Gold Coast Marathon - Emily Carey

Race Date: July 7th  Results: 2019

​I’m very new to this whole race report thing, but I just love reading about everyone else’s amazing achievements, so I thought I’d give it a go (although it’s probably a bit delayed from the actual event). Here we go…

Background

I have always dreamt of running in a marathon but coming from a sporting background of rowing I never thought it would be possible. For those who aren’t familiar, rowers don’t typically make great runners. They tend to avoid it.

However, at the start of 2018, about a year after hanging up my oars, I decided to give a running a go. Mainly for my general fitness, but I saw the amazing support within the running community, and I wanted to be part of that.

At first, I thought I should see if I could manage the distance of a half marathon. Check! I completed two half mara events, Central Coast and New Run, and felt pretty confident running at these events. I do remember saying at the start of 2019, “I won’t run a marathon this year, I’ll stick to the half marathons until I’m ready…”

Well didn’t that change… before I knew it I signed myself up for the GC marathon. This was a perfect event for me to complete my first ever marathon. I grew up on the Gold Coast, my hometown, making it an ideal situation: Accommodation was easily sorted through family; I had immense support from both friends and family on and around the day; and my pre- and post- race meals were cooked in the comfort of my own family home. Everything was very familiar to me, especially the humidity!

Preparation

I had a near perfect lead up in training. February through April I was running between 40-45km a week, then slightly stepping it up in May and June to 50-55km (I had to keep in mind to not overdo it, as I had an additional 70km+ of walking each week from work).

​I completed all my planned long runs, progressively making my Sunday Long Runs longer and longer each week. Successfully, I got up to a targeted 36km run before the event, along with giving myself the appropriate “rest” (20km instead of 30km long run), where needed. After all the hard training, I was also injury free, besides a lost toenail or two (that was another new experience for me!).

Race Day

Race day. 5am, 2 hours before the start, I got in some of my pre-race nutrition, and the weather was cloudy with a little bit of rain. Within the hour before the start, the rain had stopped seeming like it was gone for the day. 6:30am, I arrived at the event, it was still a little cloudy and no rain, but after checking the forecast, we should be in the clear.

Everything was all very exciting! The atmosphere of the event was amazing, the hype and the excitement of the people around me was fantastic. Although there were a lot of nervous smiles around me, everyone was very keen to get it done.

7am, 10 minutes before the start, everyone went to their start zones. For my first marathon, I had no goal time in mind. Honestly, I didn’t entirely know what to expect. So I put myself between the 3hr 40 to 3hr 50 pacers as a rough guess. Seemed about right, maybe…

While we were patiently waiting for the start, the commentators were giving some last words of inspiration. I clearly remember one commentator saying “the 30km mark is where the marathon really starts”, this is when I started to feel nervous... 7:05am, 5 minutes before the start, the wheelchair marathon was about to start. As the starter said, “GO!” for their race, it started pouring with rain. I hilariously thought, “you’ve got to be joking”. The rain stopped after about 3 minutes. We were all drenched. I could feel that my shoes were soaked through. At the time I didn’t think much of it, I just accepted the situation and continued to enjoy the excitement around me.

7:10, the race was off! Yay! The first 5km was great, I felt very comfortable and at ease. This is when I knew I had done well in my pre-race nutrition, when I saw quite a few people darting off to the public toilets near the first drink station (I found this quite hilarious, but also a new understanding of the sport). All was going well in my books.

10km in, my shoelace comes undone, Greaattt! Quick fix, and nothing to worry about. Back to it and holding a pace I felt comfortable with. At the first turn around (~16km), Burleigh. I remember thinking about how this was my old stopping ground as a kid, and how it is such an amazing experience for me to run through this part of the Gold Coast in my first ever marathon (a ‘feel good moment’). At this point I was feeling great. I was staying consistent in my splits and only a slight soreness in my feet.

21km in, I started feeling quite a bit of pain at the base of feet every time I placed each foot. I could feel the blisters forming, and my feet still felt wet from rain before the start. I tried to not think much into it, focusing on enjoying the environment around me. I couldn’t believe the atmosphere from the music and cheering from the crowds as we passed through the streets, it was amazing and really helped get me through. It was so much fun.

23km in, the pain was a lot worse now. Now I could feel it in my ankles/ calves as well. I decided to try slowly down my pace. This didn’t really help… the shooting pain came from the bottom of my feet, and in my ankles/ calves every time I stepped.

​At the 24km mark, I was at a water station and decided to walk into the station to grab my water. Walking felt so much better, but I could feel that I wasn’t walking properly. I was walking on the outside of my foot to avoid walking over the blisters that were under my toes and on the inside of my feet.

This was not helping the pain in my ankles as the awkward rolling of my step was putting stress on them. So, from here on I was battling through, where I walked and ran for the next 18km. This was mentally tough for me. Honestly, there were many times I thought of quitting… the pain was too much… I even questioned why I was doing this. But then there were also times I was so determined to get this done, thinking things like “I must finish what I started”, and “I’m not quitting”.

This rollercoaster of emotions was crazy, such a battle. Even with my sporting experience in rowing, I have never experience something like this before.

A Flyers Toot toot at the finish line

It was a long last 18km, but I did it. As I went over the finish line, I was so happy!! Yes, I teared up, because I finally got there! Honestly 10kms earlier I didn’t know if I was going to make it. But I was determined to get it done, forgetting about what time I would do it in. This is something I learnt from the marathon experience, it doesn’t matter what time you do a marathon in, it matters that you did it. You did it for yourself.

Post Race

Still Smiling :-)

​People have asked me if I would do a marathon again...

Although this was one of the toughest experiences I have had to go through, YES!! I am definitely keen do it again!

​The only question I have for myself is, what one should I enter next?

​For the 2 weeks after the event my feet and ankles continued to suffer.

​My feet were severely torn up from the large blisters at the base of my toes to the ball of my feet. This made it incredibly hard to walk. I was waddling around… so I tried to stay off them for the days following the race. All in all, my recovery after the marathon has been great. Resting my body and making a new focus for stretching to be key in my training.

My facial expression says it all – ouch!