The best is yet to come

In its second year, the O’Keefe Marathon attracted 116 entries, of which I was registrant number 33.

It was marathon 4 for the year, and it fell just 3 days after my 32^nd birthday. As my present my parents organised a holiday house in Heathcote for the weekend. They picked a beautiful cottage that was very homely and best of all… it was pet friendly, so Matilda got to come too!

On the Saturday, my sister and her family joined us to make it a big family affair. Keeping with tradition we had Mum’s delicious homemade lasagna for dinner accompanied by lots of garlic bread before heading off to bed early for a good nights’ sleep.

Having just turned 32 I was starting to feel like I was getting old. To make matters worse, the last month I had been struggling with a sore knee and hadn’t been able to put in as much training as I had for the previous marathons. So, as I drifted off to sleep, I did so with a big question mark over my head on how I would go.

We took off first thing Sunday morning up to Bendigo for the start of the race. The road ran beside the rail trail, so it was a good opportunity to check out the course and it also makes it one of the best marathons for spectators. As Dad put it “We can just drive along beside you all yell at you.”

There was a quick race brief before the race started to cover off everything we needed to know. From Bendigo to Heathcote the trail crosses close to 40 roads and lanes, therefore keeping everyone safe is a big job.

The volunteers did an outstanding job, and I was sure to thank them as I ran past. In fact, the support and enthusiasm of all the volunteers at every marathon I have run this year has been just wonderful and I would like to say thank you to anyone who has ever given up their time to make these events what they are – I truly appreciate it.

I also got a moment in the spotlight when the videographer asked if I would tell him a bit about myself for the event video. I immediately said “No”, but then Mum told him I was running 12 marathons and he didn’t look like he was going to take no for an answer. I haven’t seen the video yet, but hopefully I said something that made sense.

After a quick stretch and toilet stop it was time to run. The race organiser asked us to line up per anticipated finish time, so I shuffled to the back. Once again the question of how this was all going to pan out crept into mind.

Thankfully though the starters gun was quick to fire and we were off.

I love the start of a marathon. The air is always thick with a mix of excitement, nerves and energy. Sometimes I get carried away and run way to fast as if it’s the finish line not the start line. It is something that I am working on and my learning from this marathon is that I need to start a little slower.

I ran the first 10km in 48:47 at an average pace of 4:52. Way too fast for me and certainly not sustainable. The next 10km was more respectable at 52:25 at average pace of 5:14. The next 10kms was a totally different story though at 58:50 with average pace pushing out to 5:53. The final 12kms was a struggle, taking me 1:29 at an average of 7:26.

My lack of training and poor pacing was unassailable.

Nonetheless I finished with an overall time of 4:16:58 and placed 60^th, 7^th in the women and 5^th in my age category. Not a bad achievement at all for my 4^th marathon on the trot.

I think I would have been much slower if it wasn’t for my wonderful family there cheering me on. We had agreed on 4 meeting points throughout the marathon, but much to my delight they were much more frequent then that. There was even two occasion where they drove past and Dad did yell out at me.

Mum was once again spot on with her wisdom - she told me not to run too fast when they saw me at the 7km mark and then she also knew when I was going to cross the finish line and she was waiting there for me to capture the moment. Dad and Eli meet me at the 42km mark where Dad handed over Matilda and she pulled me along the last 200m where we celebrated the finish with a big kiss.

Everyone was keen to hang around for the presentation ceremony and I am certainly glad that we did as one of the place getters was a truly inspirational woman who put to shame my earlier idiosyncrasies about turning 32.

Enter Lavinia Petrie from Ringwood who is the current world record holder in all events from 1,500 to the half marathon for the 70-74 age group. Petrie placed 3^rd for the women and fell just short of the age graded world record with a time of 3:52.19.

In context this is 5 minute 30 seconds per km.What a legend!

Even Mum and Katie were setting dates for when they were going to run their first marathon.

I clearly remember powering past Lavinia at the beginning, at my ridiculous pace, and then when she cruised past me at the 31km mark.

I have a lot to learn from Lavinia.

Not just about pacing but also about not worrying so much about age.

In an interview with the Bendigo advertiser Lavinia said,  "what I love about running is that it’s just a way of life, it’s what you do when you get up in the morning. For me it’s just what I do every day, to me it’s not extraordinary, it keeps me young.''

Now that I think about it my life is sometimes a bit like the way I ran this Marathon. I go a million miles an hour trying to do and achieve everything, driven by some preconceived notion of what I should have accomplished by a certain age, and I just leave myself exhausted and unable to enjoy the success of all the hard work I've put in. If I just slowed down a bit and not worried so much perhaps I too would be like Pitrie - not at all phased by age and with a sacrosanct belief that her best is yet to come. 

With marathon 4 in the bag my sight are now set on marathon 5 in just 3 weeks time. I will be revisiting the Great Ocean Road and this time I will be sure to slow down, not worry and just enjoy the run and be grateful that I can.

Happy running x