Recently I competed in my third ever marathon (and my first since 2011). I ran in the Orange marathon on March 6th and finished in a time of 3:47:37, beating my old PB (3:58:30) by more than 10 minutes! I ran this event instead of the 6 foot track marathon, which I was training for, which was unfortunately cancelled (long story short - I’m now entered for 6 foot track for 2023). This marathon was a lot easier than the 6 foot track marathon would have been. I felt a bit underdone for that event but had trained just enough for the Orange marathon. Although I was in a world of pain from 37-39 Ks, I managed to put in a last-ditch effort just before the end when I saw some folks in the 5K event coming the other way (some of whom I knew and wanted to make it look like I wasn’t dying).
Proof of Run
These were my race stats for the day (I think some of those splits are wrong!) -
Two weeks after the marathon, I ran the Great Volcanic challenge, just 11 Ks this time, but along steep trails. I bought some new shoes for this race. Since about 2011, I’ve run in ‘minimalist’ shoes but I decided after all the marathon training I’d done that I needed a bit more support. Also I don’t think minimal shoes are advised for trail runs so in a way it was good that the 6 foot track marathon was cancelled as I might have ended up injured!
Shoes - old and new
These were my stats for the day -
The run included two summit climbs. These were almost impossible to run up so I just treated them as opportunities to catch my breath!
Mt Towac summit - nothing to see here
’Young man Canobolas’ summit - a bit more to see
I’m on school holidays at the moment. I was hoping to take this opportunity to get back into running as I haven’t done any running since the Great Volcanic challenge in late March, but unfortunately I’ve got a bit of a cold (not COVID) so I’m just resting. Sigh.