Found the list of Cool Running posters doing the Melbourne Marathon it is HERE

My post on WAMC messageboard tells the story;
I am 95% sure I will be running the Melbourne Marathon, have now booked flights and accomodation, and got the ok from my wonderful wife (I think)....
had some minor shin-splints this week, so icepacking that and will probably go into enforced taper this weekend as far as long runs go (as I think my 33k and 27k (brooking rd hill) in the last 2 weeks at the hills group, plus my daily meter reading work, Perth half,city to surf Half, and 27k the week b4 that (plus residual strength built up b4 and during Perth Marathon 07) should be enough to see me handle the 42K's no worries...), main focus for me now shifts to rest and finetuning speed and fitness in hopes of a PB...I may still rock up to the hills group this weekend to run say an easy 22k, but pretty unlikely..see how I feel this saturday.

All the best to those running waterous 50 miles/100miles, big !sorry!!! but looks like I won't be there this time in person, but in spirit I will be cheering you on, and praying...

all the best to all doing Melbourne!!!
(I know of at least 4 people who are doing it, and apperently a large number from the WAMC northern suburbs group) Hope you have an injury free and enjoyable run onto the MCG on the 30th anniversary of one of the top 3 major marathons of australia (along with gold coast and sydney) and to a lesser extent the world....be interesting to hear about who is running and how they go...
http://www.melbournemarathon.com.au/

TSTF, email me directly on jontheroadrunner@rocketmail.com and maybe we can catch up in melbourne perhaps a short warm down on the sunday afternoon on the Tan or something...(and anyone else who wants to run with fellow perth-ites)...

wuhoo! I'm excited...
just over a week to go until the big day!

Saturday 22nd September 2007; Ran about 27km in 3hours 6min 32 secs. HR 159 (6min 54 per km) Finished off strongly in the last 1km or so, and between that and some tough hills on Brooking Rd and other spots, these things resulted in an elevated heart rate.

Different course this time. Went Darlington towards Midland then up the northern trail past Pechey Rd, saw lots of Kangaroos on the section from the Railway tunnel past the waterfalls. Ran with two comrades legends (and Melbourne Marathon entrants) who Ive run with a few times now, and another John, who is a regular with the Hills group. Sonshine Fm (really should sign up as a one for one pledge partner one day) gets a bit of a listen in our family on the car radio, especially as my wife just isn't that into my death and thrash metal (usually Deliverance,Mortification,

>demon Hunter, Grave Forsaken (perth), Scourged Flesh (perth), Tourniquet etc which I often have in the CD player in my car) interests, enough to let me play that stuff on the radio all the time, and one catchy song we've heard a few times by The Lads (can buy here) which is maybe/maybe not a cover based on Dave Berg (tennessee/keith urban land), is called Coffee with Jesus, and somehow or another got talking about this song a bit with the other 3 runners as we went past the railway tunnel towards the first waterfall on the Railway heritage trail...Pretty relaxed pace which was good as I wasn't feeling full of beans today even though I am over the flu now, and resting heart rate was 52 this morning which is ok.

Kept getting those annoying gravel pebbles in my shoe and had to keep stopping to get those out and then catch up with the other 3 runners.
I think its cos my shoes are a tiny bit (about half a size) too long, which I tolerate because it give me better width around the forefoot, but I have to be extra careful as a result that little pebbles don't get into my clogs I mean shoes *LOL*...
In the last few days I have been getting some slight medial soreness just above my ankle on my left foot when at work walking briskly around the streets, this flared up again a little, but mostly didn't cause me any concern, but i might need to keep an eye on it/icepack it to make sure it doesn't become any worse.

Then I got my first chance to run the infamous Brooking Rd hill which I had heard lots about on Garys (WAMC club president) emails. It was a fairly steep and long hill and by the top of the hill I was pretty had it! Then there was a few more hills. Finally we hit the Southern Railway heritage trail which I've run on many times, and the sign said only 6km to go. Some excellent discussions out there, and between the beautiful scenery, excellent conversation, and a decent long run to consolidate last weeks run, kangaroos, frogs, creeks, I was thinking does it get better than this on a training run?!! Not much...so a wonderful long run very satisfying! and enjoyable! with great company.

Melbourne Marathon is a goer for me in terms of long runs. I have now done enough long runs to be well positioned for an ok marathon. The only question marks now are can I get some reps done and finetune the fitness to be fast enough and fit enough to be able to go well under 4 hours. The other question marks is have I got enough money for the flights, I think so, but I need to get as much done as possible at work in the next few days so I can ensure all costs are covered. Doing overtime later today at work for example. The final question is how Kathryn feels about it, as the logistics of taking a baby to Melbourne are not easy, and neither are the logistics of leaving her at home with the baby, so thats something we have to reach agreement on there, and it may be that for those reasons I do not go. We shall see, hopefully exciting times ahead. Six Inch is only 11 weeks away, so its good to start building my bank of long runs for that too. Think its unlikely I will do Rottnest Marathon but I may duck over for the 10k or something. Freo 10k/5k tomorrow probably won't show up although it might be nice to work on getting faster (similiar to reps) by running that tomorrow...Hopefully onwards and upwards!

Saturday 15th September Ran 33km (Darlington to Mt Helena and back) in 3hrs 47min 20 secs, HR-147. Splits 1hr 50/1hr 57. (6.53 per km)
This run is 21 minutes quicker than what I did for this course on 25th November 2006. See here for link to old post of that run...

As per usual slept in and got to hills training group in Darlington,
late at 0630. Still have the flu so stuffed a handful of tissues into
my hydration pack along with a cola carboshotz and 2 powerades. The tissues were a very good move and without them I would not have got through 33km. My resting heart rates the last two days were 48 and 55 compared to high 50's an 60's before that when I was sicker, so even though I am still blowing my nose every hour or so, I felt I was ready to do a low intensity type session like a long run, although I knew it would be a bit of a struggle.

Important not to let my specific running endurance strength slip as its now 4 weeks since I ran the 27km up here in the hills, although I have done two half marathon races in recent weeks. Plus I am having mad thoughts of maybe trying to get over for a race in the Melbourne Marathon in a few weeks in search of that elusive PB. Although if I do that I won't be able to help support Dave and Nathans 100mile run, so its a tough dilemma
On the one hand I'd love to help them out and it wouldn't cost me anywhere near as much money to go to Dwellingup and run 30k in the bush with them, but I have helped them out many times, and the excitement of running onto the MCG and maybe getting that PB to make up for my disappointing Perth Marathon is hard to resist. The logistics of both Melbourne and Dave and Nathans Waterous 100mile run are both difficult for me to juggle with Kathryn and Jacob, and all the work and baby demands, so maybe I'll just do neither, but I would like to help Dave and Nathan in their quest, and the lure of the excitement of running the Melbourne Marathon is a massive one, could be the only year that it finishes on the MCG so if I don't go this year I may never get to finish a marathon on the MCG. Plus a lot of people from perth are going including several from the Hills Training Group, and blogger TS&TS, so what to do...In the end, Kathryn and I have to make a mutual decision together, so I guess her input will help US decide, but I think I am leaning strongly towards running the Melbourne Marathon if possible, providing I train well enough in the next 2 weeks or so, if I don't there is no way I am going over there to run 4.20 or slower, I want to be confident of going sub 4 hours and giving the 3.55 PB a very good shake! Decisions decisions, the paralysis of choice...

In that case I can hopefully do some reps in the week or so before to try and improve fitness enough to snare that PB, but my long run stuff must be done today and next week to give me time to recover for the race. So rather than wait another week (cos little chance of me getting away from home to do a long run any other time other than weekend, and the hills group is such a motivating place to run for me, I enjoy seeing other runners out there doing similiar and having a bit of a chat with a few of them) until I was fully over the flu (which was a very attractive soft option), I decided I would have to try and get out there today.
My biggest worry was not getting too close to anyone as I did not want to share my flu with other runners. Ended up running mostly on my own cos I was late, except for a few recognisable faces running back along the trail, and a brief chat with Phil B. who was doing a 40km in prep for Melbourne Marathon...

Lots!! of frogs and winter brooks, puddles and a bit cold at times. I wasted a lot of time getting gravel stones out of my shoes, and stopping to blow my nose a few times, so a messy run with too many short breaks, but still ok. Was never going to push the pace that much being still a bit sick, but thats not important the main thing was to be out there for over 3 hours and 33km...So mission accomplished for today! Was hoping to get back earlier to my wife Kathryn and baby Jacob, but it ended up taking a fair bit longer than expected. Overall a very satifactory run. Splits included 52min for 8km, 60min for 9.5km in Mundaring, 76min for 11km at Great Eastern Hwy, 90min for 13.5km at Sawyers Rd.

My new Deliverance CD from Soundmass came yesterday its called "As above so below", and I had a lot of this progressive speed metal songs in my head while I was running today spurring me on with songs like As above so below, Screaming (no not the lead screamo in our little family Mr Jacob), My Love, and so on....

However I am not! going to try and do any more reps until I am fully good to go, which hopefully is only a few days away.

So where to from here, I am not sure just yet, but hopefully its going to be somewhere good...and todays run consolidates and extends the gains i have made in the last few weeks. A satisfying and important run to do...

Wednesday 5th september 2007; Ran "mini-ladder" reps session of 400m/2km/400m @ Arena Joondalup in the late PM. 4minute rests. Times; 400m-1min 26/ 2km 9min 33/ 400m 1min 23. Heart rates were 153/165 and 171 respectively.

I was pretty tired already after about 7 hours of sweating it out at work, but since I was working so close to Arena Joondalup couldn't pass up the chance to go run at one of my favourite venues of all time, and revisit my hilly 2km course.
Plus I am a bit sick with the flu this week, so was a bit clogged up in the thoat and nose, so no way I was going to push hard, plus need to get home to wife and baby. But rather than another golden opportunity to do reps at Arena Joondalup gone begging, I decided to just go out and do a very easy relaxed session, just to remind me mentally of what I want to do, and to blow away a few cobwebs fitnesswise.

If I can get over this flu and follow up with some more sessions soon, I could reap the benefits of tonight, even though I ran at about 70% fitness at best tonight.
So once again in search of some weekly reps sessions. My first session of this kind for about 2 months...A small positive. Enjoyed the run. Saw some of the Northern Suburbs training group finishing their run.

Update; Friday 7th September I am very sick with the flu or something, and un-operational for almost everything....until further notice (i.e. until I am well again)...

Sunday 2nd September Ran Perth Half Marathon in 1hr 53min 49. HR 186 at end.
10.55km splits about 54min/59min.
Splitted 6k in 29min or so, 12k in 62min 05, and 18km in 1hr 34min, so 29min/32min/32min for the first 3 6km splits. Pretty even but not as fast as I'd hoped. The heat and headwinds on the way back to Burswood, started to take their toll on me, and mentally I was a bit pathetic between 18k to 20k, so unable to go sub 1.50 as I'd hoped. Probably a few good reps sessions away from a time in the low 1.40's. First 1k was 4.17, 2k 9.02, 3k 13.49, 5k 24.02, 10k 50.50. Started ok hitting around 5min per K, but was doing about 7min per k in the last few km. Found it hard to be motivated in the last few km and I paid for my lack of reps in the second half of the race a lot. On a much easier course than last weekend, a bit disappointing to only go 31 seconds quicker.
Official results @ HERE.
I placed 279th out of 422 runners.
Just have to regroup and get some serious reps done before I race again if I want to improve. At least it was a good way to celebrate my first Fathers day as a Father. scary but sensational stuff.

I'm thinking maybe Sydney,Rotto (or the 10k) or Melbourne Marathons might be worth a shot, plus six inch 45km and a few other races to hopefully finish the year off on a good note. As usual I am waiting for a big breakthrough race. Hopefully soon.
My last two half-marathon races on the last two weekends have been ok, on par with what I ran in Bridges and Challenge 10km races, but I won't be that happy with this years racing unless I get into some B-grade territory with my times.

Sunday 26th August; Ran City To Surf inaugural Half Marathon in 1hr 54min 20secs, HR 186 at end (due to a solid finish and the long hill on Oceanic Drive )508th place (140th in Male 25-34years), (5.25 per km).

Splitted 6k in 30.03, 12k in 63.05 and 18k in 97.15, so hit 5min flat per k for first 6k, and about 5.30-5.50 per k for the rest of the race on average.

Happy with a FUN, solid race. Finally a race that went smoothly.
Not a fast time, but just a good solid hitout, which was all I really wanted today.
Got to start about 5 minutes b4 after some mad driving after waking up over an hour later than intended and only 4 hours of broken up chaotic sleep, but alls well ends well, just know I will be very tired by the time I sleep tonight.

If I can get some reps done this week, hope for a faster time in the Perth Half next weekend. Left knee soreness a little as to be expected after 114min of road running on a hilly! (ups AND downs!) course through Kings park early on, and the big 3 hills, Malcolm St,Underwood Dr, and Oceanic Dr. Right calf aching didn't really bother me much but I was aware of it, could be the body compensating for the left knee acl being under a lot of stress on the downhill sections...Hopefully not an ongoing thing, rather a one-off which will disappear might try and icepack it.

Great to see Six-Inch connected people, Bloggers, and Hills training group people out there in significant numbers... A good day of racing which I enjoyed lots. Hopefully my next race will go even better.

All I wanna do, is have some fun, until the sun comes up on the santa monica boulevarde! (Sheryl Crowe song...she ended up being Lance Armstrongs partner, and doing motivational music for him for the Tour Le France).
All I wanna do
I visited the Santa Monica Boulevarde (which is right near Santa Monica Pier on the beach in California USA) in 2001 very briefly. In the coming week be trying to do some reps and watch the World Champs athletics in Osaka on TV, as Australians Nathan Deakes goes for Gold in 50km walk, and Mottram, and Sarah Jamieson try to get amongst the medals in the middle distance races on track. Kylie Wheeler from Perth doing the Heptathlon.
Osaka 2007

After that race I'm feeling a lot more positive about the world in general, a glimmer of hope of better things in the future is back, even though I am a long! way from where I'd like to be at this time, that race is a small positive step, in the midst of a lot of challenges as a new Dad, and a relatively new Husband.

Perth Marathon photos from my Dad came this week, here are a few;

At the start of the 2007 Perth Marathon with Burswood Casino in the background in the photo below...


Near Como Beach jetty on the Swan River, alongside the Kwinana Freeway, about 34km done, about 8km to go, pushing into the north westerley headwinds at this point, but still hitting 6-7min per km and mowing down a few runners struggling with the infamous last 10km of a marathon...My stopwatch says about 3hrs 43minutes or something like that...
As you can see a few cyclists out there also. Photo above you can see one of the drinks stations ahead manned by the wonderful volunteers of the WA Marathon club Photo below I went for my last GU here, a coffee GU, and washed it down with the last of my mountain blast powerade...


After about 37km of running near Coode St in South Perth, its time to scull some cocacola to fire up for the last 5km...

less than 200m to go to the finish, about 42km done...
INSERT FINISH PHOTO from Fuse photography HERE...
coming soon (next few weeks)...


After the race in the Marathon club clubrooms with hundreds of other marathon and relay runners, happy to land my 4th consecutive Perth Marathon finishers medallion...in spite of those annoying blood blisters...



After the marathon with my training top to remember the occasion, and to remind me to keep training hard, and hopefully maintain the determination to do better next time...

even more photos coming soon...e.g. my actual finish with the clock above my head is on fuse photography will get it soon...

Monday 16th July;
Went for a 20minute walk with the wife up a hill near our place tonight, she figured it might help to speed up the baby coming. My wife Kathryn is 39 weeks today, and the baby is officially due in a week next monday 23rd July, but could come any day now, my best guess is between 19th and 28th July I reckon, but baby will come when God tells Him too.

had a solid day at work today nailing my round in 6 hours flat, it was a pretty easy one for the most part, so much so that I just had the one powerade break about 2 hours in, and then just caned it through the last 4 hours or so. Took bandages and bandaids off my feet yesterday after a week of that, while Kathryn had a nice time with her baby shower afternoon. Good to see her happy catching up with a few close family people. Took a bit of a risk at work today with no bandaids on my right foot and just 2 bandaids protecting my left foot. Still can see all the dried blood under the skin, but did not have time to get to beach this weekend, just way too flat out, so figure I will leave the salt water treatment and cutting away of dead skin and dried blood until the weekend after I finish work. Its fairly likely the baby will came late this week, so keen to nail a few good days at work, to make sure we have essential expenses covered before I am busy helping Kathryn at Birthing centre, and with hopefully a healthy newborn....shoes,running, and cycling totally on the backburner right now, but hopefully I can sneak in some good session before Run for Gold, and maybe just maybe I can have a good race then...we shall see....

Hope to ***have the money*** to buy some new shoes, (although I have had one offer from one kind person to buy me a pair) and some reps done in prep for the Run for Gold 5k/10k on Sunday 5th August at 8am at the WA Marathon Club clubrooms behind Burswood casino. At the moment I think I probably will go after the 5K, but we shall see, may do 10k depending on whats happening. I think little chance of me doing King of Mountain run, as I need time to put in place saltwater treatment on my damaged feet, get some money for shoes, plus baby should come soon, and that will take a lot of time and resources, so a good time too take some time off get my feet right...

Also in coming months have to save up for one of those prams you can run with, with baby in it Like the bloke in front of me in the 2004 Rottnest Marathon (he did a world record 3hrs 12) see here for photo. and a seat for bike also.


The other races I want to go after this year are the 6-inch 45km in December,
Freo 10k or 5k, Lake Gwelup 5k or 10k, Perth Half Marathon or 5k, City to Surf Half Marathon. Maybe Rottnest but unlikely. Some easy triathlons maybe. See TRIWA when the 07/08 calender of events is up, probably sometime after July 2007.

As I am very disappointed with my Perth Marathon time, if I have the resources ((i.e. win lotto (but I don't play it)) and can sustain the training might have another go in another Marathon.....so rather unlikely with new baby etc and my lack of money but its nice to dream, cos even if I don't do one, at least it helps to sustain a positive mental attitude...and attitude is everything....So hiho hiho, its onto marathonguide.com and coolrunning Australia calendar of marathons Here we go...used the Australia search function on http://www.marathonguide.com/races/search.cfm and the following comes up.....
5th August; Townsville Marathon,
12th August; Geraldton Marathon, 19th August; Alice Springs marathon, 26th August; Adelaide Marathon,Mudgee Marathon,Shepparton Marathon...(3 marathons on this day, but it also clashes with City to Surf Half marathon in Perth!),23rd September; Sydney Marathon (which Kelly Exeter did last year...)
7th October; Melbourne Marathon (a few people from Perth doing it this year and Widi did it last year), 13th October Fitzroy Falls Trail Marathon...sounds good, but not sure about 100m in elevation changes......., Toowoomba marathon, Rottnest Marathon......Christmas Island Marathon...etc etc...or wait until 2008...and continue with six Inch trail 45km in December, and six foot 45k (March 2008) plans, or postpone for a year or three, thats the dilemmas in the coming months...although realistically its unlikely I will do another marathon this year, and I wont run entire 6-inch unless things improve a bit...could still do 21k relay there though, if I could find someone mad enough to run half of it.......

Caught up with some people from RWCWA (racewalking club) the other day, was kinda surreal and special, nice to see some people I hadn't seen for a long time, and meet some of the new movers and shakers in the club. If I ever get the opportunity to get the needed surgery done on my knees (acl and cartilage), I might have another go at getting in the world racewalking cup , London 2012 Olympics (2016 Olympics will be determined in Copenhagen in December 2009) or something...after 2016 I reckon i would certainly be too! old!! (i'd be 42 then.) to make an international team, but then again some have done it older than that.... Even if I don't ever racewalk again, if I can find the time I'd like to help out the club, cos racewalking in general and RWCWA in particular has a lot of good memories for me......Or maybe I could make an international team as a runner, or maybe I should drop this pie in the sky dream...we shall see...

Sunday 8th July; Ran Perth Marathon (42.2km) in 4 hrs 33min. Heart rate 162 at end.
Half marathon Splits; 2hrs.14.45/2hrs.19.13 (according to my new $10 stopwatch from Kmart).

Full results of Perth Marathon HERE...
I was 266th of 321 and 32nd in Mens 30-34 age group...
Database of all who have done Perth or Rottnest Marathons since 1979 @
HERE

Robert DeCastella was one of the most famous and successful marathon runners in Australia and in the entire world in the 80's. One of his quotes is certainly true for me today for me, despite the massive disappointment, and minor pains I feel very keenly right now. His quote was;

"If you want to experience life run a marathon"....

Today I experienced a wide range of emotions, many very positive, but some not so.
I was angry that due to blisters, my opportunity for a PB (which I think I worked hard enough for, and was fit enough for today), was taken from me mainly by the blisters on my feet and nothing else...Instead I ended up with a personal worst, i.e. the slowest Marathon race I have done. I think a 3.45 (maybe a few minutes slower or faster) was a very real possibility the way I was feeling today. Unfortunately I was unable to prove it today, and I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will....

I guess my resources in general are just not sufficient for me to race with a lot of success at the moment. If I had had the sense to tape my feet beforehand I may have got there, but I am not a podiatrist, physio or a doctor, and didn't anticipate the need, thinking I had recovered from the blisters in the Freo Half, as I have run a 16K timetrial, 10k reps and a 22k since that race without being aware of any major pain...But today I ended up in an ambulance 17km into the race getting large bandaids and stuff being put over massive blisters on both feet about the size of half a $5 note!!! I ran in the same heavy but well cushioned insert I ran my last 3 major training sessions in so what changed? Maybe it was the harder surface that reopened obviously not fully healed feet, I really don't know for sure. Maybe if I had bought new shoes I would have avoided 'em, or if I had used lighter inserts, but I suspect only bandaging my feet beforehand would have got me through the race without major incident. Feel better now I have expressed the angst, and the thoughts of frustration that have been swirling around in my head today.

So back to the race report (or should I say survival report). Loaded up on stacks of pasta and kidney beans last night plus some cheese and corn bread, and a lot of cereal and toast yesterday morning. Watched wimbledon tennis on TV, and despite going to bed at midnight and getting up at 0530, felt ok today, guess I am kinda used to that routine this year. Had to spend a very long time on toilet today, and as a result did not leave home until about 7am. Arrived at Burswood about 0723hrs.
Grabbed everything and for once it seemed I had all I needed and was well organised.
put bandaids on nipples and ran slowly about 1.5km to clubrooms (not much parking left by then), found my Dad gave him my carkeys and instructions on how he could provide support today, plus where my cellphone was. Then it was straight over to the start with about 1 minute to spare. Didn't like the starting point (they moved it this year!) very much, but got a good pozzie, and said hello to a few runners I knew...

Got away pretty well and as I had planned set off at a pretty quick pace at the rear of the second front bunch. Could see the leaders, and had plenty of room to run. Heard some "trailblazer" shouts from a bloke who shared a few comments for the rest of the time I ran any where near him. Don't know who he was, not sure I really want to. My 1km split was 4min.19 which was right where I wanted to be although maybe a touch slow. On the eastern side of the Windan bridge I had backed off a bit going through 2km in 9min.02 (4.43 split). I missed the 3km marker but was enjoying the early morning views of the east perth cove area as we saw dolphins frolicking in the cove about 10 metres away.

Hit 4km in about 18min 52 alongside the Swan river, and recognised Gary Carlton and Phil Webb cruising past. I was comfortably hitting about 4.50's so was about where I wanted to be. Tried to stay with Gary and Phil cos I know they are very experienced runners who are a good judge of the right pace needed to run about 3.20's...(or better) Finding it a bit tough to stay with them, and then Rob and Epi (blogger) came past soon after. Was hoping I could at least keep them in sight for awhile which I was able to do for the next 2km or so...
Hit 5km in 23min.39 (4min.47 1km split), which I was quite happy with, and was still feeling pretty good. Was hitting just under 5min per km consistently, and comfortably, which was maybe a touch slow but I figured if I could maintain that for another 10-15km and throw in a few 4.30's I'd be well on track for a P.B. somewhere in the 3.30-3.40's range, and maybe even the sub 3.30...
So looking ok at this stage. My splits from 6km to 9km I dont remember very well, but I think they were about 28min,33min, maybe 38min 35 for the 8km, maybe 43min 55 for 9km. About this time I started to feel a little minor discomfort on the ball of my right foot, and decided I must have a small gravel stone in my shoe, so i would stop after 10km split to get it out. In hindsight I probably should have acted quicker! Also I slowed down a little while preoccupied mentally with sorting out this annoying little slight pain...Split from 9km to 10km was about 5.38 which was about 30-50 seconds slower than I wanted. About this time Trent came past, didn't recognise him until he had gone past. My 10km split was 49min 33 which was a bit slower than I wanted but figured the PB was still in reach if I could ride the tailwind alongside the Kwinana Freeway to some consistent 4.40's....Physically feeling good, although keen to get to my first powerade which I thought was at 12.5km at Como Beach.

About this time I started to notice that the km markers were appearing well before I expected them too, so either they were put in the wrong spot or the course changes this year meant we were getting to them earlier. Pretty sure its the latter.
Anyway it messed up my drinks strategy a bit because I thought the Como drinks table was at 12.5km but it turned out to be at about 14.5km, plus I spent 3 minutes trying to remove gravel stone and anything else that was irritating my foot. Stopwatch said 54minutes and I was still confident I could put the hassles of the last few km behind me and go hard for hopefully a half marathon (21.1km) split of well under 2 hours, and keep my PB (3.55) chances for today alive...11km was about 58min 10, and 12km was 63min 29 (5.19 split), as I tried to reestablish my rhythm and get down to 5min flat splits again...Then I started to notice that my foot pain was coming back again...I knew I had cleaned everything out that could cause problems so I must be getting a @#$%^&* blister again...deja vu Fremantle half 2007 scenario all over again.....Felt angry as Tim from hills group went past...Tried to stay with a small group of runners there, but the foot pain was just becoming too much...

Figured I would regroup at Como Jetty ask my Dad to get me some bandaids, get some powerade and a GU into me and although the PB (3.55) was looking unlikely now, I could hopefully still go after a 4.10 or something like that, at least try and beat the 4.18 from last years mediocre effort. Considered ripping the bandaids off my nipples and putting them on my foot, but figured that probably wouldnt work, and would just give me bleeding nipples plus the bandaids may lose their adhesiveness....It seemd to take ages to get to Como Jetty, and I also had my GU too early having to run another 1km before I had some fluids to wash it down. By the time I got to Como I was extremely angry and thinking of maybe a DNF...but not too keen on that idea...Told my Dad, and started to find it harder and harder to run, it was Freo Half 2007 scenario all over again for sure now...Went through 15km in 1hr 21, 16km in 1hr 29 (8min per km! for this split), and it was now a frustrating painful shuffle,hobble, walk combination, and nothing seemd to be painfree....
As I went up Canning Hwy Bridge near the Raffles my left hamstring started to tighten up and feel slightly sore. So I stopped again at spent a few minutes doing some hammy and quads stretches, which seemed to do the trick and then I was able to start shuffling again. Was hoping Dad would show up with bandaids soon as I couldn't continue on like this to the finish, still had more than 25km to go....

Just after 17km I think I was flagged down by Dad and into an ambulance, where they
put some large bandaid/dressing/bandages (don't know the correct terms, just know they were white and they worked)on both feet, strapped them up and away I went...
Was able to run 6-7min per km for most of the way back from there...with a few faster and slower parts, despite the concrete section which I hate around applecross, and the headwind from canning Hwy to Narrows. Enjoyed the tailwinds near south Perth and at the finish. Some rain starting to get going in the last few km, but finished before it could affect me too much...enjoyed the majority of run...Heard a few spectators near the finish. Some more splits; 34k-3.43 35k-3hrs 50, , 36k; 3.56, 37k; 4hr02, 38k; 4.08, 39k; 4.14, 40k; 4hr 20 41k; 4.27 42k; 4.33... So as you can see consistently hitting 6 minutes per km for the last 8km..., and passed a few runners during this time...

So where to now...I think its a case of get my feet healed, buy some shoes, take a few weeks off running maybe, get ready for the new baby, and reload again when the time is right which could be weeks,months, or years away. Hopefully only a few weeks away, but the word I am hearing is that this baby caper is very demanding timewise and in other ways and it is a much higher priority, so it may be time for my running to take a back seat a lot at least for awhile...Its disappointing the result I am stuck with today, but what can I do...Feels like "the one that got away", cos I think the training I did in the last few months should have resulted in a PB today, but not to be... Not keen on racing again until, I am much better ready,trainingwise, financiallywise, so need to improve a lot of things before I race again.....no sure when that will be. Don't want to run another 6-7 hour or longer six inch 45km, or any more C to D grade quality times like I have mostly this year, so not keen on racing again until I am confident I am ready to go sub 5min per km or at least 5.15 territory with longer races, and sub 4.30 in the 5k and 10k races... Six Inch 45km in December and hopefully some short half marathon,10k,5k etc would be the next races I would target, but for now other things are going to be my main focus....

So my next blog post will probably be a boring weekend warrior 20-50km ride on the mountainbike or something which will be the norm for a few weeks I think...
Maybe I should get a really cool bike (the Red Baron I got from Ed is not bad but I need to fix the puncture on it) and do duathlons like Raf; http://www.rafaelbaugh.com/
doubt I'll ever be good enough or have the money, but its really cool to read about...


Photos from my 4th Perth Marathon experience will also be online eventually....
from my Dad and also Fuse Photography see Fuse Marathon photos and dial in 318 which was my race number when they come online which they have not as yet.

Update 10th July Tuesday; More than 48 hours later bandage has come off my right foot, so I took a few photos of the blisters on my right foot, the worst by far I have ever had, a lot of dried blood on both lateral and medial side of big toe.. Can see some sort of cut near medial side of big toe, a lot worse than i expected.
Also a lot of dead skin and a big hole in foot on ball of right foot...