8 marathons in 8 Australian states
Ross was the marathon that had to be done. The other states were completed and it was a foregone conclusion that Ross had to be run or my quest was over. And thus Craig and I went to this tiny historic town in the middle of Tasmania for Fathers Day 4 Sept 2016. I had become lax in my preparation. I checked details for the event Friday afternoon as I was packing. The website and Facebook didn’t give much detail…
The Adelaide Marathon is organised by the South Australian Road Runners Club and has some quirky features, from a static website and slightly complex entry system, to the bib collection process operating on an honour system in an unmanned office in the city – runners walked into the office and found their bib in a stack in numerical order – picked it up, and left! Initially I thought I was going alone to this event, however closer to time Craig…
In my quest to run a marathon in each state of Australia I had made a choice to run Alice Springs marathon rather than the Australian Outback Marathon. The main consideration was the cost and time required for the latter, which is sold by Travelling Fit as a multi day package deal. Craig and I, and our daughter Emily had undertaken this event in 2013, when Emily ran (and won!) the 11km event, and we had completed the half marathon….
This marathon was my second go at running a marathon in Queensland. I’d had my first DNF at Caboolture not long after returning from Chile – what seemed like a fun idea of running 400 metre loops of an historic village from dusk until dawn quickly turned ugly – not helped by the acquisition of a Northern American cold virus cultivated in a tiny tent in Antarctica! In Caboolture I’d managed about 14km and pulled the pin, so the choices…
Running Perth was always going to be a big call as it was only one week after Christchurch. Craig and I flew from Sydney to Perth via Melbourne on the Saturday, going straight to the bib pickup point from the airport. We had a quick walk around the city and then had a nice dinner at the hotel. The event started in the park near the casino and we caught a taxi there from our hotel. Craig had exams the…
I run with the same core group of ladies approximately four times each week. We have spent many, many hours running together and have formed lovely friendships along the way. Mid 2015 my friend Megan said to me “Anne, will you come and run UTA50 with me?” to which I responded “No” – I’d done my time with a trail ultra when I ran 6 foot track. She then said “It is for my birthday” – and there it was…
Canberra Marathon was an obvious choice for the Australian Capital Territory. There were a couple of others to choose from however one was right at the end of the season and there was no doubt it could have been very hot. Craig and I had run in Canberra before, with the Mothers Day classic 10km in 2011 and the Canberra half in 2013. We have always loved Canberra and look forward to spending time there whenever we have the opportunity….
When I drew up the schedule for running a marathon in every state I hesitated when it came to Victoria. There were two obvious choices – Wangaratta, right at the beginning of the Australian running season, or Melbourne, closer to the end of the season. I couldn’t make up my mind. Wangaratta made sense in some respects because a lot can happen over the course of a year and leaving Victoria for last to run Melbourne, with only one month…
I’d been keen to run the Six Foot Track Marathon and had set out to qualify for it by running a marathon in under 4 hours 20 minutes the year before. With this qualifying time in hand I stood by my computer the morning the race entry opened and pounced, scoring myself an entry. The whole thing sold out in minutes! I did some long trail runs in the weeks leading up to the event, bearing in mind I was…
After running in Rotorua and then in Greenland I had in mind to run the 6 foot track marathon. 6 foot track is an iconic trail event and one of those marathons where the entry opens and all spots are taken within five minutes. Not only that, runners had to qualify by running a road marathon in under 4:20. My PB for a marathon was well over five hours however I figured that I could cut a significant amount of…