Townsville Marathon

There are quite a few quirks to my Townsville marathon story, starting with how I came to be there in the first place, and then with how it all unfolded. Here it is….

Originally I entered and paid to go to New Zealand to run the Christchurch marathon (scheduled for June 2011), but because of the earthquake there, that event was cancelled. Since I couldn’t get a refund on my flights I decided to transfer them to Townsville and run there instead. I chose Townsville because it was one of the few Australian marathons I’d never run and because the idea of a 3 day warm interlude in the middle of Canberra’s winter was very appealing. After having finalised that transfer however, I found out that a modified version of the Christchurch marathon was going to go ahead – i.e., a marathon located 22kms out of Christchurch - but by then it was too late for me to change my plans back again and I probably wouldn’t have anyway as I didn’t really like the idea of visiting such a devastated area. So … Townsville it was to be….

I knew it would be hot and humid in Townsville but I thought I might still be able to run a decent marathon there because the course was flat/fast and it started at 5.30am. With that in mind I chose to run the 10km (Sat) and the ½ marathon (Sun) at the Gold Coast marathon/running festival in July in preparation for Townsville. Those two races were meant to be my hit-outs and the Townsville marathon was meant to be my goal race. Ironically, I surprised myself at the Goldcoast by running better than I expected (particularly in the ½ marathon in which I ran 90mins flat for the first time in >2yrs) and then of course I went on to run more poorly than I expected/hoped in Townsville, but I’m still getting to that ....

I arrived in Townsville late Friday afternoon. I was immediately struck by how warm it was (yippee!) but also by how humid and windy it was (hmmmm ....). But I didn’t have any negative thoughts about any of that. It was just fantastic to be in a t-shirt after freezing in Canberra for so many months. My mind and body just lapped it up. Of course enjoying being warm while swanning around and relaxing is totally different to being “warm” when running 42kms, but I’m still getting to that too .....

Saturday was a lovely day (more warm :)) and I spent most of it with my friend Steph from Cairns who drove down to Townsville just to hang out with me. We had a terrific catch up. After Steph left though, things started to turn - unpredictably and in a not so positive direction. Firstly I had a call from home to say that Capital I was at Calvary hospital after being concussed at soccer. I won’t go into the details, suffice to say that the uncertainly of that situation and its overnight duration meant I had a sleepless, worried night. Secondly, when I awoke from my non-sleep I found it was warmer and more humid than it had been on Saturday. In fact, when I got in the taxi @ 4.45am to go to the marathon start line it was already 15degC. Hmmm ……

I decided at the start line to go out conservatively. I was tired and emotionally drained, and it was already hotter and more humid than I expected. I stuck to that plan. In fact, I had no choice but to stick to that plan. From very early on I just lacked energy. Each time I tried to pick up the pace, I couldn’t maintain it, not even for a few kms. So, self talk and decision time came around quickly. Would I quit early and deal with being a quitter or would I suck it up, run the best I could and make the most of the experience? I went with the latter (of course!). I’ve only ever DNF-ed twice in my running life and both times I beat myself up about it and so to do it again would take more guts than pushing on slowly. Injury or sickness mid race would be about the only excuse(s) I’d accept from myself. After deciding to push on and letting go of my ambition to run “well” (my definition), I relaxed into the run (no longer calling it a “race”) and I started to enjoy the bits about a marathon that so often evade those who have a “race it” only mentality. I chatted with those who were running around me and I enjoyed the scenery and the novelty of a marathon course I’d never run before – i.e., the marathon runner’s equivalent of “smelling the roses”. It really was a nice, positive experience.

As the kms and the time wore on, I had patches of feeling better, and there was some consolation in running a better 2nd half than 1st half in terms of “performance”. In the end, I had an overwhelmingly positive marathon experience, and amazingly I came 4th female and 25th outright (male and female results combined), with a finishing time of 3.28. So, regardless of whether I looked at it in terms of “performance” or “experience”, the Townsville marathon was a good run for me.

Of course getting home and seeing for myself that Capital I was coming good and will be okay was the best part of the whole weekend. Whew! And Yey!