2010 Christchurch Marathon Race Report
I went for gold in the Christchurch marathon. Gold for me is a sub 4 hour marathon. It was an ambitious goal but I knew I had a chance at it. Everything would need to come together perfectly for it to happen.
The day started off under a bit of a cloud in that the weather had closed in and it was raining heavily when I got up.
However, by the time the race started the rain had stopped and it never really returned during the race. The temperature maxed out at about 7 degrees C (44 F). I have to admit that conditions were absolutely perfect for running. We really could not have asked for better.
The course is two laps of a very flat course that follows the Avon River:
I set my virtual partner on my Garmin to run at just sub 4 hour pace. My plan was to attempt to run both halves of the course at 1:59:00ish.
I felt very good in the first half. I came in exactly on target and I was feeling strong. I must admit that I started to think I had it in the bag at that point.
The transition between the first lap and the second is quite startling. In the first lap you are surrounded by hundreds of runners at all times and then all of a sudden you are running by yourself. The whole event had only 5300 people and the great majority of them were doing either the 10K or the half option.
At the 24K mark I started to feel a little queasy and got rather worried. My downfall in the Auckland Marathon in November last year was my stomach and I really didn’t want to go through that again. However, I still was running at target pace.
Things went well until about the 28K mark and that’s when my pace started to slow. I don’t know if I hit the wall, or if I went out to fast or if my legs hadn’t recovered from the half marathon 2 weeks previously or if it was the churning stomach but I found I just couldn’t keep my pace up. Km 29 was ten seconds off the pace. Km 30 was 20 seconds off the pace and it just slowly got worse. I managed to claw it back a bit between km 36 and 38 but by km 40 I was feeling rather bad.
My aim at that point had changed to not walking and I did well up until km 41 when I thought I was going to throw up and I walked for about 50 meters till the feeling passed.
The camaraderie in the last km was great. I passed quite a few folks who were walking and encouraged them to get running (and two of the buggers did and passed me!) Everyone was really glad to get to the end of the race.
I got that burst of energy that you do in the last few hundred meters and managed to run it home. My wife, mother and daughter were at the finishing line cheering me on. I thought that was the highlight of the event!
I finished in 4:20:26. While not sub 4 hours it is still a 34 minute personal best in the marathon so I’m pretty happy. I always knew that sub 4 hours was a bit of a stretch for this marathon as I hadn’t trained for that but I have no regrets in going for it. I may have blown up somewhat but I still did better than I ever have before.
Photos will be coming!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Awesome job, Andrew! Keep on pushing for that sub 4, it will come soon enough! (for both of us!)
~Cheers, Irish
Twitter: theirishrunner
Reply
Andrew
reply on June 7th, 2010 8:30 am:
Thanks Irish!
Twitter: AndrewENZ
Reply
Well done on a good run and a new PB. Though it’s not a sub-4, I admire that you went for gold and still did better than you did before.
Twitter: aaron_chai
Reply
Well Done! And now you have an easier job of beating your PR in the next one. You are an inspiration.
Reply
Congrats!!
Reply
Congrats on the PR! You’ll have the sub-4-hour time in the next one.
Twitter: RunningBecause
Reply
David H.
reply on June 7th, 2010 11:29 am:
Wrong Twitter address
Twitter: RunningBecause
Reply
Wow….that is some shear guts and determination…very very impressive. Kudos and congratulations.
Reply
Well done Andrew. Our marathon PBs used to be quite similar – now I’ve got some catching up to do!
Reply
Kudos, Andrew! Stretch goals are great, but not if we let them dictate our satisfaction with our accomplishments, IMO. And that new personal best is quite an accomplishment! Congratulations!
Twitter: tippytoediet
Reply
Excellent job. A 34 minute improvement is nothing to sneeze at!
Twitter: fit36com
Reply
Congrats, Andrew! I know it didn’t meet your goal, but it’s a great time, nonetheless, and a great effort!
Reply
Super Andrew! Looking forward to photos
Reply
mike
reply on June 7th, 2010 2:04 pm:
Great effort and a great time! I know the disappointment of not hitting Sub4 but I’m sure we’ll both get there soon enough. Looking forward to the pictures
Twitter: Sub6
Reply
Congrats Andrew on the new PR time. A solid effort!
Reply
Congrats friend. A very nice time. Every marathon I’ve ran tummy troubles (code brown) have added 5+ minutes to my time.
Twitter: seejoerun
Reply
AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You done great! Hey, many of us have not even attempted one. I don’t plan on it either!
Reply
Awesome race Andrew! A 34 minute PR is a big big accomplishment. Never having run a marathon, but just recently having run my first Half, I can’t imagine running a full just two weeks later. My legs feel very stiff and sore a week later and I don’t think two weeks would be nearly enough for me to recover. That being said, you went for it and had it on pace for the majority of the race. That should give you a big boost for your next attempt in the Fall (Spring for you I guess, isn’t it?).
Again, congratulations on running a great race and putting it all out there in the land where Alex Bauman was born!
Reply
Great job, Andrew, on smashing your PB. Doesn’t sound like you’re too far from 4hr. I commend you for going for gold. Now you know what it will be like to keep that pace.
Reply
Awesome job!! 4:20 is VERY respectable.
ps – thanks for keeping me in your blogroll.
Reply
Great report – don’t worry about the sub 4hr – you’ve a great pb there and something to aim for later in the year! I’ve no doubts you’ll get there.
Reply
Congrats on the PR Andrew! It is a fantastic improvement from last time. Just hang in there and I know that you will meet and beat your goal eventually. All it takes is some time and training, both of which you’ve got plenty of.
Twitter: gregstransform
Reply
Outstanding !!! Phenomenal ! I could say Kudos a million times dude. This is fantastic. Hat off to you for getting the job done. I feel like I was there to watch you run the marathon. Congratulations, dude !
Twitter: seetedrun
Reply
Another inspirational run for the rest of us Andrew.
Thanks for the race report and sharing your adventures.
Well done on the marathon, your mileage never ceases to amaze me
Reply
I really admire you for taking on a challenge and completing the goal. Hopefully, I can take the next step and enter a marathon. Again, Good job!
Reply
Nice work Andrew. It may not have the the sub-4 hours that you were really hoping for, but still a great PB.
Twitter: SoLongFatAss
Reply
Congratulations. An inspiring effort. Makes me reconsider my decision not to do the local Half marathon.
Reply
34 minute personal best! That’s awesome. Congratulations!!
Twitter: livefitblog
Reply
That’s extremely awesome!
I enjoy reading about your races – shows me that it’s possible!
Twitter: MistrTyler
Reply
Congratulations!
One of the things with setting goals that you’re not really trained for, is that it sets you up for failure. (You start too fast, and then the second half is torture trying to hang in there!) Sounds like you have a good attitude about the result.
As you should! A massive PR! Also, I know you’re stuck in thinking about kilometers, but over on here in the US, getting under 4:22 is often a big goal. And that’s because it gets you under the 10 min per mile threshold! It was one of my goals for my first marathon (which I didn’t make). So congratulations!
Reply
Andrew
reply on June 14th, 2010 4:00 pm:
Aah! That’s the first time I’ve heard of the 4:22 goal. But it makes sense! I’ll take it.
Twitter: AndrewENZ
Reply
Well done!! Very proud of you!!
Twitter: dtsnake
Reply