My Melbourne Half Marathon

by Cathie Lambert

Very early in the year i decided to run Melbourne marathon. Accommodation and flights were booked, but i left entering the event til quite late. The accomodation was a bit of a disaster, and i had to find alternative accomodation the week before.

I had done coastal high 50, in September but video evidence shows there was a lot of walking in that event. I didnt feel i could give a full marathon a good crack, so decided to enter the half instead.

I enlisted John’s help quite late, i was thinking i should have been in taper mode, but John had other thoughts. After a couple of weeks of long sunday runs we had a chat about a realistic goal time. This cant be underestimated and my feeling of satisfaction right now comes more from sticking to my plan, rather than the time.

On Friday morning, before flying out, i had an emergency trip to intraining for a new pair of shoes. I needed a new pair but was reluctant to change close to the event, but my toe was poking out so much i couldn’t stand it. I was worried about wearing brand new shoes, my father had to pull out of the qld marathon championships in 1963, after winning the year before (and after), but shoes these days are a but different from the dunlop vollies he probably wore. I also picked up a strawberry and banana gu, omg who could resist those flavours.

I had half of the gu at 7:30, after cheering on some friends who were doing the full. The flavour was disappointing, sort of tasted like the banana was over ripe, and i am not a fan of the overripe banana!

The plan was to start out conservatively and controlled, with John’s advice to be aware of the tailwind which will make it seem easy. The start was exciting, so many people (my results page says 9736 in the half, I’m not sure if that includes DNS). There was a little hill up to Flinders Street, then it was fun running past Flinders Street station and over the bridge. Running out to Albert park we were running over tram tracks, i found it a bit tricky with people dodging in front, footpaths/islands to go up and down etc, i was surprised there weren’t more falls. I only saw one.

Reaching Albert Park I recalled John’s advice to keep my head up and run from point to point, rather than following the twists and bends. This was good in theory, but i still had so many people round me it was a bit hard to do it. I picked up my pace, as planned, battling the wind in places, saw a few cute swans with babies, and a crazy guy doing the full with a washing machine on his back. Seemed like this was a good spot for spectators and they were all encouraging.

Out of Albert Park we headed back towards the finish. Once i reached 18ks i decided to go a bit faster, it’s only 3 ks right. I got a 5:46, 5:36 and 6:02. The 21st k was 6:28, i think this was the bridge. John had warned me to stay strong for the bridge, and although i was slow, i was passing lots going up. Also there were quite a few collapsed from here to the finish. It sort of puts you off a bit when you see these bodies on the sidelines!! My last 600m shows as 4:28 pace so ourTuesday speed sessions have definitely paid off. Thank you John, Kat and Cheryl. I did take a selfie running up the bridge but its not good for sharing.

Running round the MCG was awesome. Unfortunately i had forgotten my brisbane lions singlet so i couldnt call out ‘go the lions’. My only disappointment of the day.

John’s final piece of advice waa to cheer on other intraining runners and i did this. As i wasn’t wearing an intraining singlet I think some people were just wondering who was the weirdo cheering them on, but oh well, never mind.

Would i do it again? I dont think so. It was actually a bit of a boring course. Maybe the full would be better? And it was hot. And i found i wasted a lot of time at the water stations, i had to walk to be able to get a drink. But i did enjoy the run.

A big thanks to Paula and Lynda Coulson for the training runs, and the support, You guys are awesome and we have covered many subject topics which are best left unmentioned. And a big thanks to the Tuesday morning group who never fail to encourage and support. It’s definitely noticed and appreciated.

Final time was 2:12:35, my second fastest half time. Strava says i got a pb for the half, 20k and 10 mile.

This has turned out to be quite the essay, I’m an all or nothing type of girl, my usual race report is a simple, yep i did it. Maybe I’ll stick to that next time. Remember, John Whelan and Paula Treagle Flynnp, you did ask!