14.04.19 Canberra Marathon

It could have been much worse and I was expecting much worse than the 5.23 I ran.

Life has had many distractions over the last month. My workload in the office and teaching have both increased significantly and I was committed to meet many deadlines. In addition I had assignments due in my uni course. That meant trying to fit more hours into the day and something had to give and really sadly it was my training. 

So over the last three weeks I have run just 3 times. Each being a marathon. Not the way to train for one and it was very evident in the last 15k I suffered because of no training. I hope to put my life back into perspective in the next couple of weeks before my next marathon. I am not sure how I am going to do that but do that I will. 

It was nice to complete my 20th Canberra Marathon but it was not pleasant for the last 2 hours that was a real struggle. At the moment I can run a 4.30 - 4.45 marathon until 25k's and then the lack of training hits in when I am reduced to ugly shuffle and those k's just get long and longer. If you have run a marathon you will know what I mean.

I fully expected that it would struggle to go under 6 hours so I should have been pleased with the result but I was not. I hope the time spurs me onto some serious regular training for the rest of the year.

The weather was perfect. Still and about 14 at the start. The cloud cover stayed for most of the time I was out on the course. The temperature maybe rose to 21 or so. So the conditions were ideal for running a marathon. No photos from the day I was too focused on the job being done and the struggle in the later part.

But .... my first finish in 1998