Melbourne Marathon - 69th out of 3800 in 2:59:01

Melbourne Marathon 2:59:01

I rocked up to the starting line ready to go and the goal was a sub 2:52 marathon with a fallback goal of sub 3. I had no probs getting close to the front of the field but was on the right hand side instead of the preferred left hand side and I had to cover some extra ground in the first couple of hundred metres and hop over a traffic island. Not sure if the first k was long or if I was too relaxed but I went through in 4:35 before gently easing past the sub 3hr pack on the downhill second k in 3:42 and settling into a rhythm. Motored through the next five k's at a range of 4:02-4:09, just over goal pace and already we had caught up to the half marathon stragglers forcing me to divert around some of the inconsiderate ones every now and them. Got to Albert Park and copped the full force of the famed northerly winds that were forecast for that day - a forecast that I had tried not to think about pre race.

At this point, pack running became a priority and I concentrated hard on drafting to shield myself from the wind. Occassionally, this entailed going outside the normal racing line to avoid the wind and a fluid running stride and cadence was becoming difficult to acheive. There was penty of this till we reached the beach at 14k and turned around, receiving a partial tail wind. By this point, I was over a minute behind sub 2:52 pace. Pre race, I had resolved not to get carried away if a tail wind was received and to just stick to goal pace. Got my first personal drink from my brother Benno at St Kilda Beach and it was God sent as the personal drinks tables were once again a crowded mess and I was thankful I didn't have to go hunting for a drink in there.

The 15-20k stretch was probably my weakest of the race - we were out of the worst of the wind and those runners I had ran with to that point were moving ahead and stringing out but I was a bit one paced, couldn't latch on to a pack and was becoming concerned that I had gone out a little too hard. Sub 2:52 was slipping further and further out of reach and I was almost resigned to giving up on it. Help arrived at about 18k in the form of some familiar faces in team mates, Pete, Jason and also Chris Gale. They were part of a pack of 10 around 2:55 pace and the company of familiar faces and the good sized pack got me back in my groove again.

The half was reached in about 87:30 and before I knew it the halfway at 26k had been reached and it was into the headwind!! A headwind strong enough to blow a plastic crowd control barrier into the path of our pack at one stage. The teamwork started immediately with Chris going to the front and the rest of us shielding, then Pete and then myself and so on. Fortunately, the pack was still about 10-12 runners so I didn’t have to take too many turns at the front. The pace dropped to 4:15-4:18 range and I told myself to keep plugging away – this would not last forever and I had a new goal of sub 3 to focus on. By now, a mixture of Gus and Gatorade was sitting queasily in my gut but I’ve felt worse for sure. Approaching St Kilda again, the pack was losing some stragglers while Jason and Stef had taken off ahead, both looking very strong in the process. I accepted my last Gatorade and encouragement from Benno and Eli at 33km thinking that at least I felt stronger than I did when I accepted a drink from Benno at the 32k mark of my debut 2004 Gold Coast Marathon. The drink came at a good time and gave me a burst of energy shortly after and once we left the worst of the headwind and turned onto St Kilda Rd, I found myself moving ahead of the pack. Upon hitting a steady incline, the pack really fragmented for good and I was alone again, occasionally finding some shield from runners coming back to me.

But the wind really picked it up again, and I began to lose steam and slipped into the safety of a newly formed pack of about five or six to stay out of trouble. I was tired and looking forward to the end of the race but I was not physically spent to the point of exhaustion. Importantly, all those fortnightly Wednesday morning runs with Glenda, Beth and the boys had conditioned my body to keep rolling along at 4:10-4:20 pace no matter how I felt. 38k arrived and I looked down at my watch to read 2:41 and thought to myself “You can run four f#####g k’s in 19 minutes!!! And once again, I moved ahead of the pack, inspired by the majestic sight of the G to my right. Ran steadily to 41k and then a God sent downhill enabled me to pick up my pace and by the time I got to Tess, Ciaran, Tara and all the other PCRG gang just outside the G, I was home and told them so. Entered the hallowed ground and looked up into the rafters to drink it all in. Ran about 150m near the boundary line and saw the finish clock ticking over towards 2:59 as I approached. There was no finishing kick, no hysterics and no carrying on. Just a quiet and reserved fist pump and I ran through the finish line and ticked an important box on my journey to a sub 2:45 marathon.

The aftermath was typical Matty. After swapping quick war stories with Jason, Stef, Beth and Glenda next to the finish line, I started to feel weak and unsteady on my feet. 600ml of water did not help and I got down on my hands and knees to have an inglorious hurl on the hallowed turf of the G – not far from where Dermott Brereton coughed up blood in the 1989 Grand Final!! Another hurl when handing in my timing chip saw me carted off to First Aid where accepted and injection to help me keep fluids down. An hour later, I was back on the the road to recovery and by the time I had walked 2k back to the hotel while drinking a bottle of Coke on the way, I was already mentally mapping out my recovery week’s training.

Thanks to everyone for their support – you know who you are!

Matty