Yesterday I did my 3rd ever marathon length run (at least that I have recorded). The other two being the 2005 melbourne marathon and my first rogaine. I had always wanted to try this run, and I thought it was about time to do it, given that I should be training for my first ever Adelaide marathon in three weeks time. I wanted to run from Glenelg jetty to Mt Lofty summit.

Morv graciously dropped me off down at Glenelg, because running from home to Glenelg to Mt Lofty and then back home again was a bit much (at this stage)! Since it was the first beautiful fine sunny day we’ve had for some time we went for a little walk on the beach which was probably a good leg stretch/warmup before running.

So I ran from the very end of the Glenelg jetty, up Anzac Highway, Greenhill Road, Glen Osmond Road, and up the old freeway along the cycling path. I stopped shortly up the cycling path to tape my toes which were blistering. I regret not taping them earlier, before they started (my toes after the run developed blood blisters, ewww)! I went up past Eagle on the Hill, at 2hrs 30mins and 22.5km. I kept running up to Crafers, and purchased another 1.2L of Powerade Isotonic at the Crafers BP. I’m probably the only person to ever have purchased Powerade from that store, that would actually have NEEDED it The guy at the Crafers BP still doesn’t believe I ran from the Glenelg jetty, even after I showed him the GPS map Click on the thumbnail to see my GPS evidence.

I then kept running up past the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens, to the summit, and did a couple light stretches, as I’d been running uphill for a fairly long time (3hrs 23mins), and so the hamstrings that do most of the work when you’re running uphill, that take a break when you’re running downhill, would be likely to cramp up. Sure enough they did, so I slammed down my remaining 1 litre or so of Powerade to help relax those crampy muscles. They still cramped up a bit, but I was able to negotiate a comfortable zone and running style with them, until it flattened out down on Bartril Spur Track (running down through Cleland).

I then kept running from Waterfall Gully Road, to home, but that was only 40.4km. You can’t brag about running 40.4km, because that’s not even a marathon, so how could I go out that night and brag about my run, people would know it’s below my standard. So I kept running around the block, and then the other block, and up and down the road, until my GPS said 42.00km THEN I had truly run a marathon. But not only was it a marathon, it was a Glenelg to Mt Lofty and down again, marathon, with an almost 1km ascent. You don’t have that 1km ascent in a normal marathon.

So this run took me 4hrs 46mins. I’m aiming for a 3hr 15min or so marathon in three weeks in Adelaide, and hopefully a sub-3hr marathon in Melbourne in October. The sub-3hr mark gains much respect in the running community. I’m pretty happy with 4hrs 46mins for this Glenelg to Mt Lofty run, because even if I ran a 2hr marathon, it’d take at least 2hrs 46mins to climb up a 1km high ladder.

In total, I consumed 3 bannanas, 2.2L of Powerad Isotonic, 4 GU Energy gels, and 3.0L of water. I could comfortably consumed a few more energy gels and a couple more litres of Powerade. Next time I will.