1 down, 2 to go

As I sit here in the usual IT nerd outfit (white shirt, black trousers) I am hiding a secret. Without my compression tights on underneath I don't think I'd be able to make it to the water cooler and back without stopping for a sit down. Yesterday was a beautiful day in Sydney and the crowds were superb, the marathon seems to be getting bigger every year. I set off at a storming pace and was at the half way point in 1 hour 55 minutes and feeling good. I had seen the cheer squad a couple of times, got a high five from Blue, drunk lots of water and eaten the sweet energy bar thing. Things changed at about 30km though and I just seemed to loose all energy and really had to fight up the hill to Leichhardt, Eleri can tell you I was looking like a broken man at 32km when they saw me. They loaded me up with a banana and some powerade and I shuffled off again to do the final 10km. From there it was a run/walk affair where I had to set small goals like running all the way to the next drinks station rather than thinking the 8km was a long way to go yet. I struggled on through and stretched out some cramps to make it over the line in 4 hour 8 minutes and 38 seconds.

I was really happy to finish and had a great day, there should be photos coming on Tuesday night when Eleri gets back from Sydney with the camera. You can see my results at  http://res.championchipaustralia.com/View.asp?id=1235&athID=5857 although the site is quite slow at the moment. Our friends Rae and Martin both did the half marathon in just over 2 hours so congratulations to them as well.

Thanks for all your support and donations, it makes a huge difference to know people are thinking of you whilst you are doing stupid things, next up Melbourne marathon!