Timmy's 3 T (Topics, Tales & Trash): Melbourne Marathon 2.58:09

Flew down to Melbourne on the Saturday morning and met up with the rest of the crew for an early dinner at the pasta place recommended by Irelands toughest man Macca with everyone in good spirits as the big day loomed.

Woke to (apart from roommate Heyden’s snoring) a beaut of a morning after fears that it was going to hit a high of 29 degrees and jogged over to the start with Heyden, Birchy and Jeet to find the place a buzz with loads of nervous energy among the team.

Good banter on the start line as I lined up alongside the big guns Quentin, C.T Macca, Justin and Skippy Heyden before the gun goes and we were away. Settled pretty easily into my pace and was conscious of not getting carried away too early. Took my first split around the 5k mark and found I was working pretty much on 4 min/ks as the clock ticked over 20 minutes . A nice part of the course followed around Albert Park and the first double back meant I saw Quentin leading the charges as everyone (as expected ) was looking strong. Went through 10k in 40 minutes and was moving well and tucked in with Lauren Hamilton (‘Run Sydney’ 10k female winner) for the next 5ks or so.

Got to around the 18m mark and saw the 7 leaders coming in the opposite direction at half way for them all looking so smooth and our own Quentin still out front from the HuRTS team with Macca also putting a huge gap into Heyden.

Another hairpin bend around the 19.5 mark and I got my first glance at Jeet who was right on my tail. He came by right on the half way mark as we both passed in around 85.25.

The next 5ks down to the final hairpin at 26ks was tough and was very happy just to sit on Jeet for this time, but once that turn came I was starting to fade and he was soon to pull away. I had put a special drink in to be picked up at the 27.5k marker and was hanging for it only to find at my horror no truck, no drinks….zilch ……….W.T F. a few chosen words were aimed at nobody in particular and the first of the negative thoughts passed through my head. Told myself to get to 30ks and we can reassess, As I had Tom Highnam’s words of keeping it together between 30 -35k mark ringing in my ear.

I think those wise words fell on death ears because right on 30k and as the half marathons joined us I had to contend with my first walk of the day. After a quick self talking to I tried to lift by passing many in the half, only problem they were 6 min/k runners. Came back up St Kilda Road before entering the ‘Tan’ and if things weren’t tough enough they were about to get a whole lot tougher when I spotted a ‘HILL’ ….where did that come from? Another walk came as I tried to do the calculations in my head to see where I was at and honestly thought that the next people to come past would surely be North Shore Benny Boy and Erika who were both on for sub 3hr times.

38ks done and I take a positive and tell myself only one lap of Centennial Park to go (as I do that every day) but it didn’t seem to help me as it was honestly a struggle just putting one foot in front of the other at this stage. Came back up past Flinders station and with only 1500m to go had the dreaded ‘Walk of Shame’ again, this was getting embarrassing and I had one bloke help me out big time when he offered some kind words to run home together.

It seemed so simple with less than about 2 minutes to the finish line, BUT you won’t believe it then when I had one final walk to give with only 400m to go.

Barely crawled over the line to stop the clock in 2.58:09 into the waiting arms of C.T , Macca, Heyden and Jeet, absolutely spent and didn’t know if I wanted to stand, collapse as I was staggering around like Tommy Highnam on a night out I heard Erika’s name being boomed out as she wasn’t far behind me.

It’s a long time since I’ve run a marathon, as I can’t really count Berlin last year as I wasn’t pushing the pace, and I had forgotten how hard they bloody are. It’s amazing how you encounter every emotion going over the 3 hours, feeling good one minute, shocking the next, enjoying the occasion then promising yourself never to do another.

My 5k splits were;

5k 20.00 (4 min ks)

10k 20.04 (4.01s)

15k 20.03 (4.01s)

20k 20.13 (4.03s)

25k 20.25 (4.05s)

30k 20.46 (4.11s)

35k 22.56 (4.36s)

40k 22.48 (4.35s)

2k 10.07 (4.23s)

A day to recover and think about the run, looking back I’m very happy to be back running sub 3hrs and stoked to have a 2.58 against my name, Disappointed with the last 12ks and its certainly not how I envisaged the latter stages of finishing the race. My long runs, although very consistent every week were perhaps a little short on distance, With many of the others hitting 34- 36ks I was only hitting around 30 -32 each week.

As for the team, it was a mixed bag, the successes without a shadow of a doubt were the girls , Erika and Sonya both with massive PBs and Pommy Paul who ran the race of his life to stop the clock in 3.05:17 after a real solid training block, C. T delivered with his 2.34 and overtook Quentin who didn’t have the best of days and faded badly over the last 10ks, My talk on Stoke City must have proved fruitful for roomy Andy Heyden who run nearly the perfect race to beat Macca home as well in 2.38:06. Macca had a good run but will be upset he lost the title of Irelands fastest marathoner of the year by a mere 4 seconds to Enda Stankard , that will mean the Galway boy will be telling everyone for the next 2 months all about it. Still. I think many within the HuRTS club will know who the real #1 is

Times were;

Marathon.

C.T 2.34:07

Heyden 2.38: 06

Macca 2.38.37

Quentin 2.41.50

Jeet 2.53:07 (PB)

Timmy 2.58:07

Erika 2.58:36 (PB)

Birchy 3.05:17 (PB)

Sonya 3.09:27 (PB)

Benny 3.15:30

Justin D.N.F

Half

Barts 71.20

Anto 82.39

Sammy 86.08

Olivia 1hr.45

Timmy’s run of the Day – Erika, brilliant effort and to break sub 3 hours is something to be proud of. I knew once she broke away from those North Shore boys and joined the East team great things would surely follow.

Talking of which, without team captain Tommy H the north boys crumbled, with ‘Q’ blowing up, Macca not even getting the #1 Irish tag, Benny Boys shocker and Justin deciding at 30ks he’d had enough for the day it wasn’t what was expected. Meanwhile the East gang enjoyed the spoils, with PBs the order of the day. Looks like we may have a few new faces by the time the next marathon comes around at this rate? All the banter and $h!te talk every Sunday morning must do something when it comes to relaxing you for the big races?

After a quick freshen up it was back to the important stuff, caught up for a few ales with the north shore team before they took an afternoon flight back to Sydney then celebrated in fine style throughout the day with Birchy putting on the style not only with his fancy hairdo but pushing the boat out with his spanking NEW brogue shoes.

The day was getting messy , and after a bite to eat it was left to the hardcore, C.T, Birchy, Jeet, Sammy and I to lower the tone and hit the local Irish bar to finish of a top day.

Woke this morning feeling as ‘rough as Tarzans feet’ and had to endure a stressful Birchy all over town as we raced to meet a waiting taxi to get us to the airport in time for our flight back to Sydney.

Bets for the day – Even split , lost to C.T (with 20 mins) and Jeet (with 3 minutes) although got my own back on Birchy and probably the best one , Sonya after giving her 11 minute start – beat her by about 18 seconds that will now see her in a costume of my choice at the next Striders race at Lane Cove. She already had a tutu out for me had she won.

Another great tour from the HuRTs team , the final one for the year although we do have the presentation evening to come in November that will bring the team together once again.

Will rest up a little over the next week or so , but still want to keep the training up as I want to run the final Striders 10k and this year’s J.P Morgan event in November to hopefully finish the year on a high.

A few pics from the weekend.