Last Friday I travelled down to Rotorua to compete in the Rotorua Marathon. It was a very tough and very slow course for all runners, and I managed to finish the marathon in a slow time of 5 hours 20 seconds. I wasn't expecting to better my previous time at Auckland, and wasn't surprised when I took 43 minutes more to finish the Rotorua course. It was basically the mother of all New Zealand marathons, with the hard roads and various hills to overcome. The course starts and finishes in the middle of Rotorua, with runners making one circuit around Lake Rotorua.
Anyway, the road trip on Friday was quick, and I got settled in Rotorua. The only thing to do on Friday was to pick up my race pack and survey the course by car. I noted that there were some difficult hill climbs and some very long straight stretches. Other than that, it seemed to be a normal kind of run. That assessment may have been too premature. So for the remainder of Friday, I just sat in bed watching TV, fuelling and stretching.
Come Saturday morning, it was raining. The runners congregated at the start line waiting for the countdown to go. I started way at the back of the queue, as I didn't want to be mown down by runners behind. It took me 3 minutes to cross the start line.
It stopped raining around the 10 km mark, and the time registered 67 mins, so I was reasonably confident at that pace that I could probably make 4 hours 30 minutes, provided I pick up some speed in the latter half of the run. At that time I started chatting with another runner who lived in the same area as me. Very nice bloke, and he has an impressive running record too. Because of injuries he finished around the 4:40 mark. I could have tagged along, but unfortunately faded when I tried keeping up.
Then near halfway, which was around the time my friend pulled in front, I started to fade. The hard roads, with the big chips and uneven surface, started hurting my feet, which subsequently hurt my ankles. Not even my running shoes could give me comfort, as I was used to pounding the smoother roads in my area. The hard road surface with the big chips was one thing I didn't pick up from my surveying of the course earlier. And I couldn't increase the pace when I wanted to. So I was consigned to the marathon shuffle where your feet seem to shuffle in a consistent motion, and your legs cannot increase the length that you stride, as if you were shackled in chains at your feet.
By the time it was 3 hours, I had covered around 27 km. I thought I was on target for 4 hours 30 minutes if I kept going at my current pace, maybe even 5-10 minutes overtime. But the pain, caused by the hard road, forced me to walk a few times. After a couple of minutes of walking, I could continue the shuffle, only to walk later on when the feet starting screaming for comfort. This continued all the way until the 42 km mark (and I also had to make 2 brief stops to the toilet), where I decided to throw everything aside and sprint 195 metres towards the finish in an attempt to get a few seconds under 5 hours. Unfortunately the legs started to cramp and I was forced to slow down, hence the reason I clocked in at 5 hours 20 seconds.
After the race, I tried moving around constantly so that I wouldn't cramp up severely. I even went for a post-race massage, which accelerates muscle recovery. I paid $10 for 10 minutes, but the lovely masseuse spent more time on me, around 30 minutes, and didn't require additional payment. She certainly did the trick, my muscles don't hurt. Unlike my last marathon, I couldn't walk properly the next day. This time, I could walk comfortably.
I'm a little disappointed that I didn't do better, even former Black Cap Roger Twose did better than me. I saw him on the course, but I was too shy to say hello. But it was a great experience, and I will certainly do Rotorua again next year in an effort to improve my time.
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