Sydney Marathon - The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
September 11 was Sydney Marathon day. The run was long, but I'll try to keep the report short.
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THE BAD
The hills, the heat, the hills, the wind, the hills, the very dodgey km markers, and the hills. That's about it. To be honest I'd forgotten about all of the bad things, especially the hills.
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THE UGLY
The guy mooning us as we ran up toward Centenial Park.
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THE GOOD
Saturday evening when Ray and his lovely wife Helen put on fantastic dinner for Aunty Karin, Truckie, JD and I. We had lots of food and lots of laughs and I left feeling a little more relaxed about the next morning.
Getting to Milson's Point well before the Half started and getting to chat to so many CRs.
It wasn't at all chilly, unlike last year. I know, I whinged about the heat in THE BAD, but at this point in time I appreciated not being cold.
All the out and back bits where you can do some serious CR spotting, especially of those close by including Queen Bee, Flashduck, CJ, and The Professor.
Seeing the wonderful Plu on the road out to Leichhardt. At that point if I had half the enthusiasm for running as he had for supporting us I'd have sprinted home to a PB!
The CR Cheersquad on the Cahill Expressway. I can't put into words just how fantastic it was to see them.
The other CR cheersquad just before the finish line. Awesome!
Crossing the line in 3:44, a time I had said all along I'd be very happy with. And achieving that after a pretty crappy second half.
Relaxing and chatting in the recovery area, and relaxing and chatting even more over a couple of beers and a giant beefburger at the Orient Hotel at The Rocks.
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MAGIC MUSICAL MOMENTS
Starting the race listening to Ben Lee's "We're In In This Together" on my iPod.
Running over the Harbour Bridge while "My City Of Sydney" was playing.
Running down Oxford St, seeing the party boys and drag queens, listening to "You Think You're A Man But You're Only A Boy" which I'd copied from my 'Queer As Folk' soundtrack. Made me laugh.
High 5-ing (well, low 5-ing really) JD on the out and back to Leichhardt while the Darren Hanlon song "Hiccups" was playing. We had been talking about that very song the previous day.
Listening to "Born To Be Alive" as I ran that final few hundred meters before crossing the line. Embarrassing to admit, but hey it was a great song to finish on!
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SUMMARY
I'm happy with the time I ran, but not happy with how I ran. I went though halfway in 1:44, three minutes slower than GC and Canberra so didn't go out too fast. The second half took me 2 hours. I hit the wall mentally well before I did physically. Gotta work on that aspect. Will be seeking advice from those mulitudes out there tougher than myself.
Will I do it again, that same course with all those nasty nasty nasty hills? Sadly the answer is probably yes. Damn, I want revenge!
********
THE BAD
The hills, the heat, the hills, the wind, the hills, the very dodgey km markers, and the hills. That's about it. To be honest I'd forgotten about all of the bad things, especially the hills.
********
THE UGLY
The guy mooning us as we ran up toward Centenial Park.
********
THE GOOD
Saturday evening when Ray and his lovely wife Helen put on fantastic dinner for Aunty Karin, Truckie, JD and I. We had lots of food and lots of laughs and I left feeling a little more relaxed about the next morning.
Getting to Milson's Point well before the Half started and getting to chat to so many CRs.
It wasn't at all chilly, unlike last year. I know, I whinged about the heat in THE BAD, but at this point in time I appreciated not being cold.
All the out and back bits where you can do some serious CR spotting, especially of those close by including Queen Bee, Flashduck, CJ, and The Professor.
Seeing the wonderful Plu on the road out to Leichhardt. At that point if I had half the enthusiasm for running as he had for supporting us I'd have sprinted home to a PB!
The CR Cheersquad on the Cahill Expressway. I can't put into words just how fantastic it was to see them.
The other CR cheersquad just before the finish line. Awesome!
Crossing the line in 3:44, a time I had said all along I'd be very happy with. And achieving that after a pretty crappy second half.
Relaxing and chatting in the recovery area, and relaxing and chatting even more over a couple of beers and a giant beefburger at the Orient Hotel at The Rocks.
********
MAGIC MUSICAL MOMENTS
Starting the race listening to Ben Lee's "We're In In This Together" on my iPod.
Running over the Harbour Bridge while "My City Of Sydney" was playing.
Running down Oxford St, seeing the party boys and drag queens, listening to "You Think You're A Man But You're Only A Boy" which I'd copied from my 'Queer As Folk' soundtrack. Made me laugh.
High 5-ing (well, low 5-ing really) JD on the out and back to Leichhardt while the Darren Hanlon song "Hiccups" was playing. We had been talking about that very song the previous day.
Listening to "Born To Be Alive" as I ran that final few hundred meters before crossing the line. Embarrassing to admit, but hey it was a great song to finish on!
********
SUMMARY
I'm happy with the time I ran, but not happy with how I ran. I went though halfway in 1:44, three minutes slower than GC and Canberra so didn't go out too fast. The second half took me 2 hours. I hit the wall mentally well before I did physically. Gotta work on that aspect. Will be seeking advice from those mulitudes out there tougher than myself.
Will I do it again, that same course with all those nasty nasty nasty hills? Sadly the answer is probably yes. Damn, I want revenge!
posted by Tesso at 9:42 PM
16 Comments:
LOL - Tess you love your music, don't you. I've got Born to be Alive stuck in my head now.
That was a very positive split, maybe it means you still have room for improvement.
If you want to see tough people you should come along and watch the Glasshouse100.
Congrats on the marathon.
From your musical moments , you didn't by chance have anything from "Syncronicity" on your player?
Pity though it didn't turn out to be a "divine" race.
Great Blog entry though!
Congratulations on running anohter great marathon Tesso. You are a great runner and an inspiration. You painted a picture of the marathon that brings it to life for me. Thanks.
I'm glad the good far outweighed the bad and the ugly Tesso.
Congratulations on a great race Tesso and a great race report. A fantastic time under really difficult circumstances. I'm glad my jumping around with a pom-pom like a mad-woman on the Cahill helped !
J.
Fabulous Effort Tesso. So proud of you.
Hope you don't ever desert us and go live in Sydney...all this running and socialising you are doing over there.
See you at School of Pain tonight. You can hold the watch :)
Seriously, hope the legs are still in good recovery. Won't it be great to get some skins and see what difference they make as well!!
*big hugs and kisses*
Tesso
Well run on sunday, I remember seeing you once, but to be honest I cant remember exactly where as I was struggling at that stage. I also really enjoyed your musically inspired highlights, very good! The backend of that course is probably as tough as any event gets so you were not alone in a blow out in the second half.
I also read with interest your thoughts about mental application, because I felt I lost the mental battle also.
I think it is probably worthy of a thread on CR to see how people cope, in particualr in the marathon and what methods people use.
Good running to you and well done again for sunday.
Hey Tesso,
What a great effort on a tough course!! As I said in my blog you guys inspired me on Sunday... at truely gutsy effort! I also struggle mentally in races... the nasty little demons start to undermine all my hard work. I have found repeating the "relax" and focus on my legs turning over for a while helps. As psychotic as this sounds giving myself a really telling off works too.
Hold your head high... another great run!
I would love to come to your birthday dinner and catch up some more!
Katie
Tesso, it was great to see you again on Sunday. Whenever I saw you out there you looked very smooth and efficient.
Gee, mentally I think Sunday was just a big ask for most, it's one thing to have the piano heaved on your back at around 30km, but to then also battle hills, heat and wind is pretty difficult.
Well done on another 42.2 under the belt, I for one will also be having another go next year!
Great run for the conditions and the nasty course Tess. I have been waiting and waiting to read this particular race report!
I'm also glad to hear there weren't too many other ugly incidents along the way
Well done Tesso. All I can suggest is that on a course with nasty nasty nasty hills, probably forget the watch and run 'by feel' over the whole course. I presume you include lots of hills in your long runs.
It scares me that there's runners out there tougher than Tesso. Frankly, Tesso is my hero. :D
Congrats on your marathon! Fab effort and you inspire me so much!
Good report Tesso - it was hard out there but like you I'm starting to forget the hard bits. It was good to catch up with you afterwards too. And Born to be alive is a very good song to finish on - like i said, that's on my ipod too!
Tesso,
saw your comment's on Lady Jove's blog. I think the hose-down I got after the race (charming, isn't it?) really helped my legs. I went for a 1/2 hour walk the next day, and on Monday night I went water running with Karisma. When I got my massage on Wednesday, Scott couldn't believe what a good state I was in. So that's my secret. Oh, and double up on the burgers post-race ;)
Tesso fantastic race report. Pity about those hills. Sydney I guess is for the experience of another marathon completed. I'm sure Canberra next year will be another fast one for you. Cheers.
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