marathon long 4:02:49 [5] 42.2 km (5:45 / km)
Great morning for a Canberra Marathon. About a thousand silly runners were accompanied by a swarm (well almost) of hot air balloons whooshing their way overhead. A surprise for me was meeting Clare (a work colleague who left Bendigo for Canberra about 18 months ago) at the start and I really enjoyed running the first half with her, near the blue (4 hour pacer) balloon (helium, not hot air). I was left behind when I stopped for a toilet visit, and it took about 10km to catch up with them again. Had a niggle in my left achillies all the way, which got more intense as time went on. Quads started hurting after 25 km, and running just got harder after that. Made the mistake of walking in one uphill part and at a drinks stop, and it REALLY hurt to start running again. The last 2 km were exceptionally slow. My 5km splits were: 28:07:07, 27:48:02, 29:15:86 (toilet split), 27:14:43, 27:03:67(caught up with the pacer), 28:02:51 (pain kicking in), 29:46:41(slower), 31:12:88(much slower), 14:18:63 (last 2.2km - crowd helps out a bit). Achillies tendon is swollen and tender, and I'll catch up with a aphysio tomorrow, but my quads are sooo stiff! Drove home today and it hurts to sit down and get up - feeling like a geriatric.