The Dragon Runner

Western Sydney Half Marathon

19 Jul 2019

1 June 2019 - 2hrs 56min 5sec

Throughout the first half of 2019 I have been very heavily focused on my diet, losing weight & gaining some running fitness. Despite some very encouraging results early on, my progress had stagnated by May 2019. At the same time I lost a valued friendship after that person showed themselves to be a bully who refused to accept any opinion that was not their own. So be it - good bye!

I live by a mantra of self-improvement & never giving up so I laid out a program of fun runs to really challenge myself. With a couple of 10km run/walks under my belt I entered the Western Sydney Half Marathon which is held on a very flat course at the Penrith Regatta Centre.

Never one to die wondering, I set myself a time goal of 2hrs 30min which was the same pace that I had managed to achieve (just!) over the 10km distance of the Sri Chinmoy Royal National Park event.

On the day I was so nervous I found I had not charged my Garmin watch so I had to plug it into a portable battery bank for the drive to Penrith with Rick Patzold. When we arrived & walked around the lake to the start area I realised my watch was still in the car. A brisk walk soon rectified this but the extra steps before the event were not ideal when I was pushing so close to my distance/endurance limits.

The race started & I settled into my goal pace. I was running comfortably & happy with my progress. I had friends in the events & also spectating who encouraged me every time we crossed paths which was really awesome & helped to keep my spirits high.

I passed through 10km exactly on goal pace but soon after I really began to notice fatigue setting into my legs. By 12km my knees were becoming problematic & running had become very painful. But I could still walk at a pretty decent clip & so that's what I did. I ran a little bit every so often to break up my stride patterns & give my leg muscles some relief as I marched ever closer to the finish line.

I knew my time goal was unachievable so my focus switched to just finishing. Going past the start/finish area at 14km to set out on the final lap was mentally challenging - I was totally spent but no way was I going to withdraw.

The third lap was very painful but extremely empowering at the same time. As I counted off the landmarks & kilometres I found myself being distracted from the pain & able to run more again. It was slow but steady progress. Rounding the end of the lake for the final time was a good feeling & I tried to run as much as possible in the final 2km. I was managing about 100m run / 200m walk for most of the home straight.

Crossing the finish line & collecting my finisher's medal was a really great feeling. This was so important to me and my goals for June. Writing this some six weeks after the event I am still feeling the emotions of this success.

The final result is my second slowest of 14 half marathons, but more importantly is only the third half marathon since I stopped running them regularly in 2009 & my first for five years.

Next goal: Sri Chinmoy Track Marathon!

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