the Runner’s World 11 minutes per mile pacer would be close by and sure enough, the group was there. They were flying along though! Goodness, it felt fast.

I had heard the best advice on Marathon Talk, where Tom advised that instead of auto-lap on your Garmin, you turn that off and press the lap button yourself when you go under the mile markers. Seriously, I was so glad I did that, thank you Tom. I thought that most of my miles were spot on for 11 minute miling, but when I looked at my Garmin it seemed like about 6 miles were too fast, even though I thought they weren’t. Hmmmm. I will analyse it more later. When I can bare to look at the data, right now I cannot.

So I carried on, really not believing I was doing the London Marathon. I was very pleased to see Cutty Sark, as it’s been a while since she has been uncovered – and in the sunshine was very beautiful. I had a good look as I ran by, with her on my left. I can’t really remember the next few miles, clearly uneventful apart from the runner who nearly tripped me dashing behind me to a water station and a lot of weaving from people wearing MP3 players. Ggggrrrr. I still don’t understand why you would choose to do the London Marathon wearing headphones, not only is it dangerous but don’t you want to hear the crowds, DJ’s and bands?

So, there I was, tripping along…when my head/brain/legs decided that they didn’t like it anymore. I think it was somewhere in the 11th mile that I first walked. I walked with purpose, head up but couldn’t understand why I was needing to walk. I really couldn’t. My head couldn’t understand it. I should have been more than able to go that pace, for much much longer than that. It’s very disconcerting.

The next bit I remember is coming around a corner, and seeing Tower Bridge. I was walking (again!), so I made one of me deals which was to get to such and such a place and then run, so I did. I saw Ann again at this point and we went along together for a little bit. Then I felt OK for a little while, I knew that soon I would be through Halfway (I went through Half on target) and then I was whizzing along (well, it felt like it to me!) into Narrow Street, where I knew Kirsty, Liz, Mike and Orlando would be. I saw them from quite a way off and gave a big wave. They were shouting like mad and it was so wonderful to see them. I had said to Kirsty before that if I was going well, I wouldn’t stop, I would just squeeze her hand – and that’s what I did.

I can’t remember much about the next couple of miles but somewhere at close to 17 miles, I felt hideous. I think it was in my head. Suddenly I was upon “Mudchute” – which is the Pirate support point. I walked by, calling over that I didn’t like it. I hadn’t planned on stopping but decided that in actual fact I wanted to. I saw Holly and told her I hated it. Then I walked back up to Meldy and Ditchy, saw Jj and Happychap. Sweaty, salty hugs and me saying, “I hate it, I really hate it, I’m not doing it again”. There waiting was Seren, who ran along with me for a while until I banished her – when I am running badly, I am better to be on my own so I don’t bring others down with my negativity. Bless her, we had a chat for about a mile I think and then off she went. Actually we went a bit back and forth, “Don’t I know you?” she said to me :) In this mile I heard Deb and Simon from Ranelagh cheering for me and I called to them that it wasn’t good, I didn’t like it. Next I knew Simon was alongside me, telling me to be strong. A little further up the road and Nicola and Stuart were on the left, cheering and shouting, waving the Pirate brolly (bet they were glad that they had that later on when the rain started!).

So, there was me in the depths of despair for nearly 3 miles. It was very odd, really a strange experience. I was making all these mental calculations, all the “well, I’m not going to go sub-5 now, what will I do?”. I decided that I would walk for 2 minutes at the start of each mile and then go from there. It took me a couple of miles to decide that! Clearly there was poor blood supply to my brain at this point ;)  Somewhere in Canary Wharf (I think) I saw Kay, who had come up to cheer on. I was bimbling along and suddenly heard my name being shouted. I looked to my left and saw Kay, I went over and gave her one of those salty, sweaty hugs and told her it was so hard. She was very positive and sent me on my way. It was so lovely to see her and spurred me on again.

We came around a little corner at about 20 miles and I could see the Gherkin! Hurrah! I suddenly felt a bit better. Odd. Somewhere in this mile I took a quarter of orange from a little person by the road (contraband!), which was the nicest thing I have ever put in my mouth. I chewed all the lovely cold juice out of it and then spat out the flesh (didn’t want to eat it in case of tummy problems). So there I was, going along, having a little walk when i realised it was Fetch Point coming up – I hadn’t remembered that Kirsty, Orlando and Mike would be there, but they were. Yet another cuddle, yet more saying how hard it was. Hmm, recurring theme for the day ;)

After the 22 mile point (which I was happy to see as I hadn’t seen a 21 mile marker), I realised it felt mostly down hill. Funnily enough, I have just watched the marathon coverage and seen a lorry with a band playing on it. I remember the woman with the microphone saying, “Only a couple of miles to go”…and me yelling back, “4 miles, 4!! A couple.” Pfft! I got to mile 23 and thought, “It’s only a parkrun to go, anyone can do a parkrun”. This cheered me up for a while. I calculated that I could still get under 5:20 if I could keep going and minimise the walking. Mile 24 was quite nice, running through the Blackfriars Underpass. It was cool, dark, away from the blazing sunshine, quiet and I was overtaking loads of people as they were all strolling through! David reckons it’s because there are no crowds to see you walking. I really liked that Underpass. I walked up the exit to the tunnel, taking on board some more lucozade with my final gel and set off again.

It wasn’t long before I saw the big Stragglers flag a little bit before 25 miles. I ran by and saw the lovely Ray cheering me on, I gave them a big smile and carried on. I knew that it would be over soon. I still could get under 5:20.

With just over a mile to go I saw the Houses of Parliament, which was cool and the sky was really getting dark. We rounded the corner and I heard a shout of, “Go Ranelagh”. I looked to my right and it was David! I was delighted to see him, so delighted.

Sharon running up Birdcage Walk, not responding to her name, only "Go Ranelagh"!

In the distance I could see a sign, “800m to go”. Only 800m? Two laps of the track? Brilliant! It went on for fecking ages though, seemed to take forever to 600m to go. I was running along, overtaking people all the way, which was good (not for them I realise). I rounded a corner and there it was. The, “385 yards to go” gantry. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to do it. I glanced at my watch and saw I would safely finish under 5:20. I was running towards the finish line and as I saw the photographers, I was crying, so I will no doubt have ruined all my finish photos. As soon as I crossed the line, Darren (who was volunteering on the finish) came over and gave me a hug. Guess what, I told him I didn’t like it ;)

I walked to get the chip taken off my shoe, then got my medal. The thing that really had spurred me on. The lady put the medal around my neck and I stood and looked at it and burst into tears. She said well done and looked like it had got a bit smoky ;) Walked over to have my photo taken, then to get my baggage and then headed down to the exit, I heard and saw David through the little fence. It was like talking to him through a prison barrier! I was sobbing and telling him I hated it and then I said, “Please tell me you got your time, we can’t both have fucked up”…he told me he had. Hoooray! Then I cried some more at the happy news.

Plodded along to the designated meeting point of letter R. Saw Kirsty and Orlando, had a massive cuddle and started to cry again. Then David was on his way and we saw Heather, more tears (no wonder I was dehydrated!) and in the pouring down rain we decided to walk to Waterloo. It was definitely a good idea – and I am sure it has helped my legs today. Met up with Danny and headed home, regaling one another with tales of the day.

Sharon with her medal on the way home

I knew it would be tough. I have enough involvement in my life with marathon runners and Ironmen to know it’s tough. It was hard in a different place though than where I expected. Everyone talks about the marathon being two races, one of 20 miles and one of 6.2 miles. Except it wasn’t like that for me. Mine was a race of three parts. Start-17 miles, pretty happy overall, still on target time. Miles 17-19, really, honestly, horrendous. Mile 20 onwards, overall much better again, especially from mile 23. I think once I had realised my sub-5 target was gone, I lost heart. I had to really talk to myself to get going again but I did it. I think my negativity dragged me down, if I ever do another marathon, that’s something I really need to work on. I have a tendency in life to look on the “down” side of things, which didn’t help me yesterday. I definitely need more self-belief. However, I then re-assessed and worked out the best time I could get from the day and worked for that instead, so that’s a positive too.

Yesterday, my overwhelming feeling was that I had let everyone, including myself, down. I couldn’t stop crying about it. I still feel like that, I think it’s going to take a long time for that feeling to go. I am so disappointed. I know what I am capable of and something (my head?) took it away from me. Right now, I cannot ever imagine wanting to run a marathon again. I also know that feeling changes for many people, so I shall never say never.

So, here I am, Monday morning, reading my lovely messages and texts again. My legs are feeling OK. I can walk downstairs pretty normally. I am still gutted – and I am trying very hard not to be. I am trying to look on the positives of the day and I am starting to feel a bit proud of what I have done, so that’s a good feeling. I finished a marathon, not many people do that, I have an awesome medal, a cool Finishers tee and I raised lots of money for Macmillan – thank you so much for all your donations, I’m sure it’s part of the reason I kept going. I also loved the training, I liked it much more than the race itself! Even better for me is that David got his Good for Age (GFA) time, so he is guaranteed entry for the next two years without having to go into the ballot. I am so proud of how he trained and then executed his race plan. Amazing :)

There are so many people who have helped me get to the start and through the day. I have received so much love and support from everyone, so many amazing messages and emails and cards. I am very lucky. I am bound to forget someone but I want to try and list as many as I can, more so that I can remember. So bare with me. You can look away from the Oscar style speech now if you would like.

To David, who has been strong for me all these weeks, despite everything going on. He essentially was “forgotten” as the London Marathon became all about me. I love him so and I am so proud of him. He’s fabulous. I think he’s a keeper ;)

To Kirsty, who was such a wonderful supporter on the course and has been so supportive through my training. It’s been so lovely being able to run with you again, everyone needs a running buddy – and for a long time, we couldn’t run together. Now we can :) Only one Colin cake has disappeared so far…!

To Ann and Ray, who have helped me more than they will ever know. I carried Ray with me in my head, “Sharon, slow down!”. Sadly I took his advice a little too literally! Ann, you will be back, I know it. I’ll train with you but I might not actually stand on that start line again!

To Heather, who seemed to have faith that I would do it when I never really thought I could. You are such an awesome marathoner and so very inspiring.

To Tom & Helen, who have been incredibly supportive of my road back into running. From the Marathon Talk, “Jantastic” in 2011, which set me back on my running path, to all the advice they have given me. Their friendship, love and support has been invaluable. H, I am so proud of how you ran yesterday a mere 6 months after giving birth! So wonderful and so strong.

To the Twitterati and the Wingers, who have put up with my selfishness and moaning and reporting back of splits after every run! You have given me such great advice, as a result of your wealth of experience. Thank goodness I have you all. Special thanks to the beautiful Waffy, who was the only person besides David who knew the extent of my foot problem after the Cranleigh 21 and who kept me calm when it was happening. Her foot held up yesterday, too :)

To Paul, who I personally blame for me doing this. If it hadn’t been for parkrun, I would never even be able to run a mile, let alone a marathon!

To Liz, Mike, Orlando, Simon, Deborah, Nicola, Stuart, Kay, Darren, the Ranelagh Harriers and the Stragglers, thank you for your shouts yesterday. It’s amazing that people take the time out of their lives to come and cheer runners on. It means so much.

After a bath, Skins on, looking at toenails and chaffage (good for me on both counts, not so much for David on the toenail front!), we went to the annual Ranelagh post-marathon get together last night, for a natter and a nosh and a Crabbies or two ;) Shiny medals ahoy!

David & Sharon with their shiny medals

Oh, for the mini-stats. I finished 28828th (36672 finished) in 5:16:55. I was position 1551 in my age group, with an age graded performance of 45.6%.

So that’s it. My London Marathon. Done and dusted. Phew. If I was to describe it on one word, I would say, “Overwhelming”!

Bring. It. On.

This morning saw me at Bushy parkrun, taking some photos (including photos of a certain Special parkrun Person getting a shiny PB, awesome!) and meeting parkrunners and parkrun Event Directors from far and wide. It was a great morning, I must say. When Paul looks around and sees what he has created and how people come together from all over the world as a result of his amazing idea, he must be very proud.

I had a chat to the ever-lovely Ann, then suddenly I was feeling excited. It’s the first time I have felt this way, rather than merely petrified, so it was nice. I then ran around a few people, wishing luck to some, having hugs and, “Good luck, be strong” words from others. It was bizarre. For the record, I am currently firmly back in the terrified camp ;)

So, in amongst all the lovely cards and emails and texts and tweets and calls and facebook messages, I found time this afternoon to pin on my number, attach my chip to my shoe and make some cakes (some of which were given to Kirsty as normally I am in charge of the Marathon supporting picnic, so I wanted to at least provide a small contribution to it). The rest of the evening will involve dinner, packing my bag for the morning, then try to get some sleep.

All ready to go!

I cannot believe that this time tomorrow it will all be over. All these weeks and weeks of training. I hope that it ends in the way I want it to.

Bring. It. On.

He spoke a lot about the traditions of the race. This is the kind if thing I love – history of events, traditions, even a bit of pomp and ceremony. It was wonderful – it almost could make me want to go and do it. But it’s 56 miles. So I shall stick to, “almost”. Plus, at the moment, 26.2 miles seems plenty far enough, thank you very much.

David has met him before (when he was whupped by him one morning at Bushy parkrun) and tonight he seemed to enjoy telling David that he should do Comrades. I said I would happily go along and cheer and give out dodgy painkillers, which seems to be the way of the race.

One other thing – just in case you are missing my daily dose of tears, I had some more cards in the post this morning. I shall not name you for making me come over a bit emotional – you know who you are – but suffice to say I have been blown away by the love and support that has been offered and sent my way. It’s amazing. I will be carrying your words with me as I go. Thank you.

So, I am off to bed in a minute. Apparently tonight’s sleep is the most important – mostly because I don’t expect I will sleep much tomorrow night!

Bring. It. On.

Sadly, just as the bells from All Saints Church started to ring (I never knew the oldest part of the church dates from 1398), the skies went black and the torrential rain started. As Gloriana went up into the air on the crane, the thunder started. As she was hovering 3 feet above the water, the hailstones began. So Stuart and I ran away! Well, I ran, he cycled. The hail continued as I ran for over half a mile, stinging my hands – then I remembered my thumb holes :) So my hands were saved, except when I had to pull my hood forward again. It seems every time I say to Stuart, “The weather looks fine…” it decides to prove me wrong! Sorry!

Crazy weather day. I hope it is better on Sunday – not so much for me, I will just plod along – but for the supporters. It will be miserable to be wet and cold stood by the side of the road for hours, cheering on both loved ones and strangers. I know people still will, in the same way that I would and have done, but still…less rain would be good :)

In other news, it’s only been a little bit smoky a couple of times today ;) thanks to messages from some of my Pirate pals. They have been so supportive of me through my training and have put up with me rambling on. I am very pleased that I have people in my life like this – even if their kind messages do make me cry!

3 days to go and I have done my last run until Sunday. Now I have to relax and, as all the experts and coaches say, “Trust my training”. I can do no more.

Bring. It. On.

We were going up to town to meet up with Tom (co-presenter of the Marathon Talk podcast, which I have listened to on many of my long runs) and Helen (his beautiful wifey, also running London on Sunday) for dinner, so we decided that we would go to the Marathon Expo to collect our numbers and timing chips for Sunday. It’s a fiddly journey from this side of London to that side but we eventually arrived.

All of a sudden, we were there! Walking in. To the number collection points. Goodness. My hands were shaking a bit as I collected my number. They shook a bit more as I was given my timing chip. Then that was it. Done. I was ready to go.

David & Sharon collect their numbers

We had a bit of a wander around, I managed to source my favourite flavour of gels (apple, if you’re interested), so on Sunday I will have apple on one side of my race belt and citrus on the other. I also went and said, “hello” to the Macmillan stand and signed in my little section on their wall of runners. I never intended to raise money when running London but one of my colleagues said I really should, so I did. I’ve done pretty well I must say (and thank you so much to everyone for their generosity) and I am sure Macmillan will be glad of every pound raised.

Sharon's space on the Macmillan wall

Somehow I found myself stood on the, “Depress-o-meter” as David named it. In other words, those fancy scales that tell you how much fat and muscle mass you have. It turns out I have too much fat (what a shocker, not!), I am however 48.7kg of muscle – so well over half of me is muscle and more so in my right leg and left arm, odd. I wonder how I’ve improved since losing 3 stone? I am relying on my right leg to drag me round on Sunday then ;)

We went along to listen to Martin Yelling (husband of Olympian Liz Yelling and the other voice of Marathon Talk!) for some last minute advice and calming for me. Unfortunately, the aforementioned, “385 yards to go” sign was a slide in the presentation…and once again it got a bit smoky ;) Dear oh me.

Sharon listens intently to Martin's every word, "Don't go off too fast..."

Dinner with Tom, Helen, Rosie Pink and Martin and we set off home. I had tear-filled eyes 4 times today. Terrible! I think I just need it to be Sunday now. I have laid out my kit, I have my number and chip. I have my last tiny run tomorrow. I have my race plan – including what I will do if things don’t go how I would like.

I’m ready. Bring it on.

On my schedule for today was 3 miles. I set off with Marathon Talk in my ears, which I wouldn’t normally do for a short run, but I wanted to listen to the Katherine Switzer interview. Firstly I heard the, “You know it’s nearly marathon time when…” and Tom was talking about Over-Analysis Paralysis. This is me. I have literally thought of nothing else for quite a long time now. I am paralysed with fear at the thought of it – although I don’t think that’s what Tom meant by the paralysis bit! The only time I forget about the fear is when I am running, so I am hoping that works on Sunday…

Then Tom was talking about doing a short, intense session in the marathon week. So I thought I would try and do my 3 miles a bit harder than I intended, to check my legs still worked. They responded well and I had a good run, with each mile faster than the preceding. Happy days.

Sitting down to dinner, David pressed, “play” on the Sky+ to show me the Sky Sports News Marathon Special he had recorded especially for me. Nice. He’s so thoughtful ;) Flipping heck, I dread to think what he has planned for tomorrow night! It is not helping with the Over-Analysis Paralysis :)

Yesterday we watched the start of the Paris Marathon live at 8am, then I went for a run and arrived home to catch the finish of the Rotterdam Marathon. Then last night we watched the BBC London Marathon highlights program from 2009.

Today I watched the Boston Marathon on telly. Twice. Don’t ask. Each individual watching was split up by a massage.

Suffice to say, my “thinking about nothing else apart from the marathon” problem has not been helped by my recent viewing.

On Tuesday I plan to go for a run to clear my head.

• 2009 – London Marathon (3 hours 19 minutes, 46 seconds)
• 2009 – Ironman Switzerland Triathlon run (3 hours 47 minutes, 26 seconds)
• 2010 – Challenge Roth Iron-Distance Triathlon run (3 hours 35 minutes)
• 2011 – Brighton Marathon (3 hours 25 minutes, 37 seconds)
• 2012 – Challenge Wanaka Iron-Distance Triathlon run (3 hours 44 minutes, 22 seconds)

Now, I’ve already run a marathon this year (in late January) which hopefully means I’ve got some good endurance in me.  Returning back from holiday in mid February I had to sort out a plan of attack to get me to the London Marathon well trained and ready to get myself a good finishing time.  From talking to people and thinking about this myself I should be capable of a time close to or under three hours but I plan to aim for a time that will get me a guaranteed entry into London for the next two years – which is under 3 hours 10 minutes.

I’ve decided to spend the last few weeks concentrating primarily on my running (I’ll deal with the swimming and cycling after the marathon as I’m not doing an Ironman triathlon until, er, July!  Eek!) and decided to follow a training programme in the lead up to the race.   Although training plans are normally based on longer timescales (often 12, 18 or 24 weeks) I picked up a schedule from one of the many running books we have at home and decided to follow the final six or seven weeks to give me some strict focus.

Well, a week out from ‘London’ I think I’ve followed it really well.  I’ve done more speedwork/interval sessions.  My slow runs have been slower and my hard runs harder – which is something that it seems that many people rarely do (and I’ve not done in the past) – they normally just end up running most of their sessions at a similar pace to the others.

Ignoring the Ironman marathons I wanted to see how my weekly mileage compares across my standalone marathons (2009 London, 2011 Brighton, 2012 London) so here’s a little chart showing the milage completed each week in the run up to the race.  For this year as we head into race week I’ve put my projected (scheduled) mileage down as a dashed line.

Standalone marathon training mileage - 2009, 2011, 2012

It’s clear that my training this time around has been consistent and high – the past few weeks have been the most consistent that I think I’ve ever run so that all has to bode well next Sunday.  Looking at the erratic dips in the graphs, in 2009 I had some ITB pain in my left leg a couple of months out.  In 2011 the main problem was two weeks out from the Brighton Marathon when I was ill for a few days and just didn’t run at all.  Come race day I struggled much more than I should have and lost fifteen minutes in the second half of the race.

I’ll probably post another blog at the end of the week after I collect my race number but right now I’m feeling positive and really looking forward to running the London Marathon next weekend.

I had my last Sunday run of the training schedule today, wearing all the kit I might possibly need (hot/sunny/rainy/cold variables all covered with arm warmers, knee socks and visor). I only look marginally like a total doofus. Ahem. My marathon shoes also got a little spin, with their new hot pink Greeper laces too. I had a lovely run with Ann, Ray and a bunch from The Stragglers running club (I was wearing my Ranelagh vest so probably stuck out even more but never mind) through Bushy and Home Parks. I’ve never been in Home Park before, so that was good to be somewhere new. Upon my return home, David asked me all kinds of questions about where I went but quite honestly, I never remember, so maybe somewhere new actually isn’t important at all ;) Every now and again I heard a little call out from Ann or Ray about going too fast. They will be absolutely in my ears next Sunday if I start speeding up when I shouldn’t be. They are wonderful and have been so kind and helpful to me in my training. I do so hope that Ann gets the time at London that she deserves after all of her training and hard work.

I am currently swinging wildly between excitement and fear. I am assured that this is entirely normal before your first marathon. To that end, I am just going with it. David is, of course, being his usual calm self. Good job there’s not two of me in this house ;)

Usual pre-race preparation and faffing and suddenly we were in the road and off. My plan was to do 11 minutes per mile, not to set off too quickly, eat 6 gels (bleurgh) and drink my drinks. So, how did I do? Hmmm. Well, I set off too quickly (and then had another couple of miles around 8-10 which were also too fast), only managed 5 gels, did drink my drinks and more besides from the lovely water station marshals and finished in 11:11 average pace.

There were some Very Bad Times today. I was essentially running on my own, no iPod (as I won’t be wearing one in the marathon), bibbling along, walking much more than I thought I would, or indeed ever intended to. When David came past me at about 14.5 miles (it’s a lapped course), I said, “I don’t think I can do another lap”. My head was seriously messing with me.

Before I knew it, I had to make the decision about running a third lap or not. David told me in the car that he was worried I wouldn’t do it. He had a plan to come up to me at the finish and try to get me to run a bit further. Apparently, it wasn’t until the very last minute that I gave a double thumbs up and headed onto the third lap. I met Kirsty along here, walked whilst eating a gel and then we set off again. We had already decided she wasn’t going to run the final lap with me and to that end she’d done her run already. However, she tripped along with me for a little bit and at a convenient moment, she offered again to run with me, which I politely declined and off I went on my own again. I needed to do it on my own, I really did.

Anyway, I carried on, running the flats and downs and walking as fast as I could up the hills. I got a little burst of feeling good between about 18 and 19 miles, which essentially set me up for not finishing last! I have never been so happy to see a mile marker in a race. When I saw 20 miles, I was delighted. Any old fool can run a mile, right? Well, I had to walk some of it first, as it was the biggest uphill of the course. I ran my little heart out for the last half a mile and tried to finish strongly. Saw Danny just before the 21 mile marker, then David and Kirsty were a little further along and there was the sign I longed for. Finish. Medal. Job done :) A smidge under 4 hours (3:58-ish) and not quite last.

Thanks to Sherpa Kirsty for the suncream and drinks fetching and running and cheering and making me eat something! Thanks to David and Danny for cheering and waiting around for so bliddy long after they finished and to David for making me get in the cold bath when we got home! Lots of lessons learnt, which I guess is the point of doing a 21 mile race a few weeks away from your marathon ;)

The schedule I’ve been following had me down for a long run of 17 miles.  So, I’ve messed that up for starters by running 21 miles but never mind (my session on Saturday wasn’t as long as it could have been so the miles will balance themselves out).  The planned long run pace is also considerably slower than my expected marathon pace so the run shouldn’t feel too difficult and should also not require too much recovery meaning that my mid-week sessions can be run with enough intensity to make me stronger and faster.  That’s the plan anyway!

The run is split into a nine mile loop and then two six mile loops.  The first nine miles were done at around 7:58 pace (a little faster than planned but not too much) and then I gently increased the pace a little, running the next six miles at 7:54 pace.

When it came to the final lap I pushed much harder and ran the next six miles at 7:25 minute miling pace.

After a little over 2 hours and 45 minutes I was over the finish line collecting my medal.  The run went pretty much to plan.  My legs (currently) feel fine and my heart rate averaged 145 bpm which is bang on in my easy long run range.

I’ve another long run planned next weekend and then it’ll be time to start cutting back the milage in advance of the London Marathon.  I can’t wait.

In 2011 I ran my most ever mileage (only by about 20 miles more than in 2007, but it’s still more) with 1,346 miles (this isn’t 100 percent accurate as I didn’t log every run but it’s close enough).  This averages out to around 25 miles per week.  Not a great deal but with all the other training I’d been doing then it’s not too bad.

After the cancellation of the Luton Marathon in December 2010 focus was quickly shifted to the Brighton Marathon in April.  I wanted to run under three hours and 10 minutes to get a ‘Good For Age’ time for the London Marathon.  Unfortunately I was ill a couple of weeks beforehand and although I felt good on the day it didn’t last long and I missed out big time on getting a sub 3:10 race.

A few weeks later I ran (for the eighth year in a row) the Bognor Regis 10k which I love.  38:03 and a new personal time over the distance.  All good stuff.  Apart from parkrun events I ran a few smaller races, a 7k, a 10 miler, a hilly race called the Three Molehills (it was tough… real tough) and then the Bedford Half Marathon in December (after cycling 55 miles to the start!).

Triathlon wise things were pretty quiet.  The only races I did were Thames Turbo Triathlon Club events – I raced their annual aquathlon (run and swim) and two of their sprint triathlons.  I got my best time ever in the August race which I was really pleased with.  I had entered a couple of half ironman distance events but for one reason or another I didn’t make the start line of either.  So.. my triathlon racing was a couple of sprint events with the last one in August.  Probably not the greatest preparation for the Ironman distance event that I’d entered in January 2012.

Finally here’s the (usual) graph showing my running distances over the past few years…

• I didn’t want to injure myself as cross country courses are far from the smooth roads of, er…. roads.
• Saturday afternoon racing (which is when all these races are held) didn’t seem to fit well into my diary.
• Because of the fear of injury and a big race planned (an Ironman race I did in January in New Zealand) I didn’t want to take any more risks here.

So, with the Ironman race behind me and a 17 mile run scheduled as part of my London Marathon training…. and an experiment that the running club were doing by putting the race on a Sunday morning, and the familiar (and just a little bumpy terrain of Richmond Park) I really had no excuses but to take part.  As the race is just under 10 miles long I just had to squeeze in a few miles beforehand to make the total up to 17 miles.  The plan was for about 14 of these miles to be close to marathon pace (around 7:12 minute miling pace).

I put in about 6.75 miles warm-up before the race and then got into position.  As it’s a handicap race everyone sets of at different times (determined by a secret calculation by the club ‘handicapper’) and I felt I had a pretty favourable start time.  With about 15 seconds to go Andy B., said to me something like “You’re going to win this if you put in a good run. My money’s on you!”

I set off far too fast (closer to 10k pace rather than 10 mile pace – and I don’t normally do a 6.75 mile hilly warm-up before a 10k) but kept on pushing.  Before long I caught up with a couple of runners ahead of me and I was feeling alright.  My plan was to push fairly hard and see if anyone overtakes me, and if they do I’d then take stock of the situation and decide what to do next.

Well, about three quarters of the way round the first of two laps I was overtaken by Andy himself.  He said he wasn’t expecting to see me so soon (I felt the same) and he was absolutely flying.  I didn’t have a hope in hell of keeping up with him.

I completed the first lap (about 4.95 miles) in 33.20 which is around 6:44 miling pace.  Hmn, just a touch faster than 7:12 miling (especially on a hilly course).  I knew for sure that setting off so fast was going to make thing tough on the second lap and I wasn’t wrong there.

I really had to push harder to maintain any kind of similar pace (which I understandably couldn’t manage after setting off too fast) and my second lap was one minute 50 seconds slower (34:50) with a pace of around 7:02 miling.  To be honest I thought I was much slower than that during the second lap so I’m quite positive about the second lap time.  Had it been a more important race to me I would have controlled my pacing much better.

With the final results in I finished in 68 minutes 10 seconds and was seventh overall and sixth fastest.  I clearly managed to run 14 miles at marathon pace (actually much faster than I should have) which I’m not too worried about.

My next long run is a 21 miler at the weekend where I’ll be pacing this one exactly as planned…

Anyway, I have been trying to keep to my Hal Higdon Schedule (novice 1 if you’re wondering) but things have conspired against me a little. However, here we are, 6 weeks away. 18 miles on the schedule. I’ve only run 13.2 miles before. In my head, if I didn’t do this 18, there was no way I could even contemplate standing on the start line at London.

David has blogged about what NTLM is, so I shall not do that. I had been very nervous about 18 miles, it’s quite a long way you know ;) Anyway, off we set. My plan was 11 minutes per mile, I had to really not set off too fast, which is my habit. I ran most of the first 2 laps with Emma, caught up to Ann and Jan, then along came Anna and Deb, who were a little bit late, so I ran with them for a while…kept trying to send people away as I didn’t want to slow them down but they wouldn’t go.

The miles ticked on by, I was having some gels and sports drink, before we knew it (ahem!) we were on the 5th lap. I really should have had my 4th gel about a kilometre before I did but there you go, that’s what you do these practise runs for I guess. So, last gel, then off we went onto the 6th lap. At 16.75 miles I lost the plot a bit and threw my toys out of the pram! I sent everyone away (what goes on in my head to do that?) and plodded on – still on my target pace though. Before long, Deb came back for me and I had done it. I had run 18 miles. Average pace was 10:54, so perfect.

David had whizzed along for his 18+ miles and greeted me with drinks at the end. I was feeling a bit wibbly wobbly, so drank some milkshake, got some warm clothes on and after a chat in the sunshine, headed off home. Thanks so much to Anna, Deb and Ann who ran with me for much of the time (or tried to before I banished them!).

Things went a big wrong at this point, I felt awful in the car, didn’t know what to do with myself. TMI Alert: Got home, in the front door and threw up! Luckily only into my hands as I ran up the stairs and not onto the carpet ;) All the stuff I had consumed after running, gone into the toilet. Rats. Tried to drink something else a bit later, once again down the loo. I don’t know why, there’s been a few suggestions made, I will try other things. Either way, I felt rotten for quite a few hours.

I am trying to take the positives from this run, currently the throwing up experience is over-shadowing my delight at running 18 miles…but I will try and let the delight back in later tonight :)

The ‘rules’ are as follows…

• Start around 9am
• Start at the Bushy parkrun current finish line.
• Run the Bushy parkrun course as many times as you like, looping round the start line and finishing line trees.
• Anyone can join in and run any number of laps at any time at any speed, either alone or in groups.
• No official timing, time yourself if you’d like.
• Friends and supporters congregate at the parkrun finish line to give encouragement and support, or maybe just enjoy an alfresco picnic/refreshments and a social.
• People can run as many laps as they like.
• It’s Not the London Marathon, cos it’s not a race, it’s not a marathon distance for everyone, and anyone can join in anytime.

The date was set for Sunday 11 March and a large number of us (around 45) found ourselves on the ‘old startline’ for the Bushy Park Time Trial parkrun.  After a quick photograph we all set off to run anything from 3 miles up to 18 or more back and forth on the Bushy parkrun route.

I’m currently in training for the London Marathon so had plans for a long run. Today I wanted (well, a book I found on the shelf at home that has some schedules in it) to do around 17 miles, but at a slower pace to my normal long runs.  If I can follow this schedule then my long runs will be slower than normal, my faster runs faster than normal and then my marathon will be spot on perfect.  That’s the plan anyway!

The start of Not The London Marathon 2012 - Photo by Suzan Baker

I set off with fellow parkrunners Hayden and Andy and the three of us had a good chat for about 12 or 13 miles.  At this point Andy and Hayden headed for the ice cream van (they’re not marathon training) and I headed for a final two ‘laps’ of the parkrun route.  I pushed a little harder this time and closer to my target marathon pace and had a lovely run.  Just shy of 19 miles ticked off.  OK, so its more than the ‘scheduled’ 17 but that’ll do.

Part way through the run it was lovely to see Roger and Gill Wilson out in the park.  Roger originally came up with the idea of ‘Not The London Marathon’ so I’m sure he was out in the park just to check up on us all and make sure that we weren’t cutting any corners!

It was a beautiful day in the park, lots of us out running and we were all giving each other plenty of support as we crossed each other multiple times during this long run.  After finishing a group of us had a good chat, some coffee, some cake and a little bit of stretching which enjoying the Sunday morning (now lunchtime) sunshine in the park.

We arrived early, milled about a bit and went for a warm-up, it was pretty chilly too. On said warm-up we ran around the Parade Ring and I was instructed by David that when I ran around it in the race, I should do my best “Showing Horse” prancing and parading. Ahem. Soon enough, we were outside and waiting in the blustery drizzle for the off. I decided to go for the “triathlete look” of a visor (without this I wouldn’t have been able to see with the rain) and arm-warmers (wearing only a vest it was colder than I would like). I was obviously at the back, with no real race plan as the course looked a little tricky. We whizzed down a hill, leapt over some puddles, ran up another hill, through the stables and past the horse showering area (really!), around the Parade Ring (where yes, I pranced as instructed, I know it was a race but it made me smile), along some bark chippings, then down again to the turn-around and unfortunately back up again By the time I had was heading up the horrible hill for the first time, the lead guys we flying down. Wow! They really do fly! I came through the finish area and off for a second lap – at least I hadn’t been lapped. I went through half way in 28:25.

I thanked the marshals as much as I could – and the marshal at the stables told me she loved my arm-warmers – and went around again. I dug in as best as I could, determined not to let the lady ahead of me out of my sight, as she’d been a little bit ahead of me for the whole race. I got to the top of the hill which really truly was not very pleasant, went past her and pushed on for the final bit to the finish. She went past me again (and was the only person who overtook me through the race after the start had settled down) and we were there, over the line.

I had tried quite hard and recorded a watch time of 56:59, with a gun time of 57:14. Either way, I was quite pleased. I was most pleased with how hard I had tried and how I had managed to just about hang onto my pace for a second half of 28:34. Originally I thought I had done a negative split – but that was on gun time – so I haven’t. Ah well. Still not bad for me to only “lose” 9 seconds over a tough second lap of a 10k.

Look how much fun I'm having!

Apparently they are good for you (according to some coaches/runners) apparently they reduce your immune system (according to others) and apparently David likes to torture me.  Whichever you choose to believe, I was greeted on my arrival home from my longest ever training run on Tuesday with a bath of cold water. Nice. I have to say, my legs were much better afterwards even though I only managed 5 minutes in it, I think it’s meant to be minimum 10 minutes.

Race day arrived and Sharon and I arrived super early (as we pretty much always do at these races).  We went for a good warm up jog where we checked out most of the two lap course.  You run past the stables at the race course and then around the ‘parade ring.’  It was really quite an interesting course although there were plenty of 180 degree (or more) turns and lots of little steep climbs to really take you off of any sort of steady pace.  Oh, and the general course was pretty hilly too.  Clearly not a super fast 10k.

Highlights of the course courtesy of my GPS watch!

I went into the race having no idea of what I was capable of.  I’d not intended to race hard as this wasn’t a key race but naturally as the gun went all those plans flew out of the window.  In the back of my mind I would be perfectly happy with a sub 40 minute run but I should be capable of much better (well, on a flatter course that is).

After a quick race briefing I got myself close to the start line although kept clear of the fast boys at the front (including Bushy parkrun regulars Richard Stannard and Mike Trees).

The start immediately headed downhill and it was pretty fast and furious.  There were twists, turns, people everywhere and some big puddles in the road/path.  Oh, and it was windy and raining too!  Looking at your GPS early on to get an idea of pace was pointless because of the initial steep downhill section.  In fact I don’t think I checked my GPS at all during the run other than at the halfway point to see how I was doing.

Reaching halfway my watch said 18:43 which equates to a 37:26 overall time.  On a hilly windy course and with my 10k personal best being 38:02 this was going to get interesting!

I found myself with a couple of other runners and we all pushed hard and kept each other really close by (close enough that I felt my feet get ‘clipped’ by one of the others on at least one occasion)!

The second lap was tough and I was really digging in to keep up with the other runners around me.  Heading up towards the finish the two runners closeby made a slight gap on me and sprinted to the finish line.  I was perfectly happy not to attempt a three way sprint and left them to it!

Crossing the line my time was 37 minutes 56 seconds – which means that yes, I slowed down in the second half but did mean that I got myself a new personal best over the 10k distance.  Seven seconds… I’ll take that for now.

As for the race – I really enjoyed it.  The course was tough, lots of turns and exposed to the elements in places.  Well organised and an absolute bargain.  I’d certainly do this race again in the future.

My next 10k race will be in May where hopefully I’ll have another bash at getting another personal best.  In between then I have the small matter of the London Marathon to deal with…

The sun rises over St. Peters park

As we approached the end of an amazing long holiday we found ourselves at the start courtesy of our friend with a car, fellow triathlete, occasional parkrunner and now Sydney local Grant.

It was an early start for us after a great dinner/beer/wine combo the night before but parkrun is a priority, right? For us it must be as we had to change our flight back to London a few months ago so that we could take part in the Sydney event. This weeks training has been non existent with my last run being a week ago as part of the Christchurch Saturday Runners group in New Zealand.

Runners gather near the start shortly before 8am

Sharon and I (and Grant) rolled up to the starting area armed with our parkrun barcodes and proudly wearing our 100 Club t-shirts. This was the fourth running of the Sydney event so the idea of a 100 club probably meant nothing to probably 99% of the runners there.

I introduced myself to Paul, the run director and he commented our on tops. Nice. At about 7:55 we all moved to the start area and he described the route and what to do at the finish. He pointed out the first place runner from the previous runs and suggested that we just follow him!

Run briefing

I didn’t bother with my GPS watch this morning instead just running to feel (that is, feeling unfit) and with a close eye on what was happening around me.

Right on time the run started courtesy of a loud shout of GO from a child who’d been drafted in for this very important volunteering role!

We all headed off (just over 100 of us) into the park, we then turned a sharp right and then had time to settle into things. Gentle undulations were the order of the day. Next thing were were on the pavement (or is it sidewalk in Australia?) and running around the outskirts of the park. I had a few runners close by to me and was in 4th position. No idea of times/pace.

After running around most of the park you head back in to be presented with “Heartbreak Hill” – shortish but tough with a lovely little downhill on the other side. It was here I heard someone come up close behind me. You then run around a cricket pitch oval and during this part I dropped back to 5th position. Course marking was normally through big chalk arrows drawn on the tarmac paths (which were great) or a marshall.

The weather was mostly cloudy but very warm but the main difficulty for me was the humidity. It was incredibly muggy out there and really hard work. Then again hard work is the underlying theme of 5k running so you just have to get on with it knowing that it’s not too far to the finish.  Looking at a weather observations website at 8am it was 20.1 degrees with 86 percent humidity.

I managed to hang on to 5th place (fairly comfortably) but certainly without really pushing myself. Within seconds of crossing the finishing line I was offered a glass of water from another young girl which was bliss. Thank you.

If you have run a parkrun before then every event I’ve done feels like your home run. We were given finishing tokens which were the same as back ‘home’ and the timer/scanner equipment was the same. An efficient queue for barcode scanning and happy marshals made for the trademark parkrun experience.

Sharon crossing the finishing line

I then chatted to some of the volunteers and then watched Grant and then Sharon come into finish. After a chat we headed off to the cafe which is really close to the start/finish area and sat down with a drink and reflected on the pain that was Sydney parkrun. On the way to the cafe (kiosk) Sharon and I posed for a photo with our lovely black 100 club tops.

Sydney Park is beautiful and a fantastic place to run. The course is by no means easy and the Australian summer weather does little to help that! The event seems to be growing rapidly right now after some great publicity during the week. The only thing I do worry about is that the park was super busy with dog walkers this morning. I didn’t hear any complaints but if runner numbers continue to grow it won’t be long before some conflict appears. I’m sure both the runners and dog walkers can use the park at 8am on a Saturday morning together, but there may be a few bumps on the way.

The second discipline of parkrun - post run coffee and conversation

With the success of Sydney parkrun as we saw it today I can see the need for another parkrun in one of the other city districts coming real soon.

It was a great morning and everyone seemed really friendly. As I sit here writing this post somewhere over the Pacific Ocean en-route from Sydney to London (via Auckland and Los Angeles) it was so worth changing our flights around and paying a little extra to have the chance to experience a truly international parkrun.

Whilst we’ve been here we’ve managed to take in a 5k fun run/race and I (David) did a little ironman distance triathlon two weeks ago.  As we’re preparing to leave the south island and are in Christchurch a little hunting around found me the website of Saturday Runners – organised running/training groups that run regularly in the city.

The plan for this weeks run, starting at 7:30am (prompt!) was distances ranging from 3k up to about 16km.  This sounded perfect – we could decide what we wanted to do on the day.  Even better was that we ‘know’ one of the coaches/organisers – Bevan from the IM Talk podcast that I listen to religiously.  I dropped him a message beforehand to let him know that we were thinking of coming along.

The first session is free and then you can sign up for a five or ten session plan.  There’s a lot of people involved and taking part and just like at a parkrun event people appear from seemingly nowhere shortly before the 7:30am start.

David and Bevan - with hair looking like they've been dragged through a hedge backwards!

After parking up our ‘monster’ campervan near the meeting point we strolled over.  Bevan spotted us (he knows I’m pretty tall) and came over to say hello.  We had a good chat with him and then got chatting to another guy who’s hooked on this kind of thing – group running and fitness.

Just before 7:30 some pre-run announcements were made, maps of the route distributed and the group ‘leaders’ introduced (who were on bikes).  It was an out-and-back route and you could choose what you wanted to do whenever, although for some groups (there’s a 5k and 10k training group they had slightly ‘stricter’ schedules to try and work to).

Saturday Runners pre-run briefing

Shortly after setting off I was running with a couple of others and then one lady mentioned that she’d done the Wanaka half ironman triathlon a couple of weeks ago (the same event where I did the full distance race).  I kind of recognised her but she recognised me and said “David, what brings you here today…?” – it turns out that it was Nicolette, a lady who I’d met at Wanaka on the day before the race when I went out for a swim practice and met up with a couple of other swimmers (Nicolette being one of them) and we swam and chatted for about 45 minutes or so.  Although I am useless at recognising people and putting names to faces, when you’ve only seen someone from the head up wearing a swim cap, wetsuit and out swimming all bets are off on me remembering anything!  I knew she was from Christchurch but certainly wasn’t expecting to ‘bump’ into someone here!

Anyway, the two of us ended up running for just under 10 miles (around 8 minute mile pace) and had a good old chat about Wanaka, the Saturday Runners group, our travels around New Zealand, the Christchurch earthquakes and other bits and pieces.  The time flew by.

Heading back to the start/finish area Bevan came alongside on his bike and told us to pick up the pace for a final sprint race to the finish!  Oh dear.  There was even a small crowd of people there at the finish area (some drinking coffee as there was a coffee van at the finish just for the runners) who cheered us on.  We had quite a race to the finish which was a bit of fun.

Afterwards finishing our runs Sharon and I had a coffee from the van (lovely it was too) and chatted some more.

At the top of the picture are peoples houses. At the bottom are shipping containers there to try and protect the road from any further falls from above!

Before long it was about 9:30am and time to head off on our travels for the rest of the day.  During our short stay in Christchurch we’ve done some pretty cool things and seen plenty of ruined buildings from the events of the past 12 months.  The city seems to be strong and coping well and although we’ve been self-sufficient in our van for the past four weeks we were more than happy to ‘throw some money’ over the counter to some of the local businesses to try and help support their efforts during these tough times.

I did an ironman distance triathlon called Challenge Wanaka in New Zealand.  It was an amazing race.  It was hard work.  I think I did pretty well.  The end.

The long report…

Before I get on with it I wrote a number of posts in the week leading up to the race which may (or may not) be of interest.

Race start was set for 6:30am and as we like to be well prepared in advance the alarm was set for 3:30am. As we woke the van was moving around with the breeze outside. Damn it. Today could just be a tough one. Just after 4am we arrived at the race site in the campervan and found a car parking space literally 3 minutes walk from the main race marquee.

Coffee, suncream, and half a bowl of porridge (I'd already eaten a bowful and was just 'tidying up')!!!

Breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee and a big bowl of porridge, although actually probably no bigger than I’d have at home on a normal day! Sharon and I headed off to the transition area where I made final preparations to the bike – this involved filling up the little ‘storage box’ on the top tube of the bike with energy gels and then filling up both drinks bottles with some Powerade drink that we bought in a supermarket a few days ago. Once the bike computer was turned on everything was ready.

The flags close to transition were blowing frantically in the wind and almost directly onshore. This meant that it would be a choppy swim when daylight arrived.

5:15am and a little apprehensive about the day that lies ahead

Shortly after 6am I put my wetsuit on, had a couple of Immodium tablets (to keep ‘things’ at bay!) and an energy gel. Then it was time to head off to the swim start.

The Swim

The race starts on the beach where we run into the water and after about 30-40 metres in it is deep enough to start swimming.

Returning to the beach after a short 'warm-up' in the lake

Before the start most of the competitors (there were 238 finishers in the full ‘iron distance’ event myself included had a little swim to try and get acclimatised to the water temperature (16 degrees). A few minutes before the start a helicopter appeared overhead and we were all called back to shore. A few handshakes and ‘good luck’ messages and suddenly the race began. I rushed into the water, took a few leaping steps (handy when you’ve got long legs) and then got straight into front crawl.

I started near the far right of the field on the outside as I’m really not a big fan of a crazy swim melee that takes place and especially so with the water being rough. Although the water was rough it actually wasn’t as bad as it had been the last few days when I did practice swims (on Wednesday and Friday). It still was choppy but not horrifically so.

The first leg of each of the two swim laps was going to be the worst as we headed directly into the waves. It was very bumpy and being able to bi-lateral breath (breathe either side) whilst swimming was a great benefit as most of the out I had to breathe to the left to minimise the chance of getting a gallon of water in my mouth each breath.

The lake was cold but with my neoprene swim hat and the adrenaline of the race I didn’t feel the cold one bit. There wasn’t a great deal of contact between myself and other swimmers – the occasional contact of arms, legs and feet but nothing excessive. Everyone just seemed well behaved.

Although the lake was choppy the visibility underwater was still a few meters, which meant on much of the course you could see the sandy bottom of the lake. I saw a couple of other competitors swim caps on the bottom during the swim. One was an elite woman’s cap so perhaps whoever it was had got involved in some feisty action with someone else out there!

Sighting was nigh on impossible on parts of the course as you were heading directly into the sun, which was coming up over a clear blue sky. You just had to try your best and keep an eye out for the marker buoys every 50m apart.

I spent a fair bit of the swim very close to a female racer – she must had been tiny as her wetsuit didn’t stop half way down her legs (like mine) and she had these little neoprene booties on. I tried my best to stay close to get some sort of a draft but towards the end we drifted apart.

Exiting the lake and reaching for the wetsuit zipper

Coming to shore was a welcome relief – as soon as I stood up when the water was quite shallow I glanced at my watch which said 1 hour 11. That’ll do nicely all things considering.

Coming out of the water there was a good crowd of supporters on the beach (including Sharon) which was great and as I ran past her I said something like ‘that wasn’t too bad at all.’

Transition is actually quite big – I got my wetsuit unzipped to my waist (swim cap and goggles still on my head as there’s no point me holding them at this point), ran to collect my swim-to-bike bag and then you have to run about 100m or so across some grass, head up over a temporary bridge that crosses the main road, go back down and then run into the changing tent. Wetsuit off, socks and bike shoes on, arm warmers on (it’s pretty cold at 7:45am), sunglasses on and then run to my bike.

The first pirate 'sighting' of the day! Arrgggghhhh!!

Total swim time was 1 hour 12 minutes and 3 seconds. This was 82nd fastest, 64th male and 26th in my age group (30-39).

Transition one time was 3 minutes 56. This was 39th fastest, 30th male and 9th in my age group.

I think the nature of the entire day was a case of JFDI (just f**king do it), or just get on with it, or HTFU (harden the f**k up). This theme continued all day…

The Bike

Getting on the bike was a welcome relief. I had a plan which was just to push to a power output hopefully in the region of 230-235 watts. On the uphills I’d not get out the saddle and push like hell or anything like that. The idea is to put a constant and steady effort in throughout and not have any extreme ‘spikes’ of effort, as these will haunt me later!

Bike training has been reasonable lately although I’d not managed to get in all the rides I wanted to for a variety of reasons. I put in some good miles before Christmas but from 30 December to 17 January I didn’t ride a single mile on my road bike. Far from ideal but those were the facts and I had to deal with it. Maybe the ‘extended’ taper would help me feel fresh on the day.

Heading out of town I immediately overtook one of the female ‘pro’ racers. Perhaps she had a bad swim or is a great biker/runner (I don’t think I saw her again all day). I find that it’s so easy to get carried away early on in the bike (and run) and I really wanted to avoid this.

Bizarrely after about 40 minutes as I approached an incline I changed down from the big ring at the front to the small one and my chain came off. I cannot remember the last time my chain came off like this and typical it happens mid-race. Well, I tried about two of three times shifting back and forth to get it back on and it was having none of it. I was just about to slow down and get off the bike after one last attempt to re-engage the chain and lo and behold it clicked in place. Lovely. 30 seconds saved works for me.

There were a few other cyclists around me and in the first 15-20 miles I overtook a handful of other riders. After about 22 miles you head back through the centre of Wanaka and got some good cheers from the crowds. For the remaining 90 miles there’s very little support – just a few people here and there – and the aid stations. It’s just you, the bumpy roads and some other cyclist a quarter of a mile up the road that you’re chasing down (or trying not to lose sight of!).

When you get to about 70 miles you reach the town of Cromwell – which is where it has been said that this is where the race begins. This is often because of the headwind you normally face all the way back to Wanaka (oh, only 40 or so miles then!!). The wind on the first part coming back was mostly side-on so not too much of a problem but then later on from about 85 miles in you make a left turn heading back towards Wanaka and that’s when the headwind hit you. The wind had been increasing throughout the morning and oh my, it was howling at times. Everyone was in the same boat and you just get on with it but I have to say it wasn’t very pleasant!

One thing I like about this size of field is that it is pretty much a 112 mile solo time trial on the bike. There are no packs of riders like you get at a big Ironman event (which you can spend time and effort trying to avoid so you don’t get penalised for drafting). You just spend time on your own pushing the pace and doing what you can to stay fast and powerful. I didn’t see any drafting at all and everyone I went past dropped back out of the ‘draft zone’ that’s specified in the race handbook and likewise I dropped back whenever anyone overtook me. It was a fair race all round from what I could see.

As for myself, I started fast and powerful and then it got tougher. Early on in the ride I was comfortably pushing above 230 watts and then watched the number slowly decrease! I just found it difficult to keep the effort up. Perhaps I over-estimated what I would be able to do after a 2.4 mile swim and not the ideal taper (about three weeks!). Anyway, as the ride went on I think most people around me were in the same sort of position as my actual position in the field didn’t change much at all. After 34km I was 38th fastest on the bike, I then moved to 32nd, 28th, 29th and then 30th and by the end of the 180km bike (112 miles) I was 31st fastest rider.

Regarding on the bike nutrition – I had about eight PowerBar gels that I’d brought from home and then took High Five gels that were given out at the aid stations. I took one gel approximately every 20 minutes during the bike. After you’ve ridden for a few hours the time flies by and you look at your cycle computer and say “Oh no, surely its not 20 minutes already.” You just have to get on with it even though they’re not the most delightful things to ‘eat.’ I will have had around 15 gels on the bike, together with the one before the start making it 16 so far! Drink wise I took regular refills of the High Five electrolyte drink that was available and also took two or three bottles of water to help wash down the gels.

I set my GPS to give me a bike split every 10 miles. Not for any real reason other than to get a feel for how the headwind/tailwinds were helping (or not!). The first 40 miles I was very close to 30 minutes for each 10 miles. Then I did a super fast 23:45, 26:39 and then 26:21. This was the lovely tailwind down towards Cromwell. The splits then ‘fell apart’ because of the headwind back to Wanaka. The splits then went 30:02, 33:08, 36:19 and 35:51. It just got tougher and tougher as we headed back to transition.

It was lovely to return to Wanaka and my bike computer had the distance down as 111.72 miles. Spot on I’d say.

Total ride time was 5 hours 37 minutes and 23 seconds. This was the 31st fastest of the day, 25th male and 9th in my age group. Clearly I’m a better cyclist than swimmer!

After finishing the bike you run into the transition area and rack your bike. Cycle helmet comes off and then you pick up your run bag and head to the changing tent. I put clean socks on (my bike socks seemed to be a little, er, wet ;), running shoes, grabbed a bit of Vaseline to put on where I thought there may be rubbing, got my GPS turned on and away I went. Much like in Transition 1 you have to run up and over the little bridge that goes across the main road. Sharon was cheering me on and no doubt pleased to see that I was off the bike and onto what I enjoy the most.

Transition two time was 2 minutes 30. This was 35th fastest, 31st male and 8th in my age group.

The Run

Heading out onto the run I got my usual cheer from Sharon who’d been patiently hanging around the main race/transition area as this was the best chance to see me during the day. The run is two laps – of 13.1 miles…

Weather wise at this point it was quite warm (low to mid 20′s I believe), the sun was blazing but the wind was truly howling. It must have been getting close to gale force in the gusts – it really was that windy.

After a slight climb away from the main ‘high street’ you head onto the gravel off-road ‘outlet track’ which goes on for around seven miles (11km). Earlier in the week both Sharon and I had separately run the first few miles of the course and we both agreed that it was ‘a bit like Richmond Park.’ Little did we know…

Before long the gravel turned into sand and you were running very close to a beach. I’ve no idea how the bikes that follow the race leaders got through that section at any speed. It was actually only sandy for about a minute or so but this pretty much marked the start of a whole new section of the run course…  In addition to the ‘terrain’ it was hot, sunny and blowing a gale in exposed parts of the course.  I had to pull my visor down slightly over my ears to try and stop it from being blown off of my head.

About 2/3rds along the outlet track the path narrowed (just wide enough for two people to pass – not run together side by side) and entered a densely wooded area. It went up, down, left, right, all of those together at the same time and was frequently covered with large tree roots (and trees) as obstacles. I wasn’t expected this at all!! It was tough. You couldn’t get any sort of steady pace going in this section. There was even a narrow wooden ‘bridge’ to run across (obviously without any sort of handrails). This was more like a cross-country running race than an iron-distance marathon!

On a couple of occasions during this segment of the course (seemingly in the middle of nowhere) you’d come round a corner and be ‘met’ by one of the official photographers! Bizarre.

Some crazy looking trees out on the run course

There were aid stations dotted around the run course offering a selection of items – water, electrolyte drink, coke (for the caffeine and sugar), high-five gels, bananas and some little chewy sweets. Additionally at the ‘start’ of each aid station was someone with a dustbin full of water and big sponges.

At every aid station I took a sponge and squeezed it over the top of my head to try and get some cool water over me. I then took an energy gel and then water and electrolyte drink. After the first couple of aid stations I got into a more efficient system – when I saw an aid station approaching have a gel (as I’d try and keep at least one or two in the back pocket of my top) and then use the aid station liquids to wash it down and get a new gel.

Coming out of the wooded section at around seven miles you then reach a road called ‘Gunn Road’ – this is a nasty incline that gets steeper and steeper are you reach the summit.

It is about half a mile long and was guaranteed to sap every bit of your energy and slow you to walking pace no matter how prepared you were for it! At the top was a (very welcome) aid station and then you were back on more gravel for the return to Wanaka. On my first ‘ascent’ it took five minutes.

After a while you head into a residential area and are running either close to the edge of the road or pavements. There were a couple more hills (most unwelcome!) and then about 2.5 miles from the end of the lap you look over Wanaka from above. You see the race marquee. You see the main road. You see the finish line. You are so close (probably about half a mile direct) and then the bloody course makes you turn right and head away!

I’m not being negative in any way about the course – much of the scenery and surroundings were beautiful. It was just hard work to run and even harder to enjoy the view!

During this section I could hear a helicopter overhead meaning that the race leader was closing in on me (him of course on his second lap). A few minutes later I was overtaken by the eventual winner (who crossed the line in 8 hours 41 minutes and 53 seconds).

Hard work heading back into town for the turnaround and another 13.1 miles!

You eventually head back towards the start/finish/turnaround area and it’s slightly downhill. I passed Sharon who was about 500m from the turnaround point and I said something like ‘it’s f**king tough’ as I ran past her.

As there was a half-iron distance race taking place at the same time there were many runners of that event on the course and as you head to the finish area on Ardmore Street you head left if you’re finishing or right if you’re one your first lap of the marathon. Unfortunately I headed right as I had another lap to go. My first lap took me approximately 1 hour 48 minutes 32 seconds. An even split second half would mean a 3:37 marathon time. Hmn, quite unlikely as I’ve never even splitted in a marathon! Not least an ironman where it really gets tougher as the day goes on. Maybe I should try and even/negative split it one day…

Heading back out of town when I ran past Sharon she said to me ‘I know it’s shit but keep strong’ or something very similar. After running the first of two laps I knew exactly what I’d be up against for the next 13.1 miles and I knew it would be tough.

Every aid station on the second lap I walked (rather than ran) through (I started this practice towards the end of the first lap) and followed the same routine – have a gel, grab a sponge and squeeze it over me, take a cup of water, electrolyte and coke and briskly keep walking (with the three cups). Drink them all (in any old order!) and then discard the cups and continue running.

Beautiful scenery on the Lake Wanaka Outlet Track

Three iron-distance races in and I firmly believe that (at least for myself) a nutrition strategy consisting of gels and no solid food seems to work and not cause me any real stomach problems. I’ve always tried to avoid coke on the course (although I do remember having I think one cup at Challenge Roth in 2010) but I had no problems with it at all this time and was happy mixing up coke/water/electrolyte drinks! Sharon does say that I have a ‘stomach of iron’ which I think is pretty handy. I’m of the opinion that if it’s good for me then I just have it and get on with it – no matter how it tastes.

About half way through the second lap I remember being overtaken by two men – I thought that it was likely that they were in my age group although the only way to tell is from their race number – which on the run is worn to the front.

From here on I tried to keep them in my sights. I had no plan to ‘race’ them as such but didn’t want to lose them. The run was very quiet (competitor wise) and it made a change to have someone close by running at a similar pace. Second time up ‘Gunn Road’ one of the guys walked it whilst I was about 20 metres behind I mentally didn’t want to walk so kept running/jogging. It wasn’t fast and was in fact pretty much the same speed as the chap walking ahead of me but I wanted to not walk the hill. I kept running. It took about 5 minutes 30 or so to get to the top.

I look like I'm having fun here. Oh how the pictures hides a whole world of hurt!

Although there was not a great deal of support on the run course it was really good to receive. I got a few pirate related comments and ‘aaarrrgghhh’ sounds from people and it really provided a welcome boost. I recall seeing outside one house a family had put a sofa and a couple of chairs out in the road and were cheering runners along from a very comfortable setting! On two or three occasions during the run course local residents had put garden water sprinklers in the road to give us a spray. This was most welcome. I also recall a couple of children with binoculars who were looking at you from a distance to see your name (which is printed on your race number) when then personally cheering you on when you passed them.

I’d been doing all sorts of calculations about finishing times during the run and I remember hoping that a sub-11 hour race was my ‘public’ goal (to be honest, it was my only goal!). Well, it looked like I was safe for sub-11 hours and then I was thinking about the possibility of going sub 10:45. I was thinking things like, ‘If I can get my last three miles under 9 minute miling it’s on.’ For someone who’s run all their long runs normally under 7:30 milling this should be a ridiculously easy but I tell you, after 10 hours of constant exercise, the heat, the hills and the wind things are very very different. However, it seemed I could just do it…

Heading into the final 4k (the bit where you see the finish but are nowhere near it!) I decided it was time to make my move and dig really deep. It’s only 4k – less than a parkrun!

At the last aid station I took my usual cocktail of drinks but didn’t walk through – I ran through trying to balance three drinks at the same time! I just didn’t want to slow down at all – I was on a mission!

I didn’t take a gel at this point as it was so close to the finish (and quite frankly I’d had enough of them during the day already!). I’d say my gel count probably totalled around 25 for the day!

I dug in hard and slowly made progress against the men who’d previously overtaken me – and before long I slowly edged past each of them. I now just had to hope that they’d got nothing left in them and that my move was decisive.

Thankfully it was, and they were both in my age group.

Heading towards the finish on Ardmore Street was fantastic. The hard work was done and all I had to do was try and savour the moment. My watch was on 10 hours 39 minutes and I knew I wouldn’t get to the finish before it hit 10:40 but that wasn’t a problem – I was well inside of 10:45.

It was 5:10pm and there were lots of people out and about. The finish line looked busy (ok, nowhere near as busy as a race like Challenge Roth or an Ironman branded event) and loud music was playing and a guy was welcoming home the runners. I headed left this time (I’d probably die if I tried a third lap!) and ran straight for the line. I saw Sharon near the finish which was great and as I ran past the MC he said something like ‘this guy’s tall – he could be a basketball player.’ The man then raised his hand to high-five me and I jumped in the air. Mid-air I thought ‘this could all go wrong!’ but somehow I landed on both feet and kept going without any sort of embarrassing tumble!

Seconds later I crossed the line. What a f***ing relief! That was tough. My GPS has recorded the run as 26.19 miles and everyone of them being tough. My run time was 3 hours 44 minutes and 22 seconds. I’m really happy with that seeing as though my time on the much flatter course at Challenge Roth two years ago was 3 hours 35 (and I didn’t measure 26.2 miles there either although you should never fully trust these GPS devices). In Switzerland in 2009 I ran 3:47:26 on a very very flat course. For info my second half split was 1:55:50 (1st half was 1:48:32).

So… overall my time was 10 hours 40 minutes and 15 seconds. I was 30th overall, 23rd male and 7th in my age group. These numbers (overall and male) include all the ‘pro’ athletes who raced as well. Had I not have got past those two other chaps in the last few km’s I would have been 32nd (and 9th in my age group). Digging in that bit extra was in my opinion well worth the effort. If I could have swim, biked or run 15 minutes faster that would have made an even bigger difference and put me 3rd in my age group!

Straight after the finish you are presented with your medal (ah, lovely) and then you head to the ‘recovery tent’ – what this means is you get weighed, get fed, get massaged and get a finishers t-shirt.

First stop… the weigh in. I’ve not had this at a race before and they promptly told me that I’d lost about 7kg during the race. I think it must have been slightly less as when I was weighed at race registration a couple of days before I’d just eaten lunch and had more clothes on. Either way, around a 5kg weight loss it not ideal! I sat down, drunk a few cups of electrolyte drink and then headed back out of the tent to see Sharon who I knew would be waiting for me. After meeting up and trying to describe the day in about 30 seconds I decided to lie on the ground to rest my legs. Sharon suggested that I was looking a little pale and should probably head back to the recovery tent for more drink and some food.

We headed back and spent about 30 minutes near the St. John Ambulance staff who kept an eye on me and told me to keep drinking. Sharon fed me with hot soup and plenty of other drinks and before long I was feeling much better. The post race food was sponsored by Subway, so it was sandwiches all round!

'Coach' John from the IM Talk podcast (he's tiny compared to me) and, er, me, wearing my awesome cycle jersey that I paid good money for to help support his excellent podcast!

A few minutes later we saw ‘Coach John Newsom’ from the wonderful New Zealand based IM Talk podcast which I’ve been listening to for a few years now. He’d run the marathon as part of a relay team and I just had to introduce myself. He sat down with us and had a chat about my race and his (which didn’t, er, quite go to plan). A lovely chap, and compared to me, a rather short chap! Meeting him was a highlight of the day and in the podcast they (he records the show with a chap called Bevan) recorded a few days later Sharon and I got a nice mention.

I then moved from the food/drink area for a massage, and really it was just an excuse to lie down for 20 minutes and have some lass rub oil on your legs and back. Lovely!

Returning to our van which was all of 400 metres from the finish line!

After leaving the recovery area Sharon and I watched a few finishers come in, had a little walk and then headed the whole two minutes stroll to the van and I had a shower. It really was great to have the van right by the finish. After cleaning myself up we had a takeaway pizza and then headed back to the finish line area to watch and cheer the rest of the finishers in. If you’re able to walk and talk after a race like this then I think it’s only fair to go back to the finish and support and celebrate those who finish after you. We had a great time at the finish area chatting to locals and other racers and also joking around with the two MC’s who were great at getting the crowd going – especially in a small race like this where there aren’t many finishers coming in later on in the day. The last ‘official’ finisher (before the 17 hour cut-off) was greeted by a great fireworks display. The end of an Ironman (or ‘iron-distance’ race) is really enjoyable and well worth staying around for and getting involved.

After leaving our campervan site at about 4am we returned back shortly after midnight. Long day! The following day we were back at the race marquee at 10:30am for the prize giving and breakfast buffet – which was superb. I ate like a horse and had two huge platefuls of breakfast. It was lovely! Easily pleased I am… especially when it comes to food.

In summary…. Challenge Wanaka – a fantastic race, a fantastic venue, well organised and far from easy. What a day.

Ironman race finish line 'party' fireworks for the final 'official' finisher. Superb.

We took the campervan straight down to the beach this morning. Sharon had her breakfast whilst I sorted out getting myself ready for a swim. Conditions were marginally better than on Thursday. It was still quite rough but the wind wasn’t blowing a gale! There were quite a few groups of swimmers on the course.

Self portrait during Sharon's long run checking out the Challenge Wanaka marathon course

Sharon headed off for a long run – taking in the first five miles or so of the Challenge Wanaka run course that I’ll be doing tomorrow whilst I jumped back into the lake. The first few minutes were once again pretty horrible – I think its mostly just getting acclimatised to the cold water and the chop. On race morning I will try and get in the water for a bit of a splash around/warm-up prior to the 6:30am start. I met up with a couple of other swimmers – from Christchurch (the one in New Zealand that is!) and we had a good chat whilst swimming gently to the first main turn buoy.

After getting back from the swim it was off to the race briefing in the main marquee. When the Run Course Director came on to talk about the course she let us know that they currently had people out on the course picking up ‘road-kill’ and that they’ve been quite busy! One thing we’ve noticed from driving around the island is that there are a large number of squashed animals on the road. It’ll be nice not to have to swerve round them tomorrow!

Sharon finished her run (pleased to have managed her planned 10 miles) and we headed back ‘home’ for me to sort out my transition bags (the bag I pick up after the swim which contains my bike gear and the one when I transition from bike to run containing my shoes and GPS) and get everything ready for tomorrow.

At around 5pm after a little snooze we headed back to the race site as I had to rack my bike and hand some bags in. One of the bags was the compulsory ‘Special Needs’ bag which will be available at about 90km into the bike course. This has to contain a long sleeve thermal top to wear on the bike if it gets cold (which can happen very quickly in an alpine environment – even with the forecast set to be in the low 20′s on race day.

It’s now gone 7pm. I’ve had a pile of pasta for dinner and am washing it down with some ‘lovely’ Gatorade sports drink! We’ll then have an early night before an even earlier start tomorrow.

If you’ve nothing better to do on a Friday evening then you should be able to follow my progress via this link. My race number is 358 and I’m doing the ‘Challenge Wanaka Individual’ event (there’s a half-ironman distance race taking place the same day). The race starts at 5:30pm UK time on Friday evening (6:30am Saturday morning in NZ). If that link doesn’t work here’s the main link to the results section of the site – http://www.challengewanaka.com/challenge-wanaka-live

The weather forecast for tomorrow is for hopefully a slightly less choppy sea, but increasing westerly winds during the day. The later they increase the better as I’d much rather them affect me on the run than during the bike leg.

I’d like to swim around 1 hour 15 minutes and anything quicker would be a bonus. In silky smooth lake Zurich 2.5 years ago I swam 1:08 and in Germany in 2010 I swum 1:04. This time if I’m close to 1:10 I’d be chuffed to bits. It all depends on the conditions in the morning.

Bike time is much more of an unknown. I’ve turned off the speedo display on my bike GPS as it makes no difference to me. I’m going to try and go purely by my power meter and try my best to not push too hard or too easy. Constant effort throughout is the plan. I hope to push about 230-235 watts during the bike leg. I’m not so sure how long it will take but lets just say something close to 6 hours is what I’m anticipating.

As for the run, a sub 4 hour marathon is what I should be capable of. A 3:45 would be nicer though.

So… ignoring transition times something around the 11 hour mark is my current estimate. In events of this length anything can happen on the day so I just have to play it by ear and hope for the best.

Stay tuned for a later update or feel free to keep an eye on Sharon’s twitter account as she hopes to post some updates during the day.