While we’d all love to think that our best race is still ahead of us,  for most runners there’s a race or a couple of races that already stand out as particularly memorable. Not necessarily the fastest you’ve ever run, though it might be. Not necessarily a race that you won, though it might be.

What it tends to be, is a race that was deeply satisfying because you achieved what you were hoping to…or surpassed the big hairy audacious goal that you’d set yourself. They’re the kind of races where you sit back later in the day and think, “I may run faster one day but, on this day, in the shape I was in, that’s the best I could have possibly done…my best race so far”. That’s a great feeling. 

It’s a sad thing if we can’t enjoy what we’ve already accomplished or are so driven by the pursuit of the goals we have ahead that we miss the opportunity to say ‘that one? that one was really good’.

These are the stories of a bunch of different runners from BT RunClub and their best races so far.

We hope these stories will inspire you as you chase your ‘best race so far’.

Here’s to the best races ahead…and running the race marked out before us.

——

MAY:
ROB BRADSELL AND THE 2012 BOSTON MARATHON

Before I get to my best race, a bit of a background on why running means so much to me and why the marathon is my favourite distance.

Dad and I used to race each other daily when I was between 8 and 11 years old over our marathon distance (which at the time ended up being around 1300m) on an undulating course. We used to do it in just over 5 minutes.

We also watched with great delight as Rob De Castella ran down the two Tanzanians at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games marathon.

Fast forward to 2004, and not a lot of running had been done in some time. Unfortunately, Dad was diagnosed with an aggressive type of cancer and I started running to help cope with that. I entered a couple of fun runs and did reasonably well and would tell him how I’d gone – he would smile and say ‘well done’. Dad wasn’t able to survive the cancer, but during that time he bought me a marathon book (which Mum had forgotten about and gave to me after I had run my first marathon). Running became a passion and something I’ll always share with Dad and the marathon became my distance of choice.

So, with that as a preamble, on to my best race so far: The 2011 Boston Marathon.

I was lucky enough (based on previous times) to end up in Corral 1 which was just behind the elites and so decided to train in earnest and give it my best shot.  The aim was to try and go under 2.48.47 as that is the magical 4 min km mark (an average of 4min/km for the distance).

Training was tough through the summer months and I churned out some 150km weeks, mostly on my own with a couple of long runs up to 3 hours. I suffered some shin pain which meant a couple of the longer runs had to be substituted for 3 hours on the exercise bike which isn’t fun, believe me, despite watching my favourite movies. The preparation had been good in general and the last week included a few runs in Central Park, one which was particularly memorable. It was a bitterly cold morning and I was the only idiot out there with no beanie or gloves!

I was jumping out of my skin come Marathon day after carbo loading for a couple of days. The only concern were the sore shins.

The Boston Marathon is run on Patriots’ Day: a public holiday in Boston and the public, who are very knowledgeable of marathons, come out in their thousands. Runners line up in Boston Common at 6am and catch the yellow buses to Hopkinton and then wait around for about 3 hours before the race begins. There are plenty of loos, food etc and it is extremely well organised.

The long walk is done to the starting line and being at the front was pretty awesome as I had an uninterrupted view of the elites making their way down the path to the starting line. Ryan Hall was high fiving a whole lot of people and there was was generous clapping and shouting out all ’round.

We started, and I was wearing my beanie and gloves as it was still cold at this point.  My shins ached for the first 3km downhill but I managed to get a reasonable start and noticed after running for about 5km I was feeling warm and sweating a bit, so discarded both beanie and gloves. I had a drink at about the 5 mile mark and concentrated on doing around a 3:55 per km as I wanted to get a little time in the bank for later on, which I was able to do. The left hammy, which is always a bit dodgy, was sore around this time but luckily stayed the same for the rest of the race.

I just continued churning out the kilometres as planned and before I knew it we were at Wellesley College with the screaming and kissing girls.  I managed to go through the half in a small Half Marathon PB and was happy that I was on track for what I was after.

The hills of Newton came along and I had another drink and a couple of snakes. The plan was to maintain an even effort and make sure that I didn’t lose too much of the time banked away, which I was able to do. I was passing quite a few people and the odd one was passing me. I did some quick calcs in my head at the 30k mark and figured if I could do 4:06 for the rest of the race, then a high 2:48 would be achieved.

There wasn’t so much fanfare at the top of Heatbreak Hill but I figured we’d reached the top based on the kilometre on the Garmin and the fact that we’d started going downhill.

The calves started getting sore around the 36 km mark but I kept telling myself that it wasn’t far to go and I was on track. It did the trick as the pace stayed steady and I kept passing people, whilst a couple passed me.

Not too much further to go and I turned the corner onto the little uphill bit that you have to negotiate before turning into Boylston and heading for the finish line.  I was very happy to have my name called out, raised the fist and yelled as I passed the line in 2.48.04. A bit of a shame I couldn’t go 5 seconds faster as I would have had a 2:47, but it was a big PB for me!

Reflecting on all of this, I’m so glad that Dad and I shared those moments growing up and running is something I’ll always cherish with him. Hopefully I still have a few decent marathons ahead of me.