Canberra Marathon...

the day started with my alarm going off at 5.20am and i was out the door 25mins later...i picked up sustenance (maccas!) on the way to the Road Crew Check-In Telopea...

at the check in i received my equipment - safety vest, flag, cones and a "Road Closed, Marathon in Progress Sign"...then it was off to my position to the on ramp from Flynn Drive to Commonwealth Ave bridge...

no runners were expected through until about 8:12am so i had plenty of time to set up, watch the balloons overhead (one landed near the National Library) and then see the runners doing the 10k loop of the Parliament House...at the point i could see (corner of Langdon & King Edward Terrace) the field was already well spread as it took roughly 23mins for the entire field to go through...

the lead runners - Magnus M, James B, Barry K and Jeremy H - came through at about 8:13am with about a 200m gap between each of them...on the second lap they had about the same gap although Barry had moved into 2nd so i wasn't surprised to hear Barry had won...

after the lead runners there was a considerable gap to the next lot and they started to come through in dribs and drabs...my hand clapper made proving loud support easier but i did however sustain a blister!...

it was hard when big groups came through to call out individual support but when i could i did...Action looked great as did Gnome each time he passed (great debut mate)...i got to see Lucky Legs and Horrie 3 times (including the Ultra leg which passed underneath me)...i saw Omni who didn't look great the first time but looked heaps better the second time...speedygeoff was doing a great job with the 4hr bus and was happy to have a quick chat each time...

Shireem Crompton had an early lead and maintained that all the way through...Trevor Jacobs came through the first time with Emma in second spot...then second time round Emma had a bit of a break on Trevor to do really well in her first road marathon...

i was surprised to see Plu running (i didn't know he'd entered) and got to high 5 (or was that low 5?!) him on his second lap...

CJ looked fresh each time and ran a fantastic PB - i hope that chocolate tasted extra sweet!...i also got to cheer Cato, Clairie (also another great debut), Grey Beard, Kelvin, Griffin, Karisma, piledhigherq, Robert Song, run67, Schtumpy, shufflingfeet, Stampy, wobbly man but there were so many more...there was Demetrios, Gordon, Tony, Chris N & John D from Customs as well...

the reactions of runners when you used their names was great and so many made the effort to say thanks as they ran past...it was an absolute pleasure to be part of the whole experience...

the last marathoner, 80 year old Jim Metcalfe, came through at 1:26pm and i had enough time to pack up my equipment and get back to the finish in time to see the last 5 people (2 marathoners & 3 ultra marathoners) come through...

then it was time for a late lunch before heading home to do some packing for the move...although i didn't really feel like it, i squeezed in an "easy 40mins" as the sun was going down...tested out my new top too...

the stats:
start temp/humidity: 19.0/26%
start time: 5:15pm
total distance: 7.15
total time: 40:01
ave pace: 5:36
total calories: 597
ave HR: 143
finish temp/humidity: 16.1/33%