A few weeks ago I ran a marathon a few k north of Melbourne at Princess Park to be exact. I think 17 laps that was not boring as there were plenty of people out and about. There where a few soccer games going on during the morning in the centre of the park with the running track circling the park.
The weather was overcast and cool and so pleasant running conditions.
I had no idea about where my fitness was but thought on my best day just under 5 hours was the wished for finish but I was not confident that it would be. I started off just a bit quicker than the required pace for sub 5 and wanted to hold it for a long as I could. With about 10k to go I know if I resisted the mental desire to slow down I might just make it as I thought the body could do it.
4.54 and satisfied.
That completed marathon #312 that equalled what was the Australian Marathon Record held by Mountain Man. It was his 80th birthday on the Friday and I managed to attend that event and the share the celebrations with him. He stopped running about 7 years ago when he could not make the cutoffs. I am not there yet, thankfully.
When I first started running marathons in 1998 and soon heard about MM and his massive number of marathons. At that stage with not more that a handful his numbers seemed unreachable. I have been blessed with the ability to run regular marathons (ignoring the cancer treatment I am still getting) and look back over the last 20 years and find it hard to comprehend that I have reached his record.
The weekend I travel to Adelaide for that cities marathon and will sadly pass his record. But I suppose all records are there to challenge us and for some of us if we are really lucky to pass them.
Ignore the time on the clock that was for an ultra being held at the same time.
No comments:
Post a Comment