Melbourne Marathon, 2007.

I've copied my thoughts from the thread on the Message Board.......telling it twice is too boring! Maybe a few photos taken from the hotel room at night are more interesting. They're all practically the same, but I just loved the spectacle!

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Not on the Message Board is that the day after Blackmore's Half Marathon I found a large & painful swelling at the top of my left thigh. With icing & Voltaren I kept training for the marathon & it improved. However, it came back with a vengeance during the marathon & luckily I had put a couple of Panadol in my pocket with the gels, etc. Hardly able to walk without pain ever since, today I saw my GP who has diagnosed it as severe bursa inflammation. Tomorrow, an ultrasound to make sure nothing more is wrong & then complete rest, not even walking, until it repairs itself....possible cortisone injection depending on results over the next few days. The timing is OK though..... a few weeks rest & still time to be ready for Canberra Marathon...I hope!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4190028

I returned from Melbourne late last night, Tuesday...giving myself a couple of extra days to recover...and I needed them more than I'd expected!

I now realize that, for me personally as an ever-increasing septuagenarian, I must not in the future enter marathons where the course is opened to traffic etc.. within a time frame I am no longer able to meet.

Out to the turnaround point was a wonderful experience & even though I was running alone & used to that, I thoroughly enjoyed the course, the scenery around the bay and most especially, the continual encouragement from runners already coming in the opposite direction on their way to the finish....thank you so much...you lifted my spirits more than you could know! I was thinking how 'cool' it'll be to be running down hill just like that on my own return! Wrong, it would not happen that way! Cato and his dog, a cool duo, both wearing cool running t-shirts, waiting for me at the turnaround were the highlight of the first half of the marathon.

But after the turnaround point...and I'm speaking only for myself...was a nightmare! Running on the footpath meant watching that I didn't trip over tree roots; the cycle path became a dodging competition to see how quickly I could hop out of the way of cyclists...once I nearly didn't move quickly enough & was almost clipped by the bicycle. Please remember these are just my feelings & emotional reactions......others may not have been bothered by any of this at all.

I began to feel totally depressed as I tired more & more & could see that all the barriers, flags & directions had been removed, the traffic was flowing & the footpaths filled with people, children, dogs etc. At around 25km I realized I would be completely lost unless I could keep 2 runners in sight... way up ahead, one wearing a white singlet, the other a red one. From there, it became a frustrating & almost tearful battle to pick them out from others on the footpath which kept changing from bitumen, to grass, to dirt, rough patches.... and the pain in my quads from stepping up & down the curbs was difficult enough, but how painful was it to have to wait at all the traffic lights to change to green!

That was until at around 35 or 36km I saw Ewen, Eagle & Horrie waiting for me! From there to the finish, Ewen would run ahead & have the lights change to green by the time our trio reached the crossing! Has anyone ever heard of someone doing that for a tired & ready-to-give-up runner? I never have & will forever be grateful!

The cheer squad where Courtley Love & others waited? What can I say? I had yet to meet up with Eagle & Co. & I was fading fast, but you cheered me up & had even kept an icy pole & some snakes to keep me going!

Horrie & Ray warned me of any dangers they saw at every curb crossings - including an approaching tram - so I really didn't have to do any thinking for myself...just keep lifting one foot after the other & listen to their on-going encouragement. How truly I love these three great friends who have so often 'brought me home'!

Sounds like I had a bad day & didn't enjoy it at all? Not quite true & anyone who is still running at 78 will one day face these formerly unknown frustrations for themselves....maybe try it now so as to know what's ahead in the future!

However, I'd do it all again, the same way as Sunday, just to experience what I felt when I turned at the "Transport Hotel" & heard the cheering from all the Cool Runners who had assembled on the deck waiting for this Cool Running quartet to come by! You brought me completely undone & all the emotions I'd been holding back came pouring out... I broke down there & continued to sob all the way to the finish!

Coming into the completely empty MCG meant little if anything...it was just where I could stop running! Sorry if that offends anyone, but that's the truth; that's how I felt ...it was finished!

Melbourne Marathon 2007 will not be remembered by me for the marathon event only ...Net 5:58:00.

Melbourne 2007 will continue on in my memory for as long as I live as how blessed I've been to have Cool Runners, who have always been there to 'rescue' me on so many occasions, as an integral part of my life..... and you did it again on October 7th, 2007. That I will never forget!

I re-read what I wrote before going to Melbourne : "I expect the very best of myself and the very best is coming to me".............and it all happened exactly as I said it would!