1 Day After: The Deed is Done

It’s cold. I’ve the mild regret of a man who knows that 30 mins of pre-race shivering will be offset by the relief of light layers that comes just a mile into a marathon. Around me there’s a buzz, a quiet anticipation above the assault of AC/DC that blares through the PA system as runners get into their designated corrals. The music stops and Oh Canada is sung by a local singer with a fine pair of lungs. Backs straighten, arms are across chests and a respectable silence greets the anthem.

There’s Spanish, French, English, American and Canadian accents chittering away around me. This is a big city. This is a marathon. I guess that makes it a big city marathon. Being penned in like this is an odd yet exciting experience. 

Travel had been pretty seamless, jet lag manageable if sleep a tad on the slim side, and the pasta in Old Spaghetti Factory rather delicious. We did about 25000 steps on Saturday, and that included an incredible 2 hour sit down show of a dance and future facing interpretation of The Jungle Book. Prep was good. 

Come Sunday morning I was ready to give it a go. I said last week I had about a 10% chance of PBing. But I was gonna set off at 2:38-2:39 pace anyway. I’d rather aim high and miss than aim low and hit.

At this point in the blog I could give you a blow by blow account of the race. I won’t. I’ll fast forward to the attrition. 

For 32k I felt really good. In fact, at 30k I was genuinely thinking PB was well on. I’d gone out relatively strong and not too fast. I was well up the field and for 21k the crowds were excellent. As the race heads out east to the Beaches it gets a bit more lonely. I run these races without tunes as I want to soak up the atmosphere. 

Between 32-33k there’s a shallow drag, nothing you’d even care about normally, yet in the race it was like someone had stuck weights on my ankles. I just slowed badly. I tried to respond and put in a couple of decent miles but with 3 miles to go I’d need to cover the last 5k in 18:30 to PB. That was my first 5k in the race. I knew I was cooked. So I just enjoyed the experience. 

Finishing a big city marathon is a great experience. The crowds are awesome and people are so kind with their encouragement. I smiled, waved and grimaced those last few miles out.

I finished in 2:41:30.

Before the race I said to a few folks I reckoned 2:43-2:45 was likely. I outperformed my own expectations. And that is awesome.

The truth is travel, work, life, family, dog and other things have been busy. But within my control was sleep, diet, weight, strength and stretching. I didn’t do enough in these spaces to earn a PB.

That’s the thing. PBs are earned in training. In preparation. They are then collected in races. 

If you’d offered me sub 2:43 before the race I’d have accepted gleefully. What pleased me most is that my tenacity and attitude and willingness to push early and late were all really strong. 

That’s beyond encouraging. 

I am 48 in a few months. At age 38 my marathon PB was 3:43. Now on an average day after an average training block and 10 years older I can run over an hour quicker.

There’s perspective to be had there. That perspective doesn’t mean I accept the average, it means I have encouragement to do better. I know there’s 3-5 mins of opportunity to be had. And I think I’ll seek that out in 2024 at some point. 

For now, Louise, Euan, Caelan and I have a holiday to enjoy.

Big thanks to Paul for the coaching and the space to blog. And to you for reading these rambles. Blogging is old skool. There’s something cathartic in spilling thoughts on digital ink. If only person takes something away from these blogs that helps then it has been beyond worthwhile. 

Until next time. 

Thanks for reading!
(Written by James Stewart)