Sydney Marathon Clinic 30km race

Today was my first crack at the SMC, I only heard about it a few weeks ago from a mate Chris. I talked Andrew and Kathryn into going as well so the 4 of us carpooled all the way to Smithfield (a suburb I'd never heard of before - is that bad for a lifelong Sydneysider?) Andrew drove and this time the handbrake was well and truly engaged before he left the car...

Andrew, Kathryn and I are all training for the Canberra marathon and Chris for the London marathon on the very same day so we thought we'd probably all run together. I hadn't run a step (or done anything even remotely resembling exercise) since Kurnell last Sunday because of the damn flu so I was a little unsure about doing a 30km race as my first session back. I was also concerned that I might not have fully recovered and certainly did not want to strain my heart if it was still in the grips of a virus, so I thought I'd just see how it went and pay very close attention to how my body was feeling and how my heartrate was going.

I thought we had plenty of time, but with faffing about registering and going to the toilet and pinning numbers on etc, suddenly we were running late for the start. Chris took off as us other three were in disarray and he made it for the official start. Andrew, Kathryn and I got to the line about a minute after the hooter had sounded and gave chase! We weren't too fussed, so long as we got the 30km in the time wasn't important.

My plan was to start with 5min/kms and see how that went, then if I was still feeling good after 15kms, switch it up to 4:30 pace for the second half as a practice for my projected marathon pace.

We started off at the right pace, the three of us ran together chatting and laughing away and it was probably the most fun I've had in a race - I've never run for that long with people before (all my long training runs are solo) so I had a great time. I was happy with the pace and certainly not able to push it or go any faster than those guys were going. To be honest I thought we'd catch up with Chris as he'd been complaining about not being able to get enough long runs in with moving house and having his parents staying with him from the UK for the last 6 weeks... but every time we saw him he was getting further and further ahead of us and he seemed to be running really easily - he ended up finishing a full 5 minutes before us, so I predict he'll be strong for London!

I had to duck behind a bush for a toilet stop about 15 kms in... then realised it might be a more extensive toilet stop than I thought... so it ended up costing me 2 and a half minutes. It took a good few kms to catch up to Andrew and Kathryn, but it gave me a good reason to pick up the pace (at exactly the time I had wanted to) and although I probably didn't average 4:30 pace, I had extended periods of it.

Running with people I was constantly surprised at how quickly the kms flew past. The course wasn't pretty (all industrial / business parks) but was well laid out, well signposted and mostly flat, an extremely well-organised race with incredibly lovely and supportive volunteers!

We had comments from people running the other way that we looked like we were having too much fun, and it certainly felt that way! Andrew and Kathryn and I managed to stick together the whole race and cross the line just a shade under 2hrs 30mins which we were all happy with. Those guys are shooting for 3:30 at Canberra which I reckon they'll do easily on that form. I'm aiming to go 3:10, so I felt like I need work. I could not have gone much faster on the day, however the week of zero activity and the lingering illness probably didn't help, so on balance I think I'll be ok.

With 4 weeks to go the revised plan is to cut back the 3 week taper to 2 weeks, and put in the next two weeks solid.

By the way, I highly rate the SMC. They apparently do a run every month and it's mostly half marathon distance, for $12 (as a non member), compared to $75 for the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon (which I also just booked for) it's an absolute bargain. I'll be back.