Stubbington Green Runners

Three months of intensive training, meticulous preparation and finely balanced nutrition (ha ha!) almost ruined by four days of craziness.

Having had four nights sleep of only a few hours a time due to travel and jet lag I then ate raw chicken the night before in a supposedly good restaurant. Tired and having got to the front of the free technical running vest queue just as they ran out, I thought I’d add a bit more excitement to the day.  Having just thrown my bag onto the baggage truck I then realised I’d left my gels in it.  So began a frantic effort by me climbing onto the truck to retrieve my bag, then Gill untying the knots in the bag to find the gels as the baggage guy shouted that he was leaving and the curtain started closing! I just managed to throw my gear through the last few inches of gap before the curtain finally closed on the side of the truck. By now the adrenalin was pumping and Gill was a shaking, quivering wreck as we lined up to start (obviously this was a ploy by Rich to put me off my race – nice try – Gill).

Perhaps these disasters distracted us from the tension of the race (I at least was pleased I didn't have food poisoning) because we started off at a good steady pace and enjoyed the views from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with the wide road preventing any bottle necks with 3000 marathon runners spread out over all eight lanes.

Gill’s sister, Mel, and two of her nieces, Georgi and Katie, were our main support team (backed up at one place by the brother in law and youngest Niece, Ella). They had banners, t-shirts and very loud voices and made their first appearance after 4 miles, though we heard them before we saw them.

A few city streets and small parks then turned into Sydney’s famous Oxford Street with people staggering from nightclubs at 9 o’clock in the morning bemused to see hundreds of runners in front of them. One drunken reveller shouted something at Gill and was restrained by a police officer when he lurched in to the road. Some of the lycra clad male runners were receiving friendly heckling from Sydney’s gay community.

After about 7 miles we entered Sydney’s largest park where all the sports venues are located including Sydney’s famous cricket ground, the SCG where The Ashes will be played out this winter; this was completely wasted on Gill (I was focussed!! – Gill).

We got to the halfway mark in 1:50:23, spot on schedule for Gill to match her previous best and much quicker than I thought I would be at this stage, but still plenty of time for it to all go wrong.

The course contained about 30 "switchbacks" where you run down one side of the road round a cone and back down the other side, this really affects your rhythm when your legs are getting tired.

By mile 18 Gill had started to ease ahead of me, only by about 10 yards, but I never caught her again; she runs at a very consistent pace where as my pace changes depending on gradient, turns and general distractions of the scenery.

Gill’s family were once again in evidence with one of her nieces running along side me taking photos and shouting encouragement at me.

At mile 20 I could see Gill about 50 yards ahead when a man stepped off the pavement and threw his coat at her, fortunately it missed but caused her to swerve - she seems to attract crazy people (yes Rich – Gill).

I hadn’t realised our support team were standing on the footbridge above me until I heard the screams (how embarrassing!); other runners were starting to notice our supporters who were by far the loudest in Australia.  They were great at cheering other people on too.
 
The course profile we had been given was accurate up to about mile 20 then I think they gave up and just drew a flat line as we had many unexpected undulations in the last 6 miles.

We turned back towards the city and now running down the other side of the road we passed our supporters again; this time it was an incredible boost to be cheered so warmly and loudly with three miles to go.

Then at mile 25 we turned under Sydney Harbour Bridge and the restaurants of Circular Quay came in to view in front of us and we could see the Opera House and the finish line the other side of the water. I could see Gill ahead but there was no way I could catch her, I think she started sprinting with about half a mile to go (and I just thought you liked the view – Gill J).

The last part of the race around the quay was packed with spectators shouting their encouragement, a fantastic feeling as the finish came into view.

The video of the finish shows Gill sprinting past fellow competitors with a big grin on her face as she crosses the line with another pb by 1:25 and a chip time of 3:40:50. I had no energy to speed up at the end but still got a huge pb by 10:13 with a chip time of 3:43:05.

We looked for other Stubbies in the race but didn't see any, though one lady in the crowd shouted, “come on stubby”, so perhaps she was from these parts.

Now the marathon was over we could start our relaxing holiday, so off we went for three weeks of cycling, running, body boarding, hang gliding, surfing, kayaking and walking.

With many thanks to our fantastic support team, they were the best!

Click here for photos.