A time for reflection
I ran past the spot where a cyclist was killed on Wednesday this morning. The police were there removing their police tape and the only indication that anything had happened was a few bundles of flowers on the footpath.
It made me reflect somewhat that our time here on Earth is pretty brief and we had best make the most of it!
Quick update
I’ve really gotten back into training this week. My long run this morning took my weekly mileage to about 52 miles for the week which is not too shabby. The average pace has been 5:50/km which I can happily live with.
I’ve been really happy with how quickly I recovered from the marathon two weeks ago. I’ve had no niggles at all except for a bit of tightness in the shoulders.
5 weeks to go to the Taipei Marathon. It seems so soon!
Auckland Marathon 2010 Race Report
On Sunday I ran the Auckland Marathon. It was a fantastic event. Extremely well organised and professionally run. The weather was glorious as well. If anything it was a little too good as it got quite warm towards the end of the run but I’m not complaining at all!
The first half was great. I felt strong the whole way and definitely ran within myself. It was fantastic having my running buddy run with me and the miles just flew by. The big hills that I recalled from the past had been magically shrunk and were not really worthy of much notice. The first split came up and I ran it in 1:57:25 for an average pace of 5:33 min/km which is right where I wanted to be.
The second half got a bit harder – as it does! This photo was taken at about the 29km mark and I was starting to tire a bit but my pace was still good. That’s my running buddy on the left.
Seeing my wife and daughter out on the course was one of the big highlights of the event for me. It is great to have the support of my family. A large part of my motivation for running is about setting a good example for my daughter. My wife had trained her up on how to cheer so as we went past she yelled out “Faster Daddy faster!” to the great amusement of all the folks around us.
At about the 30km mark the wheels started to come off a bit and I started to slow down somewhat. I waved my buddy on as he was still feeling strong as I ducked into a quick pit-stop. My stomach was doing a few flip flops – from the gels I think. But fortunately it settled down quickly. My big lesson learnt from this marathon is that gels just do not work with my stomach. I need to stick with natural food rather than processed gunk.
A few km later I did some mental arithmetic and figured out that my goal of breaking four hours was gone. I took stock and realised that even if I walked I’d still set a PR. So I decided to keep plugging along and enjoy the rest of the run.
And I did! And it was fantastic. I had such a great last 5km. I bumped into a former student who was doing his first marathon and cheered him on a bit. He was having terrible cramping issues which was unfortunate but he managed to finish which was great.
My second half took me 2:15:53 which works out to an average pace of 06:26 min/km which I will gladly take.
Overall the entire event took me 4:13:18 which works out to an average pace of 06:00 min/km which I personally think is fantastic. This is the first marathon I’ve done that I’ve pretty much enjoyed the whole way. At one of the later water/aid stations one of the volunteers yelled out “look at the smile on this fellow!” which really epitomised my approach I think. I had a great time and I really can’t wait for Taipei which is about 7 weeks away.
Daily Mile
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