There’s no way to sugar-coat this one - an appalling 2:12:27.
It’s almost a week on from the race and I’m still trying to work out what happened. After having such a comfortable run in Melbourne just two weeks prior and cruising home in 2:13:32, it’s a real disappointment to have struggled so much for a time in Auckland that was only a minute better.
I said at the start of this quest that - “Doubtless too, there'll be a few gaps, perhaps some despondency, hopefully some steady progress, and - with a fair amount of effort and luck - some ecstasy!” At the moment, I think I can safely say that we’re pretty well anchored in the ‘despondent’ phase of this exercise. My imminent Camino pilgrimage comes at a good time.
It’s strange, because up until the Auckland race actually started, things were going well.
I managed not to miss my flight from Sydney, which arrived in Auckland as scheduled on Friday afternoon. I spent a very quiet Saturday afternoon in my downtown hotel after collecting my bib at the race expo. The forecast for Sunday was fine with a low of 9 and a maximum of 16. Just about perfect running weather.
I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked that Saturday night but woke up with my alarm at 4:00am (2:00am Sydney time) in anticipation of the 6:50am start. I then walked the short distance from the hotel to the wharf to catch the 5:20am ferry across the harbour - which was still in darkness - to Devonport.
Along with many other early arrivals, I found a seat in the ferry terminal at Devonport wharf and waited there for around an hour until heading for the nearby start line. I was feeling fine and quickly spotted the yellow balloons of the 2 hour pacer. I took up position close to him and locked in behind when the gun fired.
Then, a few hundred metres after the start, the course went up a steady incline and I suddenly felt something very wrong with my breathing. It started to become seriously laboured and I had no choice but to pull over to the side, slow to a walk and watch helplessly as the pacing group cracked on.
Somehow I was completely exhausted after only a couple of minutes running. It was something I’d never experienced before and was at a loss about how to handle it. After a minute or so, I felt as if I’d partially recovered and started running again. But it wasn't too long before I had to stop and walk again.
I was thinking that, maybe, I could wait to latch onto a slower pacing group but then remembered that the 2 hour bus was the last of them. At that moment, I felt a little as if I was stuck in the ocean and watching the only hope of rescue sailing into the distance. But the thought of just giving up never entered my head so I just had to do what I could to recover and finish the race in the least ugly time possible.
I started running again and decided to fall in behind people who seemed to be going at my pace. This worked for a while but once again I had to stop for a short time when going up another incline. I’d forgotten how hilly this race was with several tough ascents in the Devonport neighbourhood and along the course, culminating in the long exposed climb across the deck of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Much of the race also had no distance markers. I knew the Bridge was at around 16 kilometres but I had no real landmarks before then. The first one I saw was at 10 kilometres and when it came into view, my heart sank. By that stage, I really thought we'd done 13 or 14 kilometres, at least. To not even be halfway was a real mental blow. At least I seemed to have shaken off the breathing problems that had plagued me in the early part of the race but I was feeling nowhere near as strong as I was at this point in the Melbourne run just two short weeks back.
It was shortly after the halfway point that the course started on the freeway with fewer buildings and just the long, slow, grind of the tarmac. This part was also much more exposed to the strong winds that were now blowing off Auckland Harbour. Sadly, they never quite seemed to blow from directly behind us.
The run up to the apex of the Harbour Bridge was the steepest climb of the course but I found it quite straightforward, especially compared to the much easier hills in the first few kilometres. Once over the bridge, it was a gentle trot through some industrial and commercial areas back into the city where the long finishing chute ran alongside Victoria Park. I was running much better at this point and passing plenty of runners and walkers who seemed to be having a tougher day than me.
At the finish, I was pleased to accomplish at least one goal I’d set before the race - charging down the finishing straight and almost collapsing over the line with nothing left in the tank. After such a long struggle, I was surprised to see the clock on the finish line showing a (gun) time just over 2:13. I’d been expecting at least a 2:20. But to even come close to beating my Melbourne time with that sort of effort was a bit of a shock.
Officially, my net time was 2:12:27 - just over a minute faster than Melbourne. My first 5K took 32:54, the second took 30:34, the third 31:22, and the fourth, 31:02. The final 1.1K took 6:32. In terms of placings, after the first agonising 5K, I was 3,769th. By the end, I’d recovered somewhat to pull it back to 2,984th (of 5,669 finishers).
Overall, it was a tough day on a tough course. I should have done much better, and I did have some excuses (a significantly interrupted training program through injury; no hill sessions in that truncated program; not enough long runs). But this one’s going to take a while to come back from.
And on that fairly sombre note, that’s all from me for now.
As I mentioned a few posts back, I’m on a plane to Europe in a couple of days to walk the Camino Frances again (from St Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain), followed by the Camino Portuguese (from Porto to Santiago de Compostela and Finisterre), followed by a winter wander around Europe and England. All up, the Camino pilgrimages should be around 1,200 kilometres in 50 days.
I’m really looking forward to the trip, but doubtless when I’m there, I’ll also be looking forward to getting back to the remnants of an Australian summer in early February to try and thaw out. And to kicking-off training for the next stop on this quest - the Canberra half marathon in April 2017.
A reminder that the BQ-Quest schedule (past, present and future) now looks something like this:
1. Sydney half - May 2015 (time 2:00:26)
2. Gold Coast half - July 2015 (missed with hamstring injury)
3. Melbourne half - October 2015 (time 2:18:04, with calf injury)
4. New York half - March 2016 (time 2:01:46)
5. Gold Coast half - July 2016 (time 1:57:46)
5A. Melbourne half - October 2016 (training run - time 2:13:32)
6. Auckland half - October 2016 (time 2:12:27)
7. Canberra half - April 2017
8. Gold Coast half - July 2017
9. Great North Run (England) - September 2017 (assuming I get an entry via the ballot process)
10. Hobart half - January 2018
11. Gold Coast Marathon - July 2018
12. Melbourne Marathon - November 2018
13. Gold Coast Marathon (1st BQ attempt) - July 2019
So I wish you all a happy Christmas, a wonderful and meaningful New Year, and Buen Camino!
See you in 2017.
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