Gold Coast Marathon 2013: A Personal Best & Boston!

I finally did it. My plans fell into place with a clarity of vision, erasing years of disappointment and near-misses.

I earned a personal best (PB) for my marathon by 13 minutes, am eight minutes within my Boston Qualifying (BQ) time, and improved on the course by 16 minutes (in 2011). I almost earned a half-marathon personal record, however deliberately held back. With any more luck, I will be Boston-bound next year in April. In 2011, I qualified by a margin of one minute (3:29:59).

My 2011 results and placing. I cramped at the 36km mark because of over-heating.

It has been a hard few weeks of preparation, with primary focus on doing well for Kona on 12 October; but with my eyes on my dream of doing Boston Marathon once.

Circa, 7 July 2013, I earned a PB but did not get a negative split, and inadequate training accounted for my 'bonk' at the 30km mark. 

I am hobbling along today, with a severe case of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), but it has been all worth it. I have been cycling indoors a fair bit, sometimes twice a day (what with the terrible haze/smog) we experienced region-wide. The swim sessions and core-strengthening workouts helped heaps, I believe. I was in unfamiliar territory, holding 4:20-4:29 minutes/kilometre pace. At one point, I thought I was on-track for a 3:08-3:09 finish, but that soon evaporated as my body surrendered to my physiology. I wore a black, two-piece, tri-suit with FUEL-BELT, CrampFix electrolytes, Hammer Nutrition (Perpeteum mixture), Road-ID, Garmin 310XT watch, and ON running shoes. I kept things simple, so I could focus on my 42.195km plan. 

I hope and believe that I can earn a sub-3:10 marathon by year's end. I will, therefore, refocus after the Ironman World Championships.

Time to recover before I resume training for Cebu Ironman 70.3, and Kona. More details of my Gold Coast Marathon training shortly. Thank you supporters and sponsors for your continued encouragement!