Sunday 15th May, 2005 - Great Ocean Rd Marathon (45km)

Short Details

7th overall (hoodoo placing - 4th time in last 7 races). 1st 35-39
21.1km - 1:24hr; 42.2km - 2:43hr; 45km - 2:55hr

Longer Details

What a great day it was for a beautiful run along a spectacular, coastal road. Breathtakingly spectacular...literally!!! Today was the inaugural Great Ocean Road marathon along said road between Lorne and Apollo Bay, and it was a run I'll remember for a long time. Beautiful, stunning, picturesque...and challenging.

For the uninitiated, the Great Ocean Rd is a world famous 200-300km stretch of bitumen along the south coast of Victoria, from about Anglesea, across Cape Otway, past the Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell (good place!!) to about Warrnambool. World famous because of it's spectacular views and beauty. Lorne and Apollo Bay are two towns along its length, separated by 45km - the venue, location and route for this great race. (www.greatoceanrd.org.au)

Astute observers will note that 45km is longer than the regular 42.195km marathon distance, putting this into the ultra-marathon category...oh gawd!! And although start and finish are at sea level this doesn't illustrate the endless hills and switch-back like corners along the coastline. So we were in for a tough day; a field of about 400 lined up for the challenge.

For me this event was more of a long training run than a race, albeit with a few little goals along the way. I've done 2 marathons before, Gold Coast last year (2:40hrs, painful) and in the NZ Ironman in March (3:15hrs, more painful) and reduced to walking in both of them. So one goal was not to walk. Another goal was not to care about placing - easier said than done!! And a final goal was to run at a comfortable pace...but 45km is still 45km!!

The run was also part of a regular training week - swimming, cycling, running & gym - with just a 1 day 'taper' (sort of...still tired). So in my typical "crash...or crash through" style I was set for a tough day...bring it on!!

Lorne is a beautiful town in a lovely setting; a delightful bay with steep hills and bush almost down to the shoreline. Developers and tourists love it, also. But there are still little inlets, gorges and picnic/camping sites along the coast which are relatively un-developed. Lorne on Saturday night played host to a bunch of skinny, gnarly and sinewy runners - me included - leaving the pub free for the locals (and 'other' tourists) to prop the bar up and fill the numerous cafes selling their skinny..de-caf..soy..mocha-choco-thingy-lattes!! How diviiiiiine...

However come this morning the tables were turned as the meek inherited the earth...as it was promised!! The weather was OK'ish, cool with cloudy skies but a fair head wind for the whole distance. The entire 45km was closed to traffic and with due nerves, anticipation and hushed voices we waited for start time to arrive.

Pre-race I had a strange feeling of almost relief, since I wasn't lining up for a gut-wrenching, ass-busting, hang-it-out-till-it's-dry effort...just a nice, casual looong run with great scenery. Or at least, that was the PLAN.....

There were a few invited runners from Kenya (4), USA (1), local legend Steve Moneghetti and Athens Olympian Nick Harrison - the field was pretty well 'stacked' at the pointy end!! So imagine my surprise once we started at 1) the dead slow pace, and 2) I was leading!!! Get that...motorbike with TV camera, helicopter and lead vehicle....watching me!!! This was ridiculous, and I was happy to stop the race right there and savour it. (Channel 7 next Sat, 11am)

But it didn't last and the 4 Kenyan whippets and Mr. USA moved up a bit - still a slow pace - with a couple of other runners playing hare...and looking great for the TV camera!! Gradually the group of 5 moved through and away from us all, leaving me in 8th place. However aim #2 was not to care about placing....so I just ran on.

Out of Lorne the hills start straight away...and hardly stopped. For most part the only flat part was the moment where the uphill turned into downhill - nothing really huge, but just continuous, rolling hills...and lots and lots of corners and road cambers. Did I mention the head wind, too??

But the scenery was spectacular - this road is beautiful - often with stone cliff face on our right, and a drop away to the ocean on the left...the road is cut into the hill. Thick bush was in the places where there was no cliff. At times you could look ahead - and back - and see the coastline with inlets and spurs stretched out either way with the 'scar' of the road cut into it.

But there was a job at hand - running - which I kept on doing, chugging out comfortable 4min kms and being very conscious of not over extending...although the temptation to 'race' was continually there. I passed a guy and then got caught by 4 runners - Moneghetti, Harrison, and two others....one we'll call Mr. Gray-T-shirt. They were chatting away having a great old time and eased past me.

Then was the most amusing sight of the race as Monnas and Harrison, in sync, pulled over for a pee, and then kept going - it was poetic to watch!! Suffice to say two runners of that quality easily ran off into the distance after the 4 Kenyans and Mr. USA.

Meanwhile I was passed by another pushing me back into 12th, but 3 guys in sight in front of me, and I was feeling comfortable consuming an eGel from my Fuelbelt (big plug) each 10km.

Got to 21.1km (1/2 marathon) in about 1:24+hr (no distance markers...) just past Kennett river. This is where 2 big hills started - straight out of Kennett River - into the wind - and then another soon after. I was running well up the hills and pulled back 9th, 10th and 11th place for the run down that first hill.

Then at 25km the next, bigger hill started and I pushed it along a bit with Mr. Gray-T-shirt and we dropped the others leaving us in 9th and 10th. This was a big of hard work - my HR went right up - and I wondered about the wisdom of it given there was about 18km to go...hmmmm. But Mr. G and I kept going, using each other to maintain the pace.

I really considered if I should drop off and preserve myself - and my legs - and let him run off. But I think I had already switched into 'race' gear and just kept going...I can't help myself sometimes... My HR was much higher than earlier, but I was still feeling good. And we see could Apollo Bay off in the distance ahead of us.

So we kept going, but Mr. G mentioned his legs were getting a bit sore - we were chatting from time to time - running through 30km then 35km. Soon after we came across a runner who had hit the wall - painful experience - and went past, joking that now we were chasing Moneghetti and Harrison...dreaming, I think...

At 40km Mr. G picked up a water bottle, slowed a fraction and he was dropped...gone - I was on my own in 8th pushing for the finish as the course finally leveled out a bit...the wind was still very much in our faces, though. They had a timing mat at marathon distance (42.195km) which I passed in 2:43:57hr (about 1:19hr for 2nd 1/2 marathon).

Then I caught sight of a Kenyan whippet...barely jogging. He'd run through the wall and into a fortress...ouch!! So I ran past him and onwards...Mr. G was out of sight behind so I was clearly in 7th...damn hoodoo placing (4 x 7th placing in last 7 races).

The last bit was good, but hard. We were straight into the wind, but there were also some people along the way cheering. And there was a lot of daylight between me and 6th (about 10mins+)..

Finishing is the best part of any race, and this one was really nice along the Apollo Bay foreshore and the shops and a lot of cheers. I was still feeling good and running strongly although the soles of my feet were burning. The finish was really satisfying in 2:55:55hrs.

I'm really pleased with the race - felt good, strong, comfortable, negative split and held it together well. I just couldn't help myself in starting to 'race'...I love the thrill of the challenge and pushing myself. Feeling quite OK later.

So apart from a few cross-country running races, next up is a lot of training before the World Duathlon Championships in Sept and then the holy grail...the Hawaii Ironman in October. And the highlight of that will be Mum & Dad coming to watch!!!