I am a lousy runner so I admire anyone who can. Great job. You fought through your obstacles, persevered and finished.
A true victory! cheers, frank --- Original Message --- From: David Mann <dmann...@gmail.com> Sent: June 2, 2013 6/2/13 To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <pdml@pdml.net> Subject: OT: Marathon The Christchurch Marathon was held today and I ran it as my first marathon. I've done a few half marathons and decided it was time to step up the distance. The infamous Northwest wind came up which meant that the conditions were quite warm and VERY dry with blustery winds. The Nor'wester, as we call it, i's a Föhn wind and most of the country, except for the Canterbury Plains, gets pouring rain. We get heat and strong winds with very low humidity. It's one of my favourite features of this area. The event has historically been held through the old 1974 Commonwealth Games course following the Avon River through the city but with so much being closed off since the earthquakes they are now running it out at the airport, with the airport as naming sponsor. The airport, being on the outskirts of the city, is very exposed to the weather so the wind made the running pretty hard on large parts of the course. Todays winning time was about 20 minutes slower than usual. I'd had a fairly aggressive 12-week training plan from my coach and was struggling a bit with small injuries towards the end so I wasn't sure if I'd even finish. Pace-wise I was on track to meet my target time of about 3hrs45min until I got to about 25km when I found myself getting into a little difficulty due to dehydration. I'd been drinking two cups of fluid at every aid station but it just wasn't enough in the conditions. At the next station I took 3 cups and had one of my gels which perked me up pretty quickly but I only held a good pace until 30km. From then on it was a roller coaster ride of just making it to the next aid station without walking. I jogged the last 3km or so pretty slowly but made it there in the end, finishing in 4:13. I'm not disappointed with my time given the conditions but in hindsight I should have sent some personal bottles to a few aid stations just to keep the fluids up. The data logging in my running watch runs out at 4:30 so I'm glad I was faster than that. Next stop is a half ironman race in November, then it's Challenge Wanaka next January. Wanaka is my big target event and today was part of the training programme for it. I did the half-distance race there this year in brutal conditions. I am really going to suffer there next year but I've paid my entry fee so I'm committed to it. I've been talking to my coach about the training programme and we're doing a 3-month strength programme to build a better platform for doing the future long-distance training without injury. But until then, I get a week off. And yes I am currently a member of the Ministry of Silly Walks. Cheers, Dave -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
