Hunter Valley Marathon

Last weekend we went up to the Hunter Valley - a wine region just a couple of hours north of Sydney - for me to run my first marathon. We drove up with Luke & Jenn and stayed with Luke's parents in their gorgeous little house in the Hunter.

I was so stoked by the whole experience, it was just sensational. I don't mean only the race itself, but the whole process of training, reading up and learning about what I should do, putting together a training plan and a race plan, going through all the stress and second thoughts and then finally hurling myself into it and doing the race itself. What an experience.

After some overnight rain the day dawned clear and beautiful and I had somehow managed to stay healthy even though it seemed every person I saw over the previous couple of weeks was in the grip of the killer flu (and apparently doing their best to cough all over me). So I was all set! Until I started reversing down the driveway and after about 3 feet managed to reverse the car into a ditch where it stuck fast. Thankfully we were able to borrow Luke's mum's car and were on the way, arriving just 10 minutes before the start of the race!

I had a pacing chart printed out and tried to keep an even pace every km for the whole 42km and I managed to stick pretty much to it, around 4:40mins per kilometre.

The course was gorgeous - running on dirt tracks through wineries and fields full of horses and cows. Some tough hills though, it certainly wasn't a flat course! The course was two loops and I hit halfway at 98mins, only a minute slower than my predicted pace, but the second lap was always going to be the real test. It was great to have Sarah there for me at the halfway point for a high five, a huge smile and some much needed encouragement.



The second half was difficult, but I met a nice bloke running at exactly the same pace and we somehow dragged each other through it. It was never that bad though, I was expecting to really struggle from 36km onwards because that was longer than I've ever run before in my life, but I guess all the training really paid off because I felt ok all the way through and ran hard right up to the finish line, crossing at 3:18:51 and coming 11th overall in the race.

It was a tremendous feeling! It was also really nice to have Sarah, Jenn and Luke there to cheer me on. Jenn and Luke had run the 10km race and Sarah had run the 6.2km race. Photos below.

I've now had a good week of sleep-ins, beer and pizza and I'm ready for the next goal - a half ironman triathlon in Decemeber.