William Chong

Survived my first full marathon on Sunday at a time of 5:04:35. It was a pretty intense day, and with Kat’s 21st birthday party going on the night before I didn’t really get a lot of rest, wondering how things were going.

Cheryl and Kim tagged along for the 4 am start, and I managed to get across to Devonport with an hour to spare. Got some time to sit and watch the running shoes and yellow bags pass by in the ferry building.

I decided not to go with a pace group this year – partly because last year I chose the wrong one and went too fast, and also partly because I was fairly sure of my own running pace, at about 6.5 minutes/km.

The first half of the course was pretty familiar to me, having done it last year. I was much more aware of how hilly the route between Takapuna, Northcote and the Harbour Bridge would be, so I kept my pace steady even on uphill sections and was rewarded with a 21.1km split time of 2 hr 16 min – an improvement over last year’s time.

This year’s marathon brought out some excellent running weather. There was a light breeze and plenty of cloud cover which meant less dehydrating. Generally it was pretty easy weather to run in.

(Team Deathstar)

(Crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge on a beautiful morning.)

(Passing under the Harbour Bridge while running along Westhaven Marina.)

The second half of the marathon for me was significantly harder. My furthest training run went up to 30 km so once I got past that (at about Mission Bay), it was almost as if my body didn’t recognise what I was meant to be doing. My right calf muscles began to cramp up and I found myself repeating in my head the words to Isaiah 40:31, and hoping it would hold true for me for the rest of the race!

What I found difficult was that a lot of the other folks running at my section were almost powerwalking, yet were still able to keep pace with me. This even though I was faithfully keeping my running cadence (I timed my steps to Mark and Stephen Altrogge’s “I Will Cast My Cares“). Perhaps there’s something to be said for having longer legs when doing long-distance running!

The last seven km’s were wretched. My running had come to the point where my legs were pumping, but it felt like I wasn’t going anywhere fast! Also the cramps that were creeping in at 32 km flared up a couple of times on the way back from St Heliers and Mission Bay to the city again. Going through my mind was: “How embarrassing would it be to get a crazy cramp at the finish and fall over on video!” Fortunately there were plenty of drinks stations along the way back and I was able to keep going, though at a noticeably slower pace than my first 21 km.

Up to the last five k’s I had hoped that I could do a sub-5 hour time, considering that I felt pretty good at the halfway point and was ahead of time. That hope dissolved away when I reached the ferry building (about 2 km from the end) 5 minutes shy of the 5 hour mark. I quickly put the disappointment behind me though, after reflecting on how amazing it was to even have the opportunity to run myself ragged like this. I definitely prayed for a lot of people during my 5 hours of running, and thought particularly of the families in Samoa that Habitat for Humanity will be able to help with the $500 we fundraised for them.

I ended up with a second-half split time of 2:48:34 – and as expected, a much slower pace of 8 mins/km (largely from the last seven k’s). Nevertheless, I crossed that finish line with thoughts of elation and joy, for completing something I’d set my mind to since last year. A nice touch at the end was having the announcer call out each runner’s name as they approached the finish line. They also handed out medals for people who completed the marathon – this would probably be my one and only sports-related medal!

Henry, Cheryl, Arron and Kim all came down to Vic Park to offer their congrats, and we went out for lunch afterwards.

All in all it was a great day – I’m glad I did it!

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On Sunday I ran my first half-marathon ever. It’s up there in terms of my life’s highlights (including climbing Mt Kinabalu, standing at the top of Cape Reinga watching two seas collide) – and I think I might have caught the running bug.

I clocked in at 2:23:47 (net time) – which pretty much shattered any false hopes of beating Kerre Woodham! But I did raise $590 for the NZ Heart Foundation, thanks to the help of old-fashioned appeals, emails and generosity despite these troubled times. It’s nice to see altruism in action, especially for a good cause.

Reflecting on how I ran my first halfmarathon, I made the grave mistake of a last-minute change to my game plan: to maintain an under 6-minute/km pace. To do this my plan was to stick with the 2:00 hour pacesetter, but 5 minutes before the horn went off, he was nowhere to be seen, and my naive self thought that following the 1:50 lady would probably be alright. It was an unsustainable pace and I was punished for it, eventually coming towards the bottom half of the men’s field.

Hey – at least it gives me the motivation to go one better next year…

Runners and revellers

Waking up at 4am in the morning is pretty hard – I tried to make it easier to get out of bed by hiding my alarm underneath a bunch of books in my bookcase across the room. The pre-race breakfast consisted of wholegrain bread with Nutella spread.

Brendan’s dad picked me up at 5am to head to the Auckland ferry building. With adidas bags in hand, we joined a queue (for one of the numerous ferries to the start line at Devonport) that stretched from the ferry building out to the Viaduct Harbour’s entertainment precinct. It was definitely a strange juxtaposition of eager fitness freaks with the remnants of Saturday night’s clubbers, fresh from their booze-filled morning and probably wondering what on earth the people with the smurf-coloured bags were lining up for.

(N.B.: Some photos courtesy of Marathon-photos.com)

We reached the Devonport Ferry Terminal at about 5:45, having had a launch delay because a big celebrity cruise liner took its time parking up at the Viaduct and blocking the way.

After last-minute toilet stops and dropping off our gear bags into the gear trucks, we proceeded to the start line. As I mentioned earlier, this was where I made the fatal error of making the last-minute deviation from my training pace.

The first few minutes was thrilling. Full of adrenaline, with rock music pumping in my ears (c.f. Song 2 by Blur), the first 5 kilometers were great. My enthusiasm saw me enjoy running up Vauxhall Rd and around Narrow Neck Beach, and my aim was to keep a consistent pace through the entire race. However, it dawned on me that the 1:50 was too fast for me as the lady with the helium balloon broke away – I saw my dreams of a sub-2 hr, sub-anything finish bob further and further away…

I reached the first drink station (just before Takapuna Grammar School) fairly well-hydrated. Despite the potential for derision, I stuck to carrying my water with me – this proved to be a good move as the mad scrums and dashes for the water cups created a fair amount of chaos as I went past. It’s also pretty hard to drink from a cup when you’re bouncing along the pavement, and the cadence of my feet would spill more water than I’d actually drink.

The next couple of kilometers went pretty well – I spotted a few memorable folks, including:

• Rob Matthews and his guide powering past me up a hill (he’s a record-holding runner who’s born with a degenerative eye condition)
• Two guys dressed in togas who eventually completed the full marathon
• A small group of supporters interspersed along the course, waving “Smile if you’re still loving this: yeeya!” signs

Crossing the 10 km mark and entering the suburb of Northcote, I was then greeted with a good section of hilly course. My strategy was to resist the temptation of bounding downhill and powerwalking uphill, but rather to keep a consistent pace. Fortunately, the hill training I had done (thanks Bucklands Beach Rd, Bleakhouse Rd and Takutai Ave!) meant that I kept to my consistent pace no matter the incline.

Towards the bridge

I was nevertheless glad to see the end of hilly Northcote terrain, as the course drooped down Stafford Rd and towards the Auckland Motorway onramp. One of the highlights of the Auckland Marathon soon came into view: the opportunity to run across the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Runner’s high at the top of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

It was a reasonably challenging “hill” – but the bridge was still runnable, and with awe-inspiring views to boot. Watching the lemmings-like trail of runners stretch around the corner and towards the Westhaven Marina.

The pain barrier

My physiology went into uncharted territory once I began the last 5 km of the halfmarathon. My feet began throbbing with pain with each step I took. My leg muscles weren’t particularly sore, but strangely enough there was a soreness across my abdominals that was completely new (and unsettling) to me. Thanks to my constant rehydration, I suffered no cramps. But it still hurt.Crossing the finish line became the primary goal. Pressing on, pressing on.

I passed a couple more memorable characters like Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi, as well as the infamous Borat. The last 2 kms took forever, and the field turned progressively pinker as the men’s field (wearing black or blue shirts) had mostly forged ahead by then. It didn’t matter: I filled my head with comments and phrases from friends and supporters (“keep your knees up”; “give us value for money”; “see you at the 2010 Olympics”), recalled that I had also been running for a greater cause, and grinned my way towards the home straight.

Running through the finishing chute was amazing as the feeling of finishing my inaugural long-distance event gradually sank in.

Of course, Brendan made it with a much quicker time: coming in at 136th place with a time of 1:32:47 and winning the lucky prize draw of a sponsored, all-expenses-paid trip to the 2009 London Marathon (yeah, it’s true).

Before we left, we stuck around at the finishing line to watch some of the full marathon finishers. The small but reasonably vocal crowd encouraged the racers home, and there were a few more unique runners like:

• Harry Escott, who completed the full marathon in 3 hrs 57 minutes… by skipping it
• A racer dressed in a full Stormtrooper costume who made a pretty good sub-4 1/2-hour time
• The 10-year-old boy that came through under four hours running the full marathon
• Countless septa and octagenarians who were truly inspiring to watch cross the finish line

There’s no question about it – I’ll be back next year.

Other reflections

A collection of post-marathon/halfmarathon reflections out on the blogosphere:

• Damian did the halfmarathon
• Andrew raced for the NZ Heart Foundation too
• James and Jody both did the halfmarathon
• Ken completes the full marathon

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Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”