Taking on the lake

New Zealand is renowned around the world for its stunning natural beauty and Rotorua is no exception. Of course, I was here to run a marathon, so the scenic sideshow was something of a secondary consideration. However, if you are going to put yourself through 42.2 km of pleasure and pain then why not make the ride as pretty as possible?

The course is one full clockwise lap of Lake Rotorua mostly on tar seal road and takes you from Rotorua township out of the city, through some rural areas and stunning native bush followed by winding your way back past the airport and back into the township and finish line. The course has a reputation for being tough, hilly and not a p.b course - as nearly everyone I spoke to before the race liked to remind me. However, my feeling is that so many of the world's marathon courses are pancake flat - think Berlin, Rotterdam, Chicago, Gold Coast, so a hilly course is a selling point, rather than a negative. You can approach it with fear or you can see it as a challenge to be conquered. Also, people sometimes forget that a marathon is a race, a race for position. On the day, everyone faces the same course and the same conditions. If you are better prepared, mentally and physically, then you will definitely run better.

Why did I choose Rotorua marathon for my fifth? There were a few reasons, one I'd never done a marathon in NZ, two I had a good friend in Wellington who'd done it a few times and was keen to make a weekend of it, three the timing of the race fits in well with my new Spring + Autumn marathon schedule and four it was a race I heard about growing up and subsequently it had always been on the 'todo' list since I started running marathons three years ago. All in all, plenty of reasons and so I was signed up early in the year and set about getting in shape following my wedding.

It's fair to say it's been a reasonable year of running since my epic blowout in Boston one year ago with my first sub 3 in Melbourne and numerous other p.b.s throughout the AV cross country season. More importantly, I've really been enjoying my running this past year, so much so that a rest day, or day without a run feels strange and often I find myself a bit grumpy and irritable if I haven't knocked out ten or so kms at some stage during the day. However, although I rescued one demon from Boston, ran a negative split and a sub 3, I hadn't taken on another hilly course, so I felt I needed to prove to myself that I was tough enough to get through a hilly marathon and finish strong.

My training prior to the race had been pretty good. I had completed 7 runs of 30+ km in a 12 week buildup (including sectors at marathon pace), run plenty of fast 5 km time trials at parkrun and been consistent at weekly speed sessions. If there was one thing missing from my build-up, it would have been a quality half-marathon leading into the race. Unfortunately, the Victorian calendar features almost no half marathons in the first quarter of the year, so anyone looking at an autumn marathon is plum out of luck. Nevertheless, I had a good run at 'run for the kids' over 14.4 km and from my training I felt I was probably in around 2:50 shape on a flat course.

Because I had been warned of the hills at Rotorua, I had to be a little conservative in the first half. I decided to take off around 4 min/km pace, knowing that it should be pretty comfortable for the first half of the race. As always in a marathon, the first half of the race should feel easy. In fact, to me this is one of the things that makes running marathons so much fun - there is no other race you can run where you feel so good for so long. I listen to the podcast marathontalk, and one of the co-hosts, Tom Williams, often states that the objective in the first half of the race is to get through to half-way with as little fuss as possible. I think this is great advice. In a marathon all runners make a choice - what time do I want to run through halfway at? It better not be close to your half marathon p.b, otherwise you are going to be in for a very tough day come 30 km. Run light, strong and comfortable in the first half and steel yourself mentally for the challenge to come. When the pain comes, and it will, welcome it, because you are ready.

Conditions at the 9:30am start were very good. There was a light breeze with a gentle shower and the temperature was about 14 degrees. About two minutes before the start, we had a special send-off from a local Maori choir which helped remind me that I was back in NZ. The starting hooter was probably the loudest I have ever heard and it gave me a bit of a fright. The first 10 kms of the course were on the highway leading out of Rotorua north towards Tauranga. I slotted into my 4 min/km splits and was feeling pretty comfortable. At this point I started to notice one of the few negatives of the race and that was that the roads were not completely closed. The marathoners were pushed onto the shoulder of the highway and separated from the oncoming highway traffic by a line of road cones. Through most of the course, the traffic was very light so this wasn't a problem but in the early stages and towards the finish where the traffic was a bit heavier you did get the feeling that you were a bit of an after thought.

At 10 km came the first serious hill. It was only about 200m long and because I was feeling strong at my target pace, it didn't worry me at all. In fact, I really enjoyed cresting this one and coming down quickly on the other side. Being a smallish marathon by city marathon standards (1299 finishers in 2012), and because I was running at the pointy end of the field, there wasn't many runners around me. I was running with the eventual female winner for a little while and eventually settled in behind the second place female and another guy who were both about 20 metres in front of me. I stayed with these guys until just before halfway where I could tell they were starting to slow a little and I pushed past them.

Just before halfway came the largest hill on the course - a 3 km, 60m ascent. Needless to say, I was pleased to get to the top of this one, not breathing too hard and having passed through the halfway point in 1:26. This was a little above my target of 1:25 but I had settled into what I felt was a good rhythm and I told myself that the hills had probably cost me a minute. I also knew that if I felt good in the second half I was a chance of a negative split (after all I had done it before) and I didn't fear the final 10 km.

I got a welcome boost from my supporter club at about 26 km, which included my wife Asia, my mother-in-law Mary and my friend Brian's wife Kirsty and daughter Phoebe. Turns out this was a welcome boost because I was just about to enter the last really testing hill of the course. - A rise of about 40 m for about 1 km. I pushed through this to the top knowing/hoping that it was all flat to the finish. At this stage, I was starting to lose that easy feeling and holding my splits was becoming a little more challenging.

This is the time in marathons when things are won and lost and you can easily undo all your hardwork from the previous 30 km if you start to crash and burn. I find it helps to have a mental visualisation that you can draw on. For me on this day, it was the regular 10 km easy run I have from my house to Patterson Lakes. I told myself only 10 km to go, you know how far that is, you do it all the time, easy. Because I run this run at least twice a week, I know exactly where all the km markers are, so 10 km to go and I was just running out the door of my house, 9 km and I was running past the golf course, and so on.

Unfortunately at this point the weather chose not to be so kind and I was running into quite a substantial headwind, which didn't abate much at all throughout the final stages of the race. I was now pushing hard giving everything I had left but I was struggling to hold 4:10 km pace. Although this last part of the race was flat, due to the wind it felt uphill and it was a relief to see the 41 km marker and take the right hand bend into the finishing straight.

The straight was a nice long one, giving you plenty of time to savour the moment. Finishing a marathon is always a special moment in life and this one was no different; I always tend to get a little teary and emotional. I was running down the finishing straight on my own, knowing I'd scored a massive 4 min p.b on a tough course. Final time 2:52:01 and time for a few brews to celebrate.

In summary and in review I have a few thoughts on the Rotorua marathon. First the 'room for improvement':

• Sharing the road with oncoming traffic was not great and potentially a bit unsafe. Although some extra road cones would probably rectify the safety issue, full road closures would probably be better. However, I understand this could be prohibitive in terms of cost.
• The road works at about 40 km were a bit unpleasant. Having to dodge around a massive front end loader is not something that you want to do at the best of times, let alone at 40 km into a marathon.
• Walkers. I understand you need to let the walkers go early so they can finish at a reasonable time and when running multiple events on the same day it is always a juggling act. However, I really hate having to dodge around slower runners/walkers at the end of a race. Having said that, it wasn't nearly as bad as 'the merge' at Melbourne.
• No halfway split mat. I get my km splits from my watch so having mats every five km is not such a big issue but as a minimum I think you should get a halfway split as well as your final finish split. I'm told there has been a halfway split in the past so I'm not sure why it was absent from this year's event.

And the pat on the back:

• The race pack was awesome. To get a top quality asics technical t-shirt in the race pack along with plenty of other food goodies was a welcome change from some of the garbage and loosely disguised advert-a-bags, I have received at other events.
• The course! Loved the variety of terrain, the scenery, the ups and downs and the hills were not nearly as bad as I had been warned they might be. It's a great course full of interest and you can run quick if you pace it right.
• On course support. You can tell the community really gets behind this event and it was great to see so many of the locals out supporting and cheering on the competitors.
• No medal. Yes, this is a positive not a negative. Not every one wants a medal and giving people the option of purchasing a medal for $10 with personal engraving after the event allows everyone who wants one to get one while keeping the entry cost down. Great stuff.
• Water and aid stations. There were well stocked water and aid stations every 4 km which was more than enough.
• The start. I loved the Maori choir send-off at the start.
• Bibs. Having your name on the bib was a nice touch and it makes a difference on the course when someone can shout "go Brad". Also having the race chip embedded within the bib is great and surely must be a mandatory feature now for any serious marathon organisers.

In summary, I would recommend this race to anyone looking for a marathon which is a bit different from your run-of-the mill pancake flat race. It was well organised, well supported and enjoyable to run - 7.5/10.

My splits (from my Garmin):

5km       19:46
10km     39:48 (20:01)
15km     59:59 (20:11)
20km  1:20:11 (20:12)
25km  1:40:12 (20:00)
30km  2:00:30 (20:18)
35km  2:21:07 (20:37)
40km  2:41:57 (20:49)
Finish 2:52:01 (10:04)

Finish position 16 out of 1299.

I also must thank my lovely wife Asia, who has supported me through another marathon campaign which can be a strain on time. I love you darling.