Gold Coast Marathon
After all the hassles of cancelled flights I finally arrived at the Gold Coast Saturday night. The next morning was cool and at the race start I wandered sleepily around finally bumping into a bunch of coolrunners for a chat. Time was nearing and my race plan was to see how long I could stay with the 3:30 group so I positioned myself appropriately. The 3:30 guy had yellow balloons and for the first 5km I was having trouble keeping pace with the balloons, dropping back. I noticed Trukie and Redback were just in front and running at a pace that seemed right so I simply kept Truckie in my sights. After a while I caught up and enjoyed running with him. Truckie like to wave and engage the spectators, especially the partying groups in the balconies so it was fun tagging along. For a moment Tesso was with us and then I heard the chilling sound of someone falling. I looked back to see Tesso coming down hard on her shoulder. I stopped and headed over, Truckie was already there helping her up and she seemed ok.
Eventually we caught up to the yellow balloons and we passed them just before crossing over the bridge to Southport. Redback was there and we had our 3 person coolrunning train. It was good timing since we soon passed the loud and fabulous Coolrunning Cheer Squad and the 3 of us got one hell of a cheer. A runner nearby said she would sick with us since we were getting such great support. The support I received from all the coolrunners out there really brought home what a great community we are.
Things cruised along for a while until out of nowhere the yellow balloons caught up and then passed us. I really wanted to break 3:30 so I gritted my teeth and stayed with them. This is when things really started to hurt. I kept telling myself over and over “PB’s are not meant to come easy” and I kept my pace. My life simply became one of following 2 yellow balloons. Then suddenly the pacer went to the side of the road, maybe for a toilet stop and I was for the first time, balloon-less! Fortunately I started to pass a few people so that became my motivation and soon I was 2km out and had 3:18 on my watch. I felt strong and could smell home so I ran with purpose and as I hit the finishing shoot I could feel someone coming up to overtake me. I had never met the guy but he was not going to out sprint me to the finish. And with everything I had and gasping for air I ran over in (by my watch) 3:27:14.
After changing I headed over to the Cheer Squad and enjoyed hanging out with everyone and cheering not only the coolrunners but also anyone Japanese. After while we were approached by a Cop on a bike. We thought he was going to move us on but he simply told us there was a lady, in her 50’s, with our colours struggling a bit about 1.5km away. So on mass we grabbed our gear and walked up the road to greet and then run to the finish with Lucky Legs. I had a bit of a tear in my eye as the magic of the moment caught me and I felt proud to be part it.
Once Lucky Legs was finished I waisted no time heading over to the Surf Club for a bunch of beers with all the coolrunning brigade and to talk a bit of ultra running sh*t. What a great day. And people ask me why I run??
Eventually we caught up to the yellow balloons and we passed them just before crossing over the bridge to Southport. Redback was there and we had our 3 person coolrunning train. It was good timing since we soon passed the loud and fabulous Coolrunning Cheer Squad and the 3 of us got one hell of a cheer. A runner nearby said she would sick with us since we were getting such great support. The support I received from all the coolrunners out there really brought home what a great community we are.
Things cruised along for a while until out of nowhere the yellow balloons caught up and then passed us. I really wanted to break 3:30 so I gritted my teeth and stayed with them. This is when things really started to hurt. I kept telling myself over and over “PB’s are not meant to come easy” and I kept my pace. My life simply became one of following 2 yellow balloons. Then suddenly the pacer went to the side of the road, maybe for a toilet stop and I was for the first time, balloon-less! Fortunately I started to pass a few people so that became my motivation and soon I was 2km out and had 3:18 on my watch. I felt strong and could smell home so I ran with purpose and as I hit the finishing shoot I could feel someone coming up to overtake me. I had never met the guy but he was not going to out sprint me to the finish. And with everything I had and gasping for air I ran over in (by my watch) 3:27:14.
After changing I headed over to the Cheer Squad and enjoyed hanging out with everyone and cheering not only the coolrunners but also anyone Japanese. After while we were approached by a Cop on a bike. We thought he was going to move us on but he simply told us there was a lady, in her 50’s, with our colours struggling a bit about 1.5km away. So on mass we grabbed our gear and walked up the road to greet and then run to the finish with Lucky Legs. I had a bit of a tear in my eye as the magic of the moment caught me and I felt proud to be part it.
Once Lucky Legs was finished I waisted no time heading over to the Surf Club for a bunch of beers with all the coolrunning brigade and to talk a bit of ultra running sh*t. What a great day. And people ask me why I run??
This entry was posted
on Monday, July 04, 2005 at 2:38 PM.
