I was anxious in the lead up to the Cadbury Marathon; probably even more so than before my first marathon and with good reason as Friday morning, two days before this marathon, I woke up with a massive cramp in my left calf. To try to starve off the pain, I rolled out of bed and gently stood up - the spasms subsided but my calf was really tight. Nonetheless, I warmed up and went for an easy 5km jog (the last scheduled in the tampering phase of my training plan). I could feel the tightness in my calf, while running, but it wasn't painful. Rest and a good night's sleep, and hopefully I would be right....
Not so! Saturday morning, my calf was tender - it felt like there was a big knot in the middle of the muscle - and I had a slight limp, especially if I had been sitting for awhile. Now I was worried - we were flying out to Hobart just before lunchtime and I was supposed to be running the marathon tomorrow, crap!!
Kerryn and Ben, my usual marathon 'pit crew' were coming with me, but this time they were running too - the 5km race - incentivised by the promise of the Cadbury's finishers pack! On arriving in Hobart, we picked up the race packs (bibs and timing chips) then had a late lunch before checking into our accommodation. Then a stroll to catch the end of the Salamanca markets before an indulgent afternoon tea at Daci & Daci Bakers - carb loading was Ben's excuse:
The hotel was noisy, so I didn't sleep very well, but woke to my 3:50am alarm for pre-race feed of 4 pikelets with jam and honey, a banana and an Up&Go. I was really pleased, and hugely relieved, to find that my left calf was feeling pretty good and that the knot in the muscle seemed to have eased but I took another dose of ibuprofen anyway, then got my running gear on and had a strong coffee with (3 tsp) glucose at 4:30am before walking up to the nearby Best Western Hotel for a 5am bus transfer to the Cadbury factory in Claremont (about 20 min drive out of Hobart). Some apple juice and a gel around 5:30am, then bag drop off and some dynamic stretching to warm up and I was good to go!
Around 5:50am we were marshalled to the start line at the Cadbury enterance but, as it was a small field (around 250 runners), compared with other marathons I had run, there was no 'chutes' or time markers to set up the start sequence just the race coordinator announcing that slower runners should be towards the rear of the start group. But this seemed to work ok, with the gun going at 6am, the pack quickly sorted itself out with hardly any jostling (nice!)...
Two laps of the streets around the Cadbury factory then downhill to the 4km mark - crap I thought, as I ran down the hill, as this was an out-and-back course, it was going to be a nasty little 600m uphill to finish!
The course was a little undulating, following the Derwent River, and was actually out-and-back twice! From Cadbury in Claremont we ran down Cadbury Rd onto Main Rd through Berriedale and past Mona then onto the Brooker Hwy. Turned at GASP (Genorchy Art & Sculpture Park) to run beside the Elwick Racecourse onto Goodwood Rd to cross the Bowen Bridge for the turnaround, to head back on the same route, a little up the East Derwent Hwy. Turnaround for the second out-and-back was, thankfully, at the bottom of the hill up to Cadbury.
There were three drink stations fairly evenly spaced along the course, so 12 opportunities to hydrate and fuel. I took half a gel and half a cup of water at most stations, but was feeling a bit hungry on my final lap. On top of that, I was struggling with a bit of lower GI discomfort (but did manage to get through race without pitstop); so I guess that I haven't quite nailed my pre-race fuelling!
Despite my grumbling guts, I was running comfortably throughout the race and had no problems with my left calf (much to my relief and amazement). While the final return lap (from around 32 km) was hard work, I seemed to be 'in the zone' and, unlike previous marathons, at no stage was I really hurting bad. In fact I was still relatively comfortable at 39 km, so was able to pick my pace in the final kms to the finish - maybe "bank a bit of time" before the hill finish, I thought.
The hill up to the finish line at Cadburys was a bastard, but I still had a bit in the tank and was able to kick hard to the crest then finish strong on the last 200m, in a time of 3:40:20. While my training plan had me looking to break 3:40, I was rapted anyway with a new PB!!!
By this time, Kerryn and Ben had finished the 5km race so where there to cheer me over the line and rushed over to meet me, which was really nice.
Great run and we all "took home the chocolates"!!!
