the wash up

I went into Juneathon having run "only" 116km in May. A mere 16 of those km had been in the second half of the month. I had a nagging cold that refused to either develop into proper ManFlu of go away. I was not enjoying myself and had decided I'd not be running the Gold Coast Marathon this year. The lack of late-training was only one of a number of reasons; selling and buying a house, a newborn, I'd quit and then un-quit my job. I'd lost my running mojo and thought Juneathon would give me a little boost. Knock out a few runs, make sure I got out there each day and have a little fun with it. Nothing serious...

I know I can run a cold off, so after a few days of feeling shitty when I set off I knew that as long as I got moving I'd be alright. I had a stubborn planter wart on my left little toe - it's been there for years - that objected to me running and would typically feel as if I was sticking pins into my foot for a couple of hundred yards and then calm down. I got a few blisters, but nothing to stop me. I was off and running.

I looked through the participant list and after 3 days I did not see Gary "LocalAdventure", Janathon's massive mileage man. So he was either absent or had missed a day and therefore was out of the medals. Jenks was back, and I knew he could throw down some decent miles, but hey, I'm not in it it to win it, so no big deal eh? OK, sod it, let's see if I can win the thing.

I figured I'd be able to run the equivalent of a half marathon each day, around 21km. This would be an extra 5km on my Janathon average. But I'd not have the humidity to deal with and being a little busy on the home front I'd not be doing many interesting (aka time consuming) miles. It would be pavement-pounding to and from work and at lunchtimes. All local stuff. Weekends might be a logistics struggle, but, well, meh. So that was the plan and, within a bit, the outcome. I "lost" one day to my toe. At the death I could feel another cold approaching so knocked the last miles out with a day to spare. Happy days. I had told myself that consecutive 10km runs of over an hour would mean I should drop the miles. I slowed, but didn't slow  too much.

So, how did I pull up? Towards the end I was struggling but once I was moving I felt OK. Without wishing to sound too glib, if you want to see what the body can do you look to those fighting nasty land wars or lost in the wild or fleeing for their lives. We're a soft bunch when given the chance. The battle is all in the mind, not in your shoes. So says me. My left little toe didn't get any better and is still somewhat skanky. My right leg aches and the knee feels a bit off, but there is no clicking or grinding and I am fairly certain it is all muscular. If anything it seems a little worse since I stopped running. I put that down to muscles relaxing and my body getting a little out of shape. Pretty sure it will shape up again before too long. I did virtually no stretching throughout June. I have a bit of a theory; well, I was chatting with a mate a few months back and what he said makes sense. If all you do is run then having loose, supple muscles is of no real benefit. If anything it is a greater risk; what you need is proper, firm suspension. It seems to work for me. I'll try to fit in some swimming in to stretch myself out a bit, that's about it. The cold finally came and got me. Again, mental I think. With the goal reached you breath a huge mental and physical sigh of relief and that opens up the cracks for the cold to get through. Only lasted a few days, assisted by screwed aircon at work. Pretty much everyone was off with some sort of lethargic, sneezy, coughing thing.

I'm unlikely to be back in January because this year I need to drive several hundred kilometres over Xmas and the New Year for the family shin-dig on the Gold Coast. And I still remember what high-miles in a Sydney summer feel like - bloody horrible. But you never know. Juneathion appeals, so maybe I'll come back to defend my title (hahahahaha!) I am a little goal driven; I wonder if anyone has won 2 Juneathons? Or won two back-to-back? But does back-to-back need to be June then Jan? Who knows. My goal of a sub-3 marathon seems to be drifting away from me, but there are other goals. How far can I run in one go? How far in one day? Will I ever find out? Don't know. Funny, I've not run for 6 days and I'm already looking for the next challenge. For a while I think I'll just grab the cameras and head out to take some pics.

And before I forget; big respect to Cathy for once again putting this together. I will, of course, give her a slap with a sweaty in-sole should I ever meet her in person. But it will be done with love.

Seeya next year.