adidas Auckland Marathon - RunMarathon

This is a really great course! Despite being hilly in the first third of the course I relished the challenges of the hills.

Despite the hills being difficult and somewhat long, due to the hill intervals I had done in training I was completely unfazed by the effort required.

The fact that the last two thirds was flat meant that despite having to work harder early a good time is still possible. My pace judgement across entire race was exactly spot-on and I was remarkably consistent in my times through the first 35 km. Unfortunately at the aid station at 35 km, when I stepped to my left to pick up a water I immediately suffered left hamstring cramp from the change in direction. This required me to walk and stretch for about one minute but then I was able to run again. This is in complete contrast to when I ran my very first marathon in Melbourne and once I had experienced hamstring cramp at about 37 km I was unable to shake it off. This time I was able to continue to run at my expected pace!

My initial plan had been to stay with the 3:30 group although I probably thought I only had about a 20% chance of actually completing in that time. Over the first 2 km which were uphill effectively, the pace runner completed these at 5:20 and 5:30 seconds per km respectively, I stayed with a group until the first aid station at 4 kilometres where I went in and quickly gathered a drink without slowing down noticeably. I was quite shocked to find that most of the pace group including the pace runner had indeed almost stopped to take drinks and that I was the best part of 100 m ahead of them at that point. By the time we have got to the 8 km a station and repeated the same exercise I was way in front and I decided that I would not wait for the pace group to catch up but would press on knowing that eventually they would catch me but if I was to slow down now it would not pay any dividends at the end of the race. This in fact was the case as the pace runner eventually caught me at 37 km but by that time he only had one other person with him - the entire group that had started with him (which I estimate would have been around 30 people) had totally been blown off the back of the pace pack.

Overall it was very surprising to me how quick run went. We certainly reached the Harbour Bridge much quicker than I had expected mentally, although time-wise it was exactly where it should have been. There was a nasty surprise after the descent off the Bridge with a 500 m long relatively steep uphill which I had not expected but again because of the Hill intervals I was able to drop into "hill-climbing gear" and made it quite comfortably.

I passed through the half marathon point at exactly one hour and 45 minutes precisely half the time required to do a three hours 30 minutes marathon. I saw M at this point and gave her a thumbs up and told her I was feeling really great. By the time we had crossed through 25 km I was starting to pick up people who were fading and although I didn't get any faster over the remainder of marathon my position improved from the halfway point by to the end by about 130 people .
Given that I have only had a 10 week preparation for this marathon and had only run 30 km once in this training cycle, I knew that I would be lacking in endurance. In fact, I never felt aerobically fatigued for the entire journey but certainly by the end was suffering neuro-muscular fatigue. Amazingly my heart rate averaged 160 beats a minute which is extraordinary because in all of my previous marathons I have held above 170 for the entire journey.

The course is very scenic and the views across Auckland Harbour and the islands is really quite terrific. Definitely will be back to do this one again in 2014!

I consider I performed very well given the limited program as I was recovering from the right soleus injury. Essentially, and like most people would say, more and longer endurance training would have helped me in the latter stages of this race. The big plus for this race was that I arrived at the start line injury free the first time in five years.

A cold beer in the park, and then a walk back to the apartment.


Not being able to complete a full training programme due to injury.


This is a great race, well organised and the course is very scenic. Lots of volunteers, supporters out on the entire course, and well-equipped aid stations.