Race Report: Glenbrook Marathon 2017

It was a tough day at the office today at Glenbrook marathon but as always Running Wild put on a wonderful friendly event! Thank you to all my beautiful friends for your hugs and high fives and support along the course, before, during and after. The community vibe is what makes these events so special.

It was a cold, cold start at Euroka clearing early in the morning, but I knew it would warm up pretty fast, so I used my itchy but practical wool arm sleeves to keep warm while I was milling around the start line with Nicole, Jaime and a bunch of other local girls and guys.

I knew this course like the back of my hand considering its within spitting distance of my house, but that didn't stop it feeling like a long slow trudge at times. The initial climb up the goat track out of Euroka is always a killer but I purposely slowed right down here and kept my heart rate as manageable as possible.

It was perfect weather, not as hot as last year, and the parts I had found hard last year ie: the long out and back along Pisgah Ridge fire trail and Red Hands fire trail didn't feel quite as hard. It probably helped that I'd actually practiced these bits in training!

I took my sweet time, chatting to all the volunteers and just enjoying the day out. I had so many friends volunteering and racing that I felt like I was just on a regular training run. As always, watermelon went down a treat, and I scoffed some lollies and coke at the aid stations too.

Coming in with the leisurely time of 5:24 you would think I walked it if you didn't know the course, but it was a pretty constant grind along the long lonely fire trails not to mention the big climbs (a bit under 800m elevation gain all up). But seeing friendly faces every now and then made it so much easier!

Considering I hadn't done any runs over two hours since May, I'm pretty happy with my result on very little training. Special thanks to Jaime for the celebratory cider. My recovery routine included eating a family sized block of Snack and avoiding moving from my nest on the floor next to the dog.

Will I be back? Hell yeah, I love this race.

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