The Running Marketer

There are some things I had never done running. I’ve never raced a race (I’ve run races but only pulled off new best times in training). I’ve never collapsed after a hard run. I’ve never ran to nausea or being ill. And, I’ve never raced trail.

I marked a few of those off on Saturday night. I ran the Mad Mouse 12km at the Roller Coaster Run on Saturday evening. And it was freaking hard.

The Roller Coaster Run

The race is gorgeous. There are longer versions. The day starts with people running a 23km loop and some doing it twice for 46km. There’s one part of the Mad Mouse 12km known to be hard. I was expecting 300m of hard. One friend said she was pulling herself up by the grass there. Another said she wouldn’t push her daughter in a run pram up. Can’t be that bad, right? Runners’ exaggerations, for sure. After all, Sydney Marathon was 42.2km with 317m elevation. The Mad Mouse loop is less than twice that elevation and only 12km. And we were totally running for fun.

Hardest race of my life

In less than 3kms I was trying to keep my lunch down and Michelle was pretty much dragging me up the “hard bit”. Well, begging more so. Her instruction to count backwards from 10 and then keep going was right. It was after the 10 count each time nausea hit. But my legs weren’t ready to move yet. They were so heavy. The photo above is just normal incline and not the hard bit.

It was elevation from the start, so the 300m of hard was just extra hard. It was actually only 150m but with 35% gradient. A 5% hill is considered steep. This was a wall. It was also my first 34 minute 19 second kilometre. For comparison, our run sub-group is called the 7-minute pace club. Then even the “easy parts” were just continually going up. Every crest and corner just revealed more up. Michelle made up light-up tutus and in the last 2km all I could see was Leith’s skirt in front. The fairy lights made the shape of angel wings, so with her in front, and a bit higher elevation, I was following an angel up the mountain. It was a constant reminder there was more up to go, so less motivating than you’d think.

We came in about 20 minutes before the cutoff. I’m grateful for Leith and Michelle for staying with me. It was pitch dark and hardly anyone was left. The mountain course is beautiful. Dusk at the lookout with the Dandenong Ranges and across to Melbourne was worth it. The race was also perfectly supported. Volunteer course crew members were cheering me on with lots of “you can do it”. I knew I could do it. I just didn’t want to do it with effort. It was hard!

So I marked off the running to nausea and a trail race. I didn’t collapse at the finish line but I also only ran once the finish line was in sight. I did cry and have tears now while typing this.

What made it harder

It’s only 7 weeks since the Sydney Marathon. The advice differs but most advice says to not run the week after a marathon and then still be in recovery for the next 26 or 42 days. That bit’s where the advice differs. But it is up to 6 weeks.

I felt fine and run/walked in run group that week. Then, 2 weeks after the marathon, I ran 9 clifftop kilometres from Jan Juc to Bells Beach. And 2 weeks after that I lead the 8:00/km pace group for the Runners Paradise Melbourne Marathon long run. It was meant to be 18km, but all the people running that pace group are in the 7-Minute Pace Club and we let Tayla set the distance. She was the only one training for a race. From how Tayla took the clifftop 9km, I thought we’d do 10-12km. We did a stronger 16km. I’m proud of her but it pushed me further than I planned.

And there were Wednesday run group runs and my normal runs in among that. And strength work and some bike riding.

I did feel fine. Until I wasn’t. I’ve been struggling on each run. Michelle invited me to join her easier runs last week. I declined and feel I need to go back to basics. Slow and steady, easy runs by myself. No pressure. No serious effort. Just building back time on feet.

I still would have struggled through Saturday’s race. It was freaking hard. But, I probably could have held the “not run to nausea” record a bit longer. I did not respect the process.

But I’m still proud of myself for finishing the Roller Coaster Run. More proud than finishing a marathon. This was harder.