This is something that I rediscovered when I was 34. I did quite a lot of running as a boy, right up until the time I left school. Actually, I slacked off at the beginning of year twelve, but that’s another story. I became fairly sedentary in my early 20s and my weight gradually ballooned, even when I became a commuter cyclist in the mid-1990s.

In mid-2002, I began walking at lunchtime with friends around the Tan. I saw quite a few runners and, after a while, decided I would join them. The first time, I got about 100m before thinking I was going to collapse and die of a heart attack or exhaustion. Mind you, I was about 140kg at that stage. I thought: “it’s OK, it’ll just get easier each time”, so I tried again a few days later and got about 50m. But after that, it did get better.

I ran the City to Surf in 2003, a half-marathon in 2005 and a marathon in 2006.

But in February this year, I stubbed by left little toe as I walked past a door. It really hurt, as it does, but a few hours after the pain of the stubbed toe had subsided, the whole outer side of my foot felt like it had been given half a dozen good whacks with a cricket bat. Walking was painful for a few weeks, and running was completely out of the question. I waited about 6 weeks, and tried running again, but the pain was still very much there. So, in May, I went to see a Podiatrist at the Olympic Park Sports Medicine Clinic. It was time to put the feet in for a service. I cannot recommend those folks highly enough. My Podiatrist confirmed what I had long suspected: my feet were flat as pancakes and if I wanted to keep running, I needed orthotics. She also suggested I rest the toe a bit longer and took an x-ray just in case, which came back negative. So I got the orthotics and rested the foot. Took my medicine.

The good (no, great!) news is that I’m back running again. I’ve run 3 times in the past two weeks (10min, 20min, 25min), and while I’m pleasantly surprised that I haven’t lost all my fitness after several months without running, it’s pretty tough when I get to the 20-minute mark or so.

It’s such an incredibly good feeling to be running again. When you are something and you can’t do it, it’s so frustrating, even depressing. But when you get back to doing it again, well, there aren’t too many things that feel so good!

It feels really good to have achieved such a huge personal goal. But I don’t think I’ll do it again. I may run more marathons, but with more preparation, and definitely not until I’ve reached my goal weight of 83kg or less. What I won’t do again is run for five hours, the last two in serious pain. That’s just nuts.

Daniel with me at the start.

Footnote: The weather was absolutely perfect! A bit of drizzle at the start, 10 deg C, bright and sunny with a max of 17 by the time I got to the city, and a howling (20-30kt) cool southerly the whole way. I only caught a bit of a headwind after turning at the Beach Rd-Nepean Hwy roundabout, and then only for a couple of minutes. The rest of the time the wind was at my back and constantly cooling me down. A runner could not ask for more! Especially after a week of high-20s and more 25-30 days forecast for the coming week.

Stats from the heart-rate monitor:

Km	Time	Av HR	Notes
1	5.25	152	Too Fast! Slow down!
2	5:33	142	Still a bit fast, but the HR is settling
3	5:58	143	That’s more like it!
4	5:54	145
5	6:07	146
6	6:08	147
7	6:06	145
8	6:09	148	HR still a little high
9	6:09	147	nice and steady
10	6:19	147
11	6:35	148	drinky
12	6:09	147
13	6:11	147
14	6:15	152
15	6:23	152
16	7:06	149	toilet break
17	6:35	150
18	6:37	151
19	6:39	152	still feeling great
20	6:54	158	getting into the hills
21	6:58	159	hills
22	7:03	158	more hills
23	6:46	157	a few downhills
24	7:41	159	I’m really sick of these hills
25	7:07	159	still more hills
26	6:48	167	need to slow down again
27	7:44	157	better
28	6:42	165	too fast again
29	7:36	154	much better, feeling great
30	9:35	153	stopped to see Deb and the kids at South Rd
31	7:53	155	slowing a little, starting to feel sore
32	9:28	145	had to start walking halfway through this one. The cramps have hit.
33	8:39	138	cramps marginally better
34	8:51	137	well, at least I’m not going too fast anymore!
35	9:37	127	really struggling
36	9:50	134	more walking than running now
37	9:07	139	a bit more running
38	8:53	145	able to do a bit more running. Hi Bobby!
39	8:58	143	still doing a bit more running, but it’s barely faster than walking…
40	8:54	140
41	9:23	134	cramps are bad, just walked this one
42 + 0.2	11:21	135	managed to run the last 200m! glad that’s over
Total:	5:10.06	149

I’ve been concentrating on the longer runs lately, going for two or three one-hour runs during the week, and a longer one on the weekend. My long run last Sunday was two hours, and I was pretty sore the following day (knees and hips mainly, muscles in the legs feeling fine), and not too bad today. Certainly much better than after my half-marathon last year. So I feel pretty good about completing the distance, but it will definitely take me at least 4 hours.

So if you’d like to come and cheer me along, the course is on the website. I’m going to pace myself at 6min/km, so I expect to be at the 10km mark at 9am (Thames Promenade & Nepean Hwy), 20km at 10am (Reserve Rd & Beach Rd), 30km at around 11-11:10am (South Rd & Beach Rd) and the finish line between 12:15 and 12:30. I think I’ll need the most encouragement after the 30km mark, so feel free to sleep in and come to the later stages to give me a boost.

My race number is 681 (with a red background, indicating full marathon competitors).

Wish me luck!

My goals were firstly to pace myself properly so I didn’t end up flagging terribly in the second half, and secondly to break 2:06 so I could beat 6min/km. An outside hope was to beat 2hrs. I was wearing my heart-rate monitor, which made it easier to set the right pace, and ran the first half-hour at an average of 140. The second half hour averaged out at 147, and I was feeling great through the half way mark. I was beginning to overtake runners that had passed me during the first half, but had gone out too hard and were now fading. At that point I was still on track for a 2hr finish, so I decided to maintain the pace. The third half hour saw me averaging 161, and I did two splits for the final half hour – an average of 167 for the first 15 minutes, and 178 for the last 15 minutes, which included a good sprint to the finish line – when I turned the last bend and saw the finish line clock reading 1:58:30, I just had to go for it. It was great to do a negative split – 57min vs 1:02.

The legs feel OK, but the knees are pretty sore. I definitely need to lose the last 20kg before I do the full marathon. Roll on 2006!

Let’s see how I go next year after I lose another 25kg!

P.S. I beat Cathy Freeman! Heh.