Gold Coast Marathon

Marathon number 7

Before running the Noosa Marathon I was bold enough to enter the Gold Cost Marathon.

The GC Marathon was just 6 weeks after Newcastle on June 7 so not really enough time for recovery and building up training again but I figured I'd give it a go anyway.

Given the Noosa Marathon had gone well I had no injuries and the fatigue wasn't too bad on my body. The week afterwards I went for one midweek run and then 22k on the weekend and then started to get in to a bit of a routine wth 2 mid week runs and 1 long run on the weekend. I kept this up for a few weeks with a good 36k run 3 weeks out and 26k the following weekend.

Unfortunately the following weekend I was aiming for a 20krun but could only get 11k before the base of my foot started to give me excruciating pain, I couldn't go on and ended up hobbling home. Whilst hobbling home I had plenty of time to think about the upcoming marathon. On the plus side I knew I had enough training behind me and in theory it wouldn't matter if I didn't do another run before the marathon. On the bad side, I wouldn't be able to complete 42k if my foot was that sore.

I did plenty of ready up on what I might have done, plantar fasciitis came up as a likely prognosis. It wasn't encouraging as it would seem that I would need more than 1 week to recover. 

I left it a few days, did a gentle 5k which wasn't too bad an left my training there. 

I had decided to drive up to the Gold Coast and to take the kids with me. It's a long drive, we started on the Friday, stopped at Coffs Harbour on the way up and then drove on from there. The kids were surprisingly good on the drive. Theo had a terrible cold so we had to stop off and buy more tissues. It was a pretty easy drive but long. The only complicated bit was getting to our apartment in the Gold Coast but google sorted that out for us and we met mum. I went off to get my race pack and pick up some food for dinner. That evening we sorted out the supporter plan with mum, which was pretty easy. Our apartment was very close to the 3k and about 30k mark.

Plotting how you're going to get to the start line is always a key part of the planning process. After much googling and discussion I decided to walk to the tram, get on the tram and go from there. I shouldn't have worried so much, there were plenty of people doing the same as me so there was no trouble finding my way and I was at the start line with plenty of time. 

I was definitely feeling nervous about my foot but there wasn't much I could do at this point. I'd taken some panadol before the run, in an attempt to curb any upcoming pain. I've since learned that having panadol before running is a bad idea, can have serious health implications. 

Got in to the starting pen with thousands of other runners. I was on one of the sides, next to which there was a space for the elite runners to do their warm ups. I saw New Zealander Zane Robertson warming up, very impressive and somewhat motivating. 

About 2 minutes before the start, it started to rain and boy did it rain. It was a proper downpour and there was no hiding from it. I tried to stand so that my shoes didn't get too wet but it wasn't much good. Almost as soon as the starters gun went the rain eased up but the damage had been done. 

So we were off, and not long in to the run it was quite a sunny day. 

I got in to a reasonable rythym in the mid 5m 30s /km pace. 

After 10k I was doing alight and picked up the pace a bit and was pretty steady in the 5m 20s and I was reasonably consistent until 35k. Up until this point I was thinking I might be able to beat my Noosa time.

At 35k the wheels starting to come off. Then at 37k the run loops back towards the finish line. It's at this point you find out that you've been benefiting from a tail wind for quite some time and that it's quite a stiff breeze to run in to. Unlike Noosa I really struggled through the last couple of k's and felt some cramp coming on. Thankfully I didn't succumb and I managed to jog on to the finish.

I probably dropped about 4-5 minutes in the last 5km which was a shame but still very happy with a final time of 3h 54m 51s (according to my watch).



There was a great finish area with loads of food and drink which I made the most of before coming out to see my support crew. 

On returning to the apartment I understood why mum had been complaining about the stairs to the apartment, it was quite a hike up there!

The day after the marathon we went to Sea World. The weather wasn't so flash again but that probably kept crowds down. 

The next dday we started the drive home, not sure if we'd get all the way or need to stay somewhere overnight. We made pretty good time and we able to have a stop at the big banana in Coffs Harbour.

Noosa Marathon

Marathon number 6

Kirikiriroa marathon was number 5, it was a tough one which got me back in to longer distance running.

Not long after Kirikiriroa marathon we moved to Newcastle Australia for a new job (probably a few blog posts int that).

A few things about moving to Newcastle meant I was able to do more running. First of all there was the warmer weather. A new job gave me an opportunity to reset some of my priorities, I was able to carve out a bit more time for running. Add to this the kids were getting a older and so I was able to spend more time running and not feel guilty. Finally, the numerous waterfront running paths made it a pleasure to run.

So the conditions to get fit were right. So I started running a bit more and before long started to think about another marathon. I decided to have a go at the Newcastle Marathon which was to be run in April. Mum and Dad have planned a visit to Newcastle which would coincide with the marathon. Unfortunately, just as I was hitting my strides I strained my hamstring. Had to go to the physio who said it wasn't bad but I probably should try to run the Newcastle Marathon. So, I had to skip that one, I did still manage to run the Newcastle Half and did alright.

After Newcastle I had set my sights on Noosa and we had friends coming over from NZ, one of whom was planning on running the Noosa marathon too, so I really had to see this one through. I trained steadily but without pushing too hard. I was hoping to do sub 4 hours so needed to be fitter and faster than Kirikiriroa. I managed to get my training to a spot where I thought I'd be ok.

The trip to Noosa was an adventure in itself. Great fun for the kids.We flew from Newcastle to Brisbane and picked up a rental car in Brisbane (after a ridiculously long wait). On the road to Noosa we made it to our AirBnB where our friends were already settled in.

The day before the marathon was pretty chilled.

Marathon morning, woke up super early, I think it was 4 something, way earlier than I needed. We got to the start in good time. Did the bag check thing for the first time ever. Security seemed pretty lax but the risk was pretty low.

The marathon started at 6:15, before sunrise. Was best to get started early because it gets pretty warm in Noosa even in May.

I figured if I did every km under 5m40s then I would be just under 4hrs. The issue as always was not going to be the first 30k but the last 12. I started out with a pretty steady pace, mainly around 5m35s. A bit of a hiccup when I needed to take a toilet stop around 11k but I managed to catch up the lost time pretty quickly and was pretty consistent in the 5m30s per km territory.

Noosa marathon is very flat by the way, some very small hills for the bridges which go over the waterways. It's a 3 lap run, so support is good. There were a couple of local supporters who were particularly good and supporting every runner that went by.

It's also one of these runs where the half marathon and 10k runners start afterwards and are on the same track, this can mess with your pacing a bit but I managed to keep consistent.

I was feeling pretty good throughout the run and after getting through 30k with no trouble I thought I'd lift the tempo a little bit for the next 10k I kept my pace will under 5m30s. I was starting to feeling suitably shattered by 40km but still managed the last 2k in under 5m 40s pace and finished strongly down the chute, Strava said my time was 3h52m50s. Can't remember what my official time was, around about the same. I was thrilled with my time and while I was pooped at the end wasn't injured.

Unlike Kirikiriroa, where I was a absolutely shattered at the end, I felt at Noosa like I had run a very measured pace to give me the best time I was capable of on the day. I was pretty chuffed, and ready for the next one!

Spandex

With all the running I've got this planned for this year I've been thinking about ways I can keep fit, not get injured and making running as enjoyable as possible.

So for my birthday I bought a few treats for myself.

Number 1 gifts was a new pair of running shoes. One of my world famous shoe posts to be coming soon with more on that. What I will say is that after a couple of runs in the new shoes I think I'll be buying at least one or two more pairs again this year, it really does feel so much better running in new shoes.

Number 2, I bought one of those arm belt thingies to put my phone in while I run, it also holds some money and my travel card in case I get stuck somewhere. I've run with it a couple of times and hardly notice it's there which is great.

Number 3, a pair of compression running shorts. These look like cycle shorts but without the cushioned saddle bit. I'm pretty sure on numerous occasions in my life I've sworn I'd never wear anything like this. What swayed me initially was the suggestion that compression shorts are supposed to reduce fatigue on your legs, that's the main premise for wearing them. The other benefit I've found is no chafe. In normal running shorts I get through stacks of Vaseline trying to keep the chafe away, now I think I've found a solution which is going to make running so much more enjoyable. And finally, it makes my legs look great but I think I'll save you the pictures :) Here's a link if you want to see pics of compression shorts, or see recommendations for good ones  If you run and you haven't tried them, I give you permission to give them a go.

Turning 40

On the 25th of Jan I turned 40. A traditional milestone but not one I'd given a huge amount of thought.

It is a time for reflection though. Leaving my 30's behind I can't help but look back on what was a pretty good 10 years for me.

Started off by getting married.

Shortly after which I ran my first marathon in Copenhagen.

Later that year ran my second marathon in Berlin, followed by a magical trip to Greece.

The next year involved a little bit of travel, Portugal for my 31st birthday, Paris to run a marathon with my dad.

Marathon number 4 in Nottingham

And then Baby #1.

don't I look young and slim. Oh yeah, and there's Theo :)

At some point along the way we finished walking the Thames Path which was a really special adventure for me and Jackie. (Note we've not yet finished blogging about the Thames path but will hopefully get that don'e at some point)

We really packed a lot in to 2010 and 2011!

With Theo the types of adventures we had were different. I started a blog about coffee shops in SW London, it gained a bit of traffic and was good fun.

We went to the 2012 London Olympics, I blogged about it quite a bit.

In 2013 I was offered a job back in NZ.We did one final European trip to Croatia, our first Europe trip with Theo.

We moved back to NZ, leaving on Theo's birthday, and the day after Jackie had submitted her UK citizenship application.

We bought a house before Christmas that year.

We had fund exploring NZ again, Waikato region, Coromandel, and Bay of Plenty locations mainly.

2015 bought baby #2, just as life was getting easier :) SO it was another couple of years of hard graft. Claudia was lovely but babies aren't easy.

Some great family holidays with extended family in Nelson, Mt Maunganui, Ohiwa, Otautu Bay, Rotorua, Taupo, Gisborne, Patumahoe and Waiu Pa.

Also great connecting with friends again around NZ.

A couple more years of hard graft, some decent job progress, another marathon and then an offer of a job in Newcastle, Australia in 2018. We were ready for another move so off we went.

Newcastle has been great, the kids have mainly loved it, it's been awesome to be living close to the beach, there's a bit more going on here, life is easy and Jackie has been able to get her art career underway with some great success. The job has been good too.

2019 brought another couple of marathons, one at Noosa where good friends from NZ joined us. We had a nice mini holiday there.

Noosa Marathon recovery

Second marathon was on Gold Coast. I drove there with both kids, it was about 8 hour drive, it was great to go on that road trip with them, just the three of us. Hard work though, Theo had a cold and it was a long way but helped develop me as a parent! My mum joined us on the GC which was awesome, we had a great support crew rewarded with a trip to Sea World after the marathon.

GC Marathon with support crew

Recently most of the highlights come from the family. Theo is enjoying and succeeding at school. Theo is so good at giving things a go, tennis, golf, nippers, drum corp, swimming. It is a shame his school doesn't have a proper playing field, that's one thing he definitely misses. We're pretty happy with the way Theo is turning out, so far.

Claudia is such a joy, loves kindy, has so much energy and emotion (mostly positive), is so thoughtful kind and caring.

The kids are at a great age, it might never be this good again.

It's not always this good.

With the kids going well, Jackie and I have more time together and also more time to ourselves which is healthy.

It makes me reflect that I really need to appreciate the role my parents had in making the person I am today. It wasn't always easy but in the end I'm happy with the person I've become and have my family to thank for giving me the opportunities I've had.

Thanks Mum and Dad.

So as I head in to my 40's I do wonder what the next 10 years might hold. I'd be very happy if it wasn't as eventful as my 30's but then I didn't set out to do all the stuff above in my 30's so I'm not going to rule anything out.

If I was to set myself a few goals for my 40's I've thought of a few, but then I'd like to think there are some things that'll I'll do in my 40's that I hadn't even thought of or considered.

Anyway, so possible goals for my 40's:

- end my 40's with a wife and 2 kids - the same ones I have now :)
- complete a master's degree
- have run 30 marathons (23 more than what I finished my 30's with)
- have a go at starting a company

What's interesting about a lot of what I remember about my 30's and what I want to achieve in my 40's is that work and my job really aren't at the centre of it. I enjoy my job, I'm quite good at it which helps but it really is just an enabler to me spending quality time with my family. I think I'm very luck to be in that position nd suspect at some point I won't always be so fortunate, but in the meantime I'm happy to make hay while the sun shines.

Kirikiriroa Marathon 2018

Given a goal for this year is marathon related I thought I should catch-up on my  marathon posts.

In the UK I did 4 marathons, I think I blogged the other ones (Just checked, no think I started blogging after the first 2.

Anyway, marathon V was Kirikiriroa, my home town at the time in Hamilton, 2018.

It had been 7 years since my last marathon, Nottingham and while I'd tried to stay fit I had a long road to go to get marathon ready. Marathon training with young children was not so easy. Not least because a 3 hour training run means 3 hours of time missed with the kids. So my training was no where near as intense as when I was in London without kids.

But I was determined to get back to running so slow and steady I got in to it. I was only doing 2-3 proper runs in a week, with quite a few very short runs to work in the meantime.

A new development for my training was that I had a GPS watch, a standard Garmin watch which not only kept my time but how far I ran and mapped my runs for me. I'd resisted getting a Garmin for a while but actually really appreciated having it as it helped with motivation.

The Kirikiriroa marathon runs along the banks of the Waikato River, which is a relatively narrow, quite undulating path. I did all my long runs along here so knew what I was getting myself in for.

I was training to be able to do the marathon in under 6min/ks.

Another thing I tried for this marathon was energy gels. It was hard to know if they were helping but it seems it's the standard thing to do now so I figure it must be the right thing to do.

On the day, our friend Ann picked me up, she was also running the marathon. It was dark when we arrived. The crowds were minimal, unlike any of the previous four marathons, really just a couple of hundred people maybe.

We were quite early, so a fair bit of standing around.

The start was cool, they had a Maori challenge to get us underway which was great. The sun was beginning to rise as we took off.

Hills right from the start, a very slow first km. Slowly in to a rhythm. Hopefully the Strava frame below works which shows the map, time etc. If you're on Strava you should be able to see more details via the link


I made it under 4h 12m which was my goal, I was fading real fast towards the end but was happy in the end.

So I was back on the running wagon, no more marathons in 2018 but two in 2019 which I'll write up soonish, hopefully before I get on to #VIII.

2020

New Year Resolutions for 2020

1. Run 4 marathons
2. Run a marathon under 3h 50m
3. Do some study (maybe a few MOOCs, possible Google Digital Marketing Cert). I really should do a masters given work would pay but just not sure what.
4. Get back in to blogging

So, last resolution first and here we are. I figure blogging will be a good distraction from work and I'm keen to ensure that our adventures are recorded because I'll forget them all by the time the kids are actually interested.  Need to catch-up on the past 6 years to start with. I noticed I still have some blogs in drafts from years ago.

Oh yeah, and looking at the stats for our blog, we were still getting plenty of traffic to our blog last year, even though we hadn't posted for 6 years. I'm sure you're dying to know, most popular blog was about Lisbon. and second was one of my blogs about shoes, I can see a follow up to that coming up soon.

So hopefully more to come this year.

Father's day 2014

Not sure about the apostrophe, sure someone will correct me.

I was lucky to be treated to a special father's day this year.

I was woken up by Theo wishing me happy father's day and giving me cards and gifts.

I was allowed to go for a jog which I haven't had time to do for a while.

Then home to a delicious home made breakfast.

We then packed up the car and headed off to Pukemiro Junction. Jackie had sussed out a day at Pukemiro junction which is an old train station, they have restored steam and diesel engines, a quaint old station and some picnic areas.

The train runs once an hour and just runs along about 5km of line. It's pretty old and rickety and so takes a while.

The train tickets are valid all day.

The first time we went on the train Theo was quite scared. He sat quietly and held Jackie and my hand. He sat up to the window a couple of times but mainly just sat on his seat and held our hands, it was quite cute.

After our first ride we went and had a picnic which Jackie had prepared the day before. Theo and I also had a sausage in bread from the sausage sizzle.

After lunch Theo and I went for another ride on the train. Theo was much more comfortable this time, chatting away to other passengers, leaning up on the window and moving from one carriage to another.

As well as the train they had a 'jigger', we didn't go for  ride.

On the drive home Theo crashed out