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.

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SEPTEMBER:
BARRY ATKINS AND THE 2006 IRONMAN AUSTRALIA at PORT MACQUARIE

I’ve been wondering which race to talk about for my “Best race so far”. I started running during my uni years back in the nineties when some running buddies convinced me that I wouldn’t come last at their club 5k time trial. I had a go and easily finished mid-pack (i.e., not in last place!), and so the running bug bit. Within eighteen months I found myself having entered my first 10k (about 55mins), half marathon, marathon (about 4h20), and the infamous Comrades Marathon (88km’s) which I managed to complete with only 30 minutes to spare before the 11 hour cut-off gun was fired.

I guess that first Comrades Marathon had to be my most emotional race. At the time, it was pure survival. I, of course, was under-trained for it, and my legs gave up on me not long after Drummond, which is the halfway mark, i.e., with still more than a marathon to go… From there on it was a huge mental effort to put one foot in front of the other to maintain some forward momentum towards Durban. Long story short, once I finally got into the Kingsmead cricket stadium, the tears welled up and I then beyond doubt that I would finish THE COMRADES! I could hear the roar of the crowds, pumping music, the animated commentator spurring the runners on towards the finish. Jogging around the finishing oval, I thought “Wow, apart from perhaps winning the Olympic marathon, this must be the pinnacle of running!” – an average club athlete achieving what is thought to be unachievable for the average person.

That was almost 20 years ago. I don’t remember much more than those highlights etched in my memory of incredible pain replaced with incredible euphoria at the finish, which would make this article rather short…. so I decided to write about something different, perhaps not as emotional but nevertheless, eventful: IRONMAN AUSTRALIA.

In South Africa, there is always the argument between runners and triathletes as to which is harder, the Comrades or the Ironman? Being an active runner, I ventured in triathlon, which I loved because of the variety of training. I did my first Ironman in South Africa and then several ones overseas over the next few years, which leads us on to the 2006 Ironman Australia at Port Macquarie on the East Coast.

Pre-race:

My wife Coral and I arrived in Port Macquarie which is approximately 4 hours north of Sydney. It had been a steaming hot and humid week in late March. Combined with the hilly terrain meant that the race would be a lot tougher than originally thought, having been doing most of my training along the pan-flat tow-paths along the Thames in London. “Oh well, nothing like a challenge!” After driving the course, my fears were confirmed that some steep out-of-the-saddle hills would be involved. They were short but could do some damage after a few reps of these climbs.

The pasta party was pretty good, loads of food and some inspiring video clips. The highlight was a motivating speech by Kieran Perkins (1996 1500m Olympic Gold Medallist). I can’t remember what he said, but was motivated nevertheless!

The Race:
By a lucky coincidence the night before the race, day-light-savings in NSW finished and the clocks moved back to winter time, meaning we had an extra hour of sleep – Yay!

I heard later that a team of non-English speaking Koreans were caught out. At least they arrived an hour early and not late for the race! No mad rush for them on race-day!

The Swim (3.8km):
The water was fairly warm, officially measured at 24 degrees Celsius, which meant a wet-suit swim. That was good for me being a light-weight runner’s build; I needed all the buoyancy I could get! I was hoping to go under an hour and had trained hard for the swim during the UK winter.

At the swim start line on the beach, we had been seeded, the pros up were up front then the sub-sixty minute blue caps which is where I had ambitiously seeded myself. There were two or three more groups behind. After a native Aboriginal dance, the starting gun fired at 7 am signalling the start of the 2006 Australian Ironman!

The initial rough-and-tumble of the swim seemed to last forever. It was close-contact swimming, and I got elbowed several times. Soon I noticed that the width of the field had narrowed out. The massive field further back was so wide that some were wading in the shallows because the channel in the lagoon was too narrow for everyone. I got into a good rhythm after the first kilometre and managed to swim from feet to feet most of the way getting some good draft from those ahead. After the two laps, I ran up the ramp to Transition 1 (T1) and was delighted to see 54:36 on the clock! Whoa!! That’s not even close to 60 minutes!

The Bike (180km):
My transition was under four minutes which is quite good by my usual slow standard. The first stretch of road takes you through Port Macquarie town centre and up and over the rolling climbs for the first 10 km. Then there is about 10 km of nice fast flats before more rolling hills up to the 30km turnaround. You go out and back along this course three times.

My first and major hiccup of the ride came when I punctured after only 12 kilometres in the first lap. Doh! I had never punctured using my new race wheels before – deep-rim Zipp 404’s. I struggled to get the tire off and eventually managed to lever it off. But disaster… the valve of my new inner tube didn’t fit through the rim… a potential show-stopper! It had a plastic coating around it making it too wide. Looking around thinking what to do next, I found a sharp stone and eventually managed to tear the plastic piece off, somehow without damaging the valve. It fitted through the rim! Phew!! [Lesson learnt: practice changing your race bike’s inner tube before the race, not during!!] That episode wasted 25 minutes. No panic, my overall time goal was out the window, but I’d still try for a good run time.

I stopped again 20 minutes later to pick up a new inner-tube as a backup at the next bike-repair stop. You never know when a puncture might strike again. Fortunately laps two and three were uneventful. I concentrated on pacing myself and keeping my heart rate down to conserve energy. The combination of the fast flats, the hills and increasing wind on lap three, slowed me down a bit and meant that I averaged just under 30 km/h and came in with a ride time of 6h12, but with an actual bike split of 6h43 including stops. Not a great time but I’ll have to live with that… clearly circumstances beyond control.

The Run (42.2km): 
The run course winds scenically along the lagoon for a stretch. That is the easy flat bit. Then it cuts back past the start/finish and heads to the sharp hills along the bike course. The organisers described it as an “honest course” which I think meant “challenging”, but it could have been worse. “Be grateful because we could have made it a lot harder,” they said! Hmmm…

Contrary to most triathlete’s run experiences I always feel good at the start of the run section. I love the familiar feeling of my comfy running shoes, after six hours in my cramped cycling shoes.

Lap one I was going alright doing about 5:15 minutes per km until around 17 km. But my energy was waning. I felt like I was being ground down by the hills and energy was sapping away. I started a run-walk routine, walking the aid-stations and running a couple of kilometres in between. Since 7 am that morning, I had been racing. It was 8.5 hours by now so it’s hardly surprising I was tired. Throughout the bike leg, I had been taking a gel about every 45 minutes trying to stock up on calories for the run. It didn’t work. My stomach was a mulch and was saying a not-so-polite “NO THANKYOU”. It was threatening to revolt. I resorted to drinking coke and water and then just water on its own. No calories in means no calories to burn, so my walking sections got longer and running sections shorter – not good for a fast run time! Feeling like I had barely enough energy to climb a curb, I trudged on, up and down the hills for most of the second half.

At 4 kilometres to go, I tried something different. I threw a handful of jelly beans from a spectator into my mouth with some water. Finally got a second wind (and about blooming time!!) which meant I could now actually run, albeit at 6 minutes/km pace.

Eventually, I headed into that glorious finisher’s shoot. With about 50 metres to go some schmuck shoved passed me almost pushing me into the barrier. I was having none of it. I chased him down on jelly-legs and passing him a metre before the finish line! Gotcha!!

Afterwards though, I was told off by my wife Coral for running too fast in the finishing shoot to pose for the camera!

My run time was a pretty slow 4h33 and overall time 12h10. On the up-side, ignoring my bike stops it would still have been a PB by five minutes!! Not bad for icy winter training in the UK!

Conclusion:
Every time I cross an Ironman finish line, no matter how good or bad the time, I try to remember why I do these races. It’s tough training in the cold northern hemisphere winters (or southern hemisphere winters) but so worthwhile when all is said and done on race day. The Aussie spectators and volunteers were amazing. The whole of Port Macquarie had come out to watch!

Later that night we packed up the bike, wetsuit and tri-stuff and walked back to the hotel room. At 11:47 pm the last athlete finished and we heard the loud cheering and shouting from the finish-line. We watched fire-works lighting up the sky from the hotel window at 11:48 pm. What an incredible day! What a great sport! Everyone who finishes is treated like a champion!

For the record, Chris McCormack (Australian) won in 8h20 and Lisa Bentley (Canadian) was the first female in a time of 9h19. She had lapped me earlier that afternoon and had a run split of 3h01! One day maybe I’ll run a marathon split like her in an Ironman… or maybe that’s just me dreaming 😉