Sydney Marathon 2012

Sydney Marathon 2012

One of my goals this year is to complete a marathon under 5hours. Not only did I achieve this goal, I smashed it by 22minutes!!! There is a short clip at the end of this page that I have compiled with pictures and videos that that I took along the way… For those who prefer the details, here is how everything unfolds...

Sunday 16-Sep:

Woke up 5am... Do the usual pre-race routine... Breakfast = 2 slices of bread with jam and coffee, plus a glass of water with chia seeds... Sunscreen, Vaseline and a toilet break later, I was ready by 6am... Ample time to get to the start line...

Weather check - 15 degrees, sunny with top of 20 degrees. Should be able to handle the temperature and decided not to put on extra layers…

Gear check - Visor, sunnies, race bib pinned to top, water belt with camera and phone, gels and a bottle of Gatorade... Something new I did this year, thanks to the advice from my ironman colleague, Mick. My water belt can hold 3 x 170ml bottles. I squeezed a gel into each of the bottle and top it up with water… According to Mick, this is more palatable to the mouth and will be absorbed by the body easier… All set and off I went in my full racing gear…

Distance from our hotel in Ultimo to Central station is about 1km... Good warm up for me... Got to Central station and followed other racers to the platform that takes us to Milsons Point... The train went underground and surfaced near the Harbour Bridge... We can see the half marathon racers running on the bridge towards the city... Great sight and made me super pumped!

Train arrived at Milsons Point station and I followed the crowd towards Bradfield Park… Took some pictures and queued for the toilet to lose some “weight”… Good thing I was there early, I have to wait 7mins before my turn to use the toilet…

There were 3 start groups to choose from... A for elites and the fast runners, B for the sub 4:30hrs runners, and C for all others... Needless to say, I chose to start in group C... Spotted some pacers in the A & B group... They have a small flag at the back of their water belt with the specific timing printed on a flag... They ranged from 3hrs to 4:30hrs... Managed to squeeze myself to the front of C group... Caught a glimpse of the elites and the groups A & B runners... 15mins to go, time to pop a gel...

First 10km:

7:30am - The race was flagged off by none other but the legendary Rob deCastella... elites and Group A runners were off… Followed by Group B runners… Finally, about 3mins after the gun time, Group C go go go!!!

As usual, the first km was slow with everyone trying to jostle for space... I used this as my warm up and held back my pace a bit to wait for the crowd to thin... I started very cautiously... I was just gonna run at a comfortable pace and not worry about the timing... Kept telling myself not to go “Too Hard Too Fast”...

I was happily snapping pictures and about 1.5km into the race, we reached the Sydney Harbour Bridge... I was so looking forward to this... The structure was magnificent and the view from the bridge is just awesome...  Felt good coming off the bridge... Decided to pick up my pace a bit...

Around the 3.5km, I spotted the 4:30hrs pacers... Couldn’t believe my eyes... Questions began to flow... How can I be that fast? Am I going to fast? Should I stay with them? Should I overtake them? Hmmm... Followed them for a bit while I weigh up my options... Finally, decided to follow my own pace and went ahead of them... (By the way, among the pacers was Jane Trumper, who was running her 100^th marathon... Kudos with respect...)

The next few km took us past the State Library, Parliament House and Art Gallery towards the Royal Botanical Garden... Headed back up Mrs Macquarie Road back to the Art Gallery... I have set my Garmin FR610 to beep every 50mins as a reminder for me to take my gel... The alert came around 8.5km... Downed the 1^st of 3 pre-mixed bottles... Hmmm... It went down quick and smooth... Cool... I like it!!!

I was passing through Hyde Park around the 10km... Time check, 1hr... My goodness, I have done the first 10km in 6min/km pace... To be honest, I was a bit shock as my easy pace is about 6:30min/km... Was I going too fast? Anyway, gotta get on to the rest of the race and hope the pace can last...

11 to 20km:

The climb up Oxford Street was slow and it felt long... Maybe because we can see the stretch of road we need to climb from the bottom... After the climb, we turned off to Flinders Street and went pass the eastern side of the SCG and headed back towards the start of Anzac Parade...

While running along Anzac Parade, we cheered on the leading pack of runners coming back on the opposite side... This was around the 15km mark, but being on the other side means that they would have done at least 28km... Oh well, that is why they are elites and I am not...

Turned into Centennial Park and did some half loops and u-turns here and there... took my 2^nd bottled gel around the 16km mark...

21 to 30km:

Reached the half way point (21km), which was still in Centennial Park... 2hrs and 7mins...  Hmmm, that is great!!! Looked behind... no sign of the 4:30hrs pacers... Fantastic, pressed on...  Just then, I received a text from Lena saying that they (Angelena and Lena) will be heading to the finish in an hour’s time... Send her a picture showing the 22km mark and told her to take her time...

Also exchanged a few texts with my “support group” and received few words of encouragement and inspirations... It helped to push me forward... Felt great, legs still have more to give... Fantastic...  

By 2:30hrs (my gel alert...), I was out of Centennial Park and back on Anzac Parade again... Took the 3^rd and last bottled gel around the 25km mark... Before the 30km mark, we were back at the top of Oxford Street and looking down on the slope brought a smile to my face... Finally, a chance for gravity to do the work...

Received another text from Lena, they are on the train heading towards Circular Quay... No pressure, told her I still have 10km and it should take me about an hour (ok, ok, I was a bit ambitious about the timing)...

31km to Finish:

So far, I have been very happy with my pace and with each u-turn, I keep looking back for the 4:30hrs pacers and I did not see them... Great feeling to know that I am ahead of the time I was trying to achieved...

Passed Hyde Park again and this time travelled along Phillip Street... Coming down on Phillip Street, you can actually catch a glimpse of Circular Quay... This was when my mind started to play tricks on me... It made me think that I was near the finish and that I can afford to slack off my pace a bit... I felt so cheated when I have to turn left way from the finish line... Then it daunt on me that I still have at least another hour on my feet before the finish...

And at 32km, I hit the wall... My mind kept telling my body to give up... Also, as I was well ahead of the 5hrs target, I can actually afford to walk to the finish rather than pushing myself... This thought stayed with me for the next km... Then my 610 beeped around The Rocks, reminding me of my gel intake... This time, straight from the packet with a 2 x caffeine GU... This reminder was a wake up call... Reminded me that I can still put in effort to achieve a good time... All in all, it took me 2km to get over the wall and continued with my race...

The next few km took us on Hickson Road and Sussex Street, just off Darling Harbour... By this time, I was feeling pissed off as I could see runners heading back to the finish while I still have some distance to cover and the u-turn was nowhere in sight... My mind was once again playing tricks on me...

I have all these negative thoughts in me and what made it worst was that I realised that I have now reached Harris Street in Ultimo... Bloody hell, that is near my hotel!!! Then the penny dropped, I realised that I am still far from finish... I continued forward but my pace has dropped... The only thing that spurred me on was that I was still ahead of the 4:30hrs  pacers...

Then came the second wall... I broke down around the 37km mark when I saw the incline back onto the Western Distributor... F@#* it... I am going to walk to the finish... “Ding Ding”... I received a text from Lena, saying that they have arrived at the finish line and are waiting for me... Replied to her that I am 5km to finish and it may take me 40mins... This was the push and motivation I needed... I now want to finish the race strong and see my lovely wife and daughter at the finish sooner than later...

Also, knowing that I am now heading towards and not away from the finish helped tremendously... I was pushing hard and with 3km to go, the 4:30hrs pacers passed me... I tried to stay with them but somehow I couldn't .. I took too much water at the last aid station and my stomach was not feeling well... Was cursing my stupidity...

Reached the 40km mark at 4:13hrs... can I complete the next 2 km in 17mins to do a sub 4:30hrs  finish? Texted Lena and told her I am only 2km away... She replied to say that she has secured a front row just after the finish... Run Gary, Run!!!

Last 2km was a blur... The only thing on my mind was to see my lovely ladies at the finish...Before I knew it, I crossed the finish line after gun time in 4hrs31min, but my official time was 4:28hrs... Fist pumped in the air and went over to my ladies for a hug... Not only was I happy to see them, I was stoked that I managed to achieve a sub 4:30hrs finish... Smashed it!!!

Race Summary:

For the record, Yuki Kawauchi and Mitsuko Hirose, both from Japan (that’s right, not a Kenyan or Ethiopian...) won the man’s and woman’s race respectively. And yes, Lena was giving it to me, making me well aware that I have lost to Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott by about 4minutes...

Despite my lost to Tony Abbott, I really enjoyed the race... This was my first "proper" marathon where I actually started the race without any injury...

Weather – Perfect... it was 16 degrees when I started and about 20 degrees when I finished... There was a windy patch around Circular Quay, but overall, it was not too bad...

Course – Quite a few U-turns... good for spectators and also in a way good for me... Allow me to check how far I am in front or behind the pacers... There were some hills and the last one killed me...

Crowd – Very lively and encouraging, especially around the city and Circular Quay...

Volunteers – Warm, friendly and very enthusiastic. Especially the ones at the aid stations... they are ever so willing to feed you with water and gels...

Will I do it again? Maybe... Sydney will always have a spot in my heart given that I achieved my PB there... Here's the clip I promised...

All in all, this trip has been very eventful for us... It was Angelena’s first flight and it kinda gave us a preview of what to expect for our October trip to Singapore...

It was lovely to be able to catch up with a few Sydneysiders before race day... Especially Andrew (whom I have known since our secondary school days) and Therma … Good luck with the studies and hope to catch up soon... Also thanks to Jerry and May for sharing with us their favourite Japanese joint… We really enjoyed the food and the company...

Next up, TNF100 in Singapore... Can’t wait... It will be fun (I think)...