Race Week- The Canberra Marathon

My favourite race of the year!

It’s Friday lunchtime. The rain has gone, and the sun has returned. This Sunday, for the third consecutive time, I get to run my favourite race of the year,?The Canberra Marathon.

I feel a bit stupid referring to it as a race because I’ve never really considered events like this a “race”, but I guess, strictly by definition, that’s what they are. I know that someone will be the first to complete the distance and be declared the winner of the race, but to me, it’s a running event.

Although Sunday will be the 11th time I’ve covered the marathon distance, The Canberra marathon is the only sanctioned marathon event I’ve ever entered.

I don’t run for events. I enter events because I run. I like to hand over my hard-earned money because that’s committing to a long-term training plan. It’s kind of like once I sign up for an event, I have guaranteed that I will keep myself fit enough to complete it over the coming months.

I love The Canberra Marathon for a whole bunch of reasons. It’s not the most amazing scenery or interesting course. It’s pretty cold and has a decent amount of HELLevation for a road run as well. Really, it’s not that nice at all, but I still love it.

Canberra is my home, and there’s something so nice about feeling comfortable and familiar with your surroundings. This is why initially, I wanted to run a PB at this event. That is still a goal of mine, but one I’ll have to save for later for a few boring reasons.

Mostly though, what I love about this event is the people. There are so many familiar faces both on the course and on the side of the road cheering you on. I think just about anyone who’s ever participated in an event like this would agree that you get this amazing burst of energy when you’re running along in a world of hurt. You see a familiar face or hear a familiar voice cheering you on.

The running community is an amazing one. There are very few people I’ve come across who aren’t absolute legends, and given I’ve done most of my running in Canberra, I’m excited to cross paths with a bunch of them again on Sunday. Especially some of the original 2 Zoners and, of course, a bunch of the legends from Running for Resilience.

The first time I ever ran a marathon was on a random Saturday morning a little over three years ago.

I went against all advice and, for my own piece of mind, needed to run a marathon before showing up for my first Canberra Marathon a few months later.

It was slow as shit. For reference, my best marathon time is over an hour quicker than this.

What I’m most excited about though is that this weekend I’ll be helping my mate Brett run his first-ever marathon. Brett and I have been mates for over 20 years, and it’ll be cool to go from skateboarding, drinking lukewarm alcohol, listening to punk rock, smoking ciggies and doing all-around dumb shit to welcoming him to an exclusive club of idiots who like to run really slowly for an extended period of time for no real reason.

When my PB plans fell in a heap, I decided to focus all my energy towards running?The Sri Chinmoy Canberra Trail 100k, so when Brett said he wanted to run his first ever mara at The Canberra Marathon and thought 4.5–5 hours would be a good time to target, I jumped at the opportunity.

It’ll serve as a great training run for me, and I get to support a great mate in achieving something that only a minuscule percentage of the population will ever achieve. It’s pretty wild to me that only three years ago, I was running this distance for the first time ever, and now I get to take what I have learned in that time and share it with a great mate and help him to achieve the same. Some full circle shit.

This year though, there will be one significant difference.

I’ve always taken Monday off work after a run like this. I used to tell myself it was just in case I hurt myself or in case I was too sore to work the next day. The truth was, I had a broken reward system and would justify a bender because I had just run a marathon.

In previous years I’ve had drugs preorganised for after the event. Finish the run, quick stop off on the way home, shower, back to the pub and fuckin’ into it. Even when I was putting in the leave request at work, deep down, I knew it was because I wanted to get fucked up afterwards without feeling guilty about it because, according to myself, I had earned it.

This year, the plan is to get up at 3 am, leave home at 3:30 am, arrive at 5:30 am, find a car park, find a toilet, find some friends, and run from 6:15 am until approximately 11 am. Maybe mill about for a little bit afterwards and then drive home to have a lazy afternoon on the lounge with my family, watch some football and heaps of junk food.

Sure, I still have a slightly broken reward system, but it’s much better than it used to be.

If you’re around Canberra this weekend, make sure you come down for a look. It sounds boring, but I think you might be surprised at how enjoyable the atmosphere can be.

Cheers Wankers.

X.

Bogues Tonnes Up

Each week I will chuck a bit about my journey to my first 100k run at the?Sri Chinmoy Canberra Trail 100k?for anyone who gives a shit.

I’m running The Canberra Marathon THIS SUNDAY. I will likely use it as a Zone 2 training run and pace my mate to his first-ever marathon finish. It’s perfect, it means there is no pressure on me to run fast, and I can use my mate’s desire just to finish in whatever time it takes as a perfect excuse to not pressure myself into targeting a certain time.

I am running the 100k for a few reasons. Mostly because I always wanted to. Mostly though, I want to raise as much money as I can for?Beyond Blue. An amazing charity that does brilliant work in the mental health space.

If you want to help out and help keep me accountable for this fucking ridiculous goal,?CLICK HERE to make a 100% tax-deductible donation.

Every cent counts, and you’ll be comfortable knowing it’s going to a reputable organisation who do amazing work.

Click here?to check my other blogs. Follow me on?Instagram?and?Twitter?@sbrngthghts.

Make sure you check out my?Writing 4 Resilience?friends. They’re all legends.

Running for Resilience?Ben Alexander?Brent Ford?Running Rare?The Milkbar?Reflections of a Clare Bear

If anyone is struggling in any way, make someone aware of it. Speak to a friend, family, loved one, stranger, postman, uber eats driver, or me; talk to someone.

Lifeline?Ph: 13 11 14

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NSW Mental Health Line?Ph: 1800 011 511

Suicide Call Back Service?Ph: 1300 659 467

Mensline Australia?Ph: 1300 78 99 78

Kids Helpline?Ph: 1800 55 1800