There is so much to say after such an awesome weekend.

• Most importantly, a huge Thanks to Aki and Miss_Skarmel for their massive support over the weekend.

• It was terrific meeting so many Coolrunners from Sydney, Queensland, Melbourne and elsewhere. Seeing the sea of Blue and Yellow CR Caps is quite exciting when one knows that those wearing them may be fast or slow, but part of a supportive CR Community.

• The pleasure of finishing my first marathon is magnified a thousand fold by the efforts of other CR’s, whether they won, DNF’d, struggled bravely on, established a new W75 Record, or also participated in their first Marathon.

I met up with Miss_Skarmel during the first kilometre, although running alongside her, I was initially unaware of her signature pinkness! For the next 30km's or so, we chatted easily and constantly in that easy camaraderie that comes from sharing the joy of running. I am now one of her greatest fans ~ her fine personal qualities and talent were evident, and I was so impressed that she lined up for her first marathon within 9 months of commencing to run, and managed to finish in an impressive 3:41 with a cartwheel.



Around 32km's I slowed right down, and was running on my own. I don't think I 'hit the wall' in the classic training sense, however my clear liquid diet over the previous 6 days was a bit light on calories on Friday and Saturday. My gut was better than it has been for any run in recent memory, however I needed two GU's to kick start my energy stores and get going. I will know better next time.

The other sticking point was my decision to tape GU's to the side of (frozen) water bottles for placement at the personal drink stations each 5km. I had heard that in past years that this was a well run organisation of volunteers checking race numbers and handing runners drinks. Nothing could be further from the truth on the day, apart from the 35km point where I had decided to give it a miss. I had wasted so much time at the 10k stop and was frustrated with standing there when I should be running I gave up without getting a drink. At one stop a woman chastised me for being in a hurry (my watch indicated I was stationary for nearly a minute!), while at another I was directed to a 2nd table where I searched fruitlessly until a guy brought me my drink from the 1st.

These were minor irritations, and I soon forgot them. It was certainly harder running on my own, where I may have been overtaken by some runners on the inclines, although found that I passed more and more people in the final stages.

I finished in 3:47:56 and was delighted. I stayed well hydrated, and didn't have any great stiffness or soreness at the end. Bob was perhaps even happier ~ he didn't think I do it on such an interrupted 3 months, and felt quite proud. Loved the experience, although not the 42kms of bitumen. It reinforced my desire to do as many long distance off road events during the year.

A more comprehensive report with an analysis of my Polar s625x will follow.