a pb 4 tb 3.49.52 thanks God yeah!

Ran the 35th Melbourne Marathon in 3hrs 49minutes and 52 seconds, to finish 2582nd  (2143rd Man)in a field of about 7000+ starters. My race number was 7215.

  Had influenza again in race week, and messed up the middle section of the race a bit, but hung in enough for a 5 minute PB, which I am ecstatic about as its taken more than 8 years to land this elusive big fish, and the last 5 years I have been trying really hard to get it each year at Melbourne since the 2008 race,  and finally its happened. yeahhhhhhh!!!!!!!! I think I trained well enough to be in about 3.30ish condition...

But the flu took the edge off me to the point that I just didn't have the energy to push hard after the first hour...I sprayed both nostrils 8 times with a saline spray (salt spray) before the race which I think helped to clear up my nasal and ear areas of mucous enough so that I was able to smash out the first 10km at good pace in 46min 09 secs, my fastest 10km this year, but I still felt like I had a bit in reserve. Then I ran into a few minor issues that in the end cost me about 5-10 minutes, plus the mucous buildup in my nose and ears started to come back as the effect of the saline spray at 4.30am that morning started to wear off. Spent the next 3 hours coughing and spitting and trying to stay under 5min 30-6min per K, which was not easy but with some practice from the city to surf marathon 2 months ago, and the inspiration of Mighty Mick running a 3.02 in that race when he was sick in my mind,  I was successful, and finally a pb for tb is a reality!!! Yeeehahhh!  Results @ http://melbournemarathon.com.au
14k split guestimates 70min?/ 77min? / 82min?
10k-46.09 guestimates; 20k 1.40? 35k 3.05? 40k 3.37?
Official times; 20km 1.40.29 30km 2.37.26 40km 3.37.56 Official guntime 10k splits; 10k splits 46.19 (46.09 net time), 54:20 56:57, 1:00:30

1k-4.22 (4.22)
2k-8.44 (4.22)
3k 13.11 (4.27)
4k 17.35 (4.24)
5k 22.09 (4.34)
6k 27.30 (5.21) (K marker may have been long...)
7k 31.57 ( 4.27)
8k 36.39 (4.42)
9k 41.12? (4.33?) (cant remember this one well)
10k 46.09 (4.57?)
Started off trying to track the 3.10 pacer, and ended up going past Jodie (she passed me about 10km and ran a big 3.12 PB) in the first 1k, and settled into about 4.25 per K initially which felt solid but comfortable. For some reason 5k to 6k was very slack/slow, can't remember why now maybe the K marker was in the wrong spot too?. By 7.5k was having to work a bit, but was still on track to get under my 47min 30 target. Was very pleased to get to 10k in 46.09 and was feeling good, although I knew I'd have to slow down to around 5min per k soon...Also had been wanting a no 1's toilet stop for a bit so saw a toilet on side of course and took the opportunity. That cost me about 2-3 minutes, so my 10k to 11k split was 7min 41...and I hit 11k in 53min 50. Olympic racewalker Chris Erickson passed me around this time...and the 3.30 pace group also caught up to me. Then my new $14 stopwatch decided to go back to 0:00:00 once it hit 60minutes, and I had no idea it was going to do that, so I checked my watch and it said 3minutes 27 secs, at about 13km... so all times from here on were guesswork for me, which made it a little hard to tell how my final time was looking... 14k was about 70minutes I guestimate...
My guestimates for splits in the second half of the race;
20k 1.40?         21.1k (half) 1.45? (1.42 and a 3min toilet stop)
25k 2.07?         28k 2.25?
30k 2.37?        
35k 3.07?
40k 3.38?
Official times; 20km 1.40.29 30km 2.37.26 40km 3.37.56 Official guntime 10k splits; 10k splits 46.19,(46.09 net time) 54:20 56:57, 1:00:30

The 3.40 pacers caught me at about 26km, and try as I did, I could not stay with them. Drinks strategy was perfect this time, and I fixed the problem between 25km and 37km that ambushed me last year. Also used two gel blasts instead of one gel last year. Had first gel blast at 20km and the second one at 31km, and they helped to keep the carbohydrates at a functional level. The weather was perfect, hardly any wind, and not too hot, a bit cold early but you forget about that about 50metres into it. Probably had more drinks than I needed (3.6L total, 1.8L was Gatorade), but better to have a little too much than too little in my opinion, because underhydration= poorer performance in my opinion although I have heard a few runners expressing the view that underhydration helps their performance but I don't agree with them. The 3.50 pacers caught me at about 37km, and i kept them in sight for about 2-3km and then lost them...was holding onto about 5.30-5.50 per K, which was well under my target of sub 6min K's in the last 12km....

Finished strongly getting through the last 2.2km in 10minutes and almost caught the 3.50 pacers at the finish, could see the clock in the 3.49's as i ran around  the MCG, and had a similiar emotion to the one at the end of 6 foot last year, and i was crying in joyous ecstatic relief at the end....sooo happy to finally get a new PB...

Prayed a lot to the Creator Triune today and he granted my requests with a Yes today...Seeing my wife and kids get their medals after the 3km walk onto the MCG was also a big highlight too..., I think that is 2 year old Jordans first race medal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My buildup thanks to the BT runclub has been very good this year in the early weeks. Also thanks to TRC's Melbourne Marathon Train group...That 30km training run was a very useful and important session in my build up. Many thanks. I think my training this year was my best preparation so far for a marathon, although I think even if everything went perfect the best I could have hoped for was about 3.20-3.30 this weekend. With the influenza hitting me again this week 3.40's was about all that was possible in the end, and even that was a minor miracle. I considered not going to Melbourne at all a few days ago because I was sick but figured I could not get a refund on the Tiger airways flights so would have to go and give it a shot. It paid off, and I am wildly happy and joyous that I was able to land the PB...I will be paying off  the high interest loans I took out for this trip for the next 6 months, but in addition my 2 year old daughter got to do the 3km walk onto the MCG for the first time, along with my wife and 5 year old son, so all in all its a successful family trip.

 I thank God, BT runclub, Dennis and Jen from the Melbourne Marathon Train group, BBC, Ewen, Jane, Grant, my parents for helping us significantly at short notice, my wife Kathryn, and many others who encouraged me along the way.  Highlight time!!!!!!!