Melbourne Marathon Festival 2019 Reflection

James

– 1st Ever Marathon! = ✅ “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Now, what’s next…? ?

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Megan Smith

I’ve taken a while to try and consolidate some of my thoughts… Run a marathon, it’ll be “fun” they say, I’m not going to wax the lyrical and say it’s a walk in a park, or even a parkrun, far from it, it is the second most difficult challenge I’ve ever experienced in my life.  German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering”, please substitute live with run a marathon because I’m trying to find meaning from the sufferance.  If the training is not gruelling, challenging, and punishing on your body, the marathon itself adds the extra and perhaps worst, the nexus of the dimension of mind games, self-doubt, calorie deficit, and extreme fatigue when your body just doesn’t work. Cellular respiration slows, that is your body can’t convert carbohydrates into “fuel” known as ATP; running becomes impossible and walking (at best) is all you can do at times. But there is a time where you can dig deep, find your inner strength and push through all that is seemingly impossible, yes no human is limited.

I can’t begin to thank Janna and Juliet who helped pull me through the really tough times. I can’t begin to thank Mario, Rachel, Janine, Narelle, Denise, Michelle, Eduardo, Erro, Ali, Carly, Fikriye, Pam, Karen, Jimi, Jennifer, Sláine, Andrea and especially Ollie who have been there, cheering me, inspiring me, encouraging me, and coaching me.  So many times today I was flooded with emotions either with it being so f%#ken tough or with utter joy of entering the MCG and running a lap of the ground that I tried to make peace with at 6am. I crossed the finish line and all I could do was fall in a heap and just cry.  A special thank you to all the volunteers today; to all the countless people I don’t know who lined the streets cheering me on, thank you; and those other competitors who also helped pull me along when I was at my worst thank you. When I asked myself aloud at 28km “Why am I doing this?” a woman next to me responded and said “Because you’re awesome”, thank you to her.

To my legs who are now protesting in pain and defiance of not working properly, all I can say to you is thank you and suck it up princess, we’re going to do this again.

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Carly Hart

‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion’ ~ Muhammad Ali.  Marathon 19 was mentally tough, took everything I had not to quit, but dust myself off and one step in front of the other.

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Juliet Cooper

Slower than hoped but you’ve got to run more for that! Best thing is doing it with the family! #melbmara #family #running @ Melbourne Cricket Ground

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Kate Lambe

42.2km later, I completed my first full Marathon! Such an incredible experience, made even better by @macca1977, Gary , and the @trialliance crew cheering along the way! And special kudos to @ollieallan for telepathically knowing exactly when I was at my lowest and pushing me though those tough K’s. What a day ??‍♀️????? Oh and how did I almost forget the beautiful @tanya_bickers who rocked up to the G with a fab homemade sign, absolutely the icing on the cake!!! ?? 

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Janna Simmons

Post race happy face. First ever marathon ✅?‍♀️???

Narelle Hayes

I came, I saw, I ran and I smashed it. I wasn’t going out for a time but surprised myself with how I finished. My aim was 1.15-1.30, and came in at 1.09:35 ???. Super proud of myself. Thankful for the support of my sister Megan Hayes and her partner out there and all the all the supporters on the course. I cannot thank my coach enough for getting me to this point Ollie Allan you are an absolute legend and I am couldn’t have done this without you and my @trialliance family all your support has not gone unnoticed. #trialliance #trainingwithpupose #melbmara #myfirst10k #ismashedit.

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Janine O’Grady

This guy……a bloody legend and he really is Super Mario! He did a sub 3hr marathon, 2:59:51. His focus, motivation and drive to achieve is inspiring. And while he’s doing all that he’s in my corner helping me achieve my goals too. We both had ripper days, I did a 10km PB! Improved on last year by over 8mins, improved on my time trial 3 weeks ago by over 3mins and got under an hour 59:43. I’m really happy! Congratulations to everyone else out there today achieving new goals & PB’s.
#trialliance #trainingwithpurpose #melbournemarathon #goals #achieve #smashthosegoals #supermario #legend #mentor #surroundyourselfwithgoodpeople #happy #mylife #roadtobusso #busso703ironman #dreambelieveachieve #anythingispossible