Jon's PERTH MARATHON 2005 PHOTOS and THOUGHTS PAGE;
The START on one of those crisp mornings, thinking about race splits, drinks plans, how verging on temporary insanity I am to be out here again for the 2nd year in a row...(yes I probably was inspired by a Deliverance song --if you read this JC--but probably not that one, more likely "Rescue" or WOOW...), trying NOT to think about what the last 10km will be like..., AND thinking fondly of the wonderful!!! people who had come to support me...
On this day, it was extra special for me cos of (a) my brother T being over from USA, and (b)my girlfriend KL coming to do my drinks. My Dad was there also for the second year in a row...I appreciated all 3 of them very much!!!
Saw Dr Dan before the race, sounded like he had done even less distance than me, but well done!!!! to him for having the courage to show up and give this extremely demanding test of human endurance another shot, after his excellent effort in the 2004 Rottnest Marathon. Only just made it to the start line in time, as I had a last minute toilet visit...Then we were away and I wasted no time in cranking out some 4.30 or better 1km splits.
Tried to settle back a little after the two blokes in Brisbane Roadrunner tops passed me near East Perth
(later read about them in posts on Cool Running...(see link to exact thread of posts HERE)....
Crossing Causeway bridge almost 5km done heading towards South Perth foreshore, trying to hold 4.35's...Running well....
Not exactly sure where this photo is from....first thought is South Perth where I was trying to hold onto that 45min 10k (went through first 10km in 45minutes.48), but it may actually be more into the guts of the race near the turnaround...somewhere like 16-19km where Dr Dan caught me and passed me....only for me to reel him in, sowewhere between about the 31-36km, when he suffered into the strong headwinds streaming down the Kwinana freeway from the Narrows Bridge to Canning Highway, which we ran straight into. There are 3 reasons I may have found it easier than him on this tough 31km-36km stretch;
Reason 1.Not being as tall as him it was easier for me into the wind,
Reason 2; I probably did a little more distance prep than him (although not nearly enough for my target of 3.30)
and Reason 3; taking it easy between 19km to 29km,
....probably allowed me to recharge the batteries a little more for the struggle into the headwind from 31km to 36km.
Also had a few people from the WAMC messageboard say hello from about 19km onwards, just like in the Freo Half, which is nice.....Made me realise how much ideas,hopes,plans and mutual learning, I have shared with other friends and runners this year, especially through the message board, my blogs, and Cool running....
The FINISH!!!!!!!!! 4 hours 2 minutes and 29 seconds later!
Race Comments and splits taken from my 2005 BLOG @
http://www.oocities.org/Colosseum/7549/runmara2005blog.html;
Great to see one of the legends from the WAMC messageboard out there, and Dr Dan also...Tough headwind as I expected from Raffles Bridge (31km) to Narrows Bridge (36km)...A bit warm at times, but overall apart from headwind for that 5km stretch, pretty good conditions....
10k split 45.48, 15k 70.42, 30k 2.41 36k 3.19...
Wonderful,special to have my girlfriend K and my brother from USA, as well as Dad there as my support crew, doing drinks, made the experience all the more special.....
My lack of distance work and sporadic training in general mean't that by 18k-20k I knew the sub 3.30 was not going to happen...maybe I'll give Rotto Marathon a miss this year, do the 10k and enjoy the experience at the Island instead, so sub 3.30 probably have to wait for another year....However if my training is going well I might have another shot at the sub 3.30...???...But I hope I dont run any more marathons on poor/dodgy prep like my last 2...its just a lot of pain to cop for the next 2 days, the last 10-15k is very hard, and you get a slow time for sure...so hopefully no more marathons on dodgy preparation for me....However I was happy with my first 15km in the 2005 Perth Marathon, and I think my drinks strategy worked better this time, so alot of positives to come from my Perth Marathon 2005 experience....as Rob De Castella? said?; "If you want to experience life, run a marathon"...at least I think that's what he said...sounds about right to me...so what I'm saying is; there is a dimension of life and knowing yourself, which I hard to come by otherwise which I think you gain by doing this sort of race....I recommend it...but it is unforgiving so DO train properly for it.....
Excerpt from WAMC messageboard which I posted 4/7/05;
I hit 4.35's (per km) for first 10k (45.48) and still was on about 4.44 pace at 15k (70.42), then lost rhythm on the concrete after Raffles....went through halfway in 1.45.32 which was still just on my target pace (3.31 pace or 5min per k)...
...but I knew by 18k-20k that I was shooting for about 4 hours as I knew my 2nd half would be a lot slower, needed to get to half in about 1.35...mostly 6min-7min per k stuff after that....30k 2.41..then struggled against headwind from Raffles Bridge to Narrows Bridge to get to 36k in 3.19... Final time was 4hr02min
7 minutes slower than last years PB of 3.55, paid for lack of distance work in the last 2 months during my second half (2.16) dearly........so like you alacrity I'm a bit depressed/disappointed, but I only have myself to blame this race bites you if you dont prepare thoroughly, not like a 1500 or 10k where you might get away with poor prep and lots of adrenalin/hard yakka....race smarts etc...
Maybe next year I'll get the 3.30 or something better....for now I am just going to take it easy with a few 10k races in the coming months and see how Dave goes in the Rotto Marathon......If training is going well (if its not I will not even attempt it this time) I might have another go at the sub 3.30 at Rottnest in October.......but probably just take it easy with 10k...
Great experience again for me, nice to have the girlfriend and my brother visiting from USA (first time in 6 years) there too....be interesting to see how many photos from fuse photography we feature in this year...