Wings For Life 2018

Putting down some big goals for Wings For Life 2018. I hoped to regain the running form from 10 years ago. Back when I had less commitments in life. From where my fitness was back in December last year, it was going to be a very big ask.

The training went well. Each month I went from strength to strength. It was hard to complain about improvement. I didn’t hit the numbers in training I considered were needed to run beyond a marathon at Wings For Life 2018. I was somewhat close, so I hung on to the hope of pulling it together during the race.

No point in being conservative. Might as well put out the effort to reach beyond the marathon. I wasn’t going to fail from lack of effort.

Wings For Life Event Hub

Keeping to usual form I arrived early.

Being early allowed me to have everything sorted and ready. Then time to relax and socialise. This was one of the best parts of the event. The vibe was positive. Many familiar faces. Some new faces. Unfortunately I didn’t get to catch up with everyone I wanted to.

Time for business. Stiffness has seeped into my joints. A brief warm up and I was feeling ready. The mass of runners worked their way down to the star line. Near the front with a couple of friends, we talked rubbish waiting for the countdown that seemed to take for ages.

A few minutes out an official picked me out and asked if I was going to run beyond 40km. I told him that was the plan. That meant for a shirt swap. The race shirt I was given at registration was orange. Apparently they wanted the runners out front all to be in yellow. So yellow it was. It created an obligation to run well.

World Run Global Start

As one we all started around the world.

Running for those that can’t.

My legs had practiced race pace so they knew what to do. Straight into it. The seeding seemed to work well. There were lots of runners, but plenty of space. Taking over a freeway probably helped with the space.

At the 5km mark I hit my target split of 22:05 to the second. I wasn’t feeling great. A headache was crashing in and I just felt tired. It was early days, so I just sucked it up and expected to feel better as the run unfolded. When I’m fit I often find something tends to click about an hour in and running can feel easier. I knew I was that fit.

For the next 5km is the majority of ascent on this course. When driving the Monash Freeway you don’t notice the hills. Running is a different story. None of the hills are steep, but they are long and steady and can be risky. The sort of hills that can have you run too hard and come back to bite you later on. My plan was to allow for only a slight increase in effort. Thinking if I crossed the 10km mark at 45:00 then I would be spot on.

So close, 45:01 was the 10km time. The clock I was on target. My body was having doubts.

Fight It

The headache had increased. That was something I could put up with. Worrying me was the fact most of my joints hurt. Feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulder and elbows just hurt. It didn’t make sense. Certainly wasn’t something I was use to feeling when running.

Rationalising it was a bad patch I pushed on. Maybe the uphill was just harder than I gave it credit. Now slightly down hill I could spin the legs and let gravity do some of the work.

Gravity worked. The landing of each foot not so much. My joints became stiff. They felt almost like they were swollen. Running became more difficult. I was maintaining my pace, but it was far from my usual efficiency. Something wasn’t right

Around the 14km mark and my body decided it wouldn’t play nice. There was only a semblance of strength left in my legs. Despite plenty of mental effort, I just couldn’t make them go any faster. I’d completed plenty of training runs that were faster and longer than where I was now.

Fighting back got me to the 15km mark and my 3rd 5km split. 22:35. Those extra 30 seconds were all added after 14km.

Acceptance

That was it. My running continued to slow step after step. I continued to hang to hope of “coming good” at some point. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a way to make it happen. My head hurt with the mix of emotions churning around inside the headache. Gradually I accepted it wasn’t my day.

Now with a bit of mental freedom I was able to find enjoyment back in the run. It was still a struggled, and despite pushing I kept getting slower. I smiled when I realised this race was probably the only way you could enjoy being on the Monash Freeway.

The inevitability of the catcher car crept into my thoughts. When hurting a race I often latch onto the concept that if I run faster I can finish sooner. In the Wings For Life World Run running faster would prolong the pain, but also the enjoyment. A tug of war between wishing the car would catch sooner versus wishing to run further rage amongst my grey matter. I wondered what could have been if the race went somewhat close to plan. This had become an event I will be definitely be back for.

You feel the buzz of energy approaching as the catcher car comes into range. There is an excitement and celebration. A mixture of enjoyment and relief hit me as the catcher car passed. 24.8km. A long way off trying to go further than 42.195km. I was disappointed with the result, but I still enjoyed the Wings For Life 2018 World Run. Definitely a race to come back to.

Race Coverage

Check out all the coverage from the event around the world: