I went to the Shepparton Marathon wanting to run the fastest time I could, and I had the opportunity to show myself that I have fully absorbed the lesson that you can only control a certain amount about a race; there are things you cannot control that can upset your plans. Like the weather.
Race day in Shepparton was cold. That was great. It had been cold in Wagga for the marathon the previous weekend and I had loved that. But it was still in Wagga and very windy in Shep. That wasn't so good. Much of the Shep course was sheltered from the wind but some of it wasn't. I worked out pretty quickly that the wind might be a factor in my running not quite such a good time as I intended.
It was a good race. I tried hard from the start, because I think I often start out too slowly and I can't make up for this later on. (I don't seem to be able to get my legs to move as fast as I would like; that's because I don't do any speed work and I must get working on that.) I latched onto one runner and then onto a small group and they pulled me along. Then I ran alone for a while and I may have slowed down because at 30 km I found I was some way off my target time. I dug in and luckily I was able to speed up without too much hardship.
I had wanted to go sub 4 but at this point I could see this was no longer physically possible, so I focussed on finishing as well as I could. At other times when I have found myself far from my target time I have mentally given up, but I wasn't doing that here. I persisted, it was uncomfortable, and I honestly gave it all I could. I finished in 4:05 and that was the best I could do on the day.
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