At 6 am on Sunday morning August 26, Judy and I lined up on St. George’s Terrace in the centre of Perth, Australia, along with 644 other runners who were brave enough to believe they could run a 42.2 km marathon that morning. 15,600 other runners would run shorter distances later in the day—half marathon, 12 km or 4 km. The choral classic “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana blasted from the sound system as we waited for the starting signal. The countdown reached zero as the choir sang the last note, and we were off!
We had made the trip to Perth solely for the purpose of running the Chevron City to Surf Marathon after attending a family wedding in Auckland, New Zealand. This was to be the second stage in my seven year, seven continent, seven marathon “Going the Distance” challenge, but it almost didn’t happen. On Friday morning, while stowing our carry-on bags on the flight from Auckland, I injured my back. By Friday evening, I was in great pain even when I attempted to walk. However, I know from experience that running sometimes helps the muscles in my back relax and my spine re-align, so on Saturday evening I did a trial 2 km run and found that I could run without pain. Still, it was with trepidation (and with 400 mg of ibuprofen in my system—not recommended) that I stood at the start line on Sunday morning. Not finishing was hard to consider when we’d come such a long way to run this race, and when so many people had sponsored me toward my fundraising objective.
For the first few kilometers, Judy and I ran together. We watched the moon set in the west over the Swan River, and moments later, turned our heads to the east to see the rising sun reflected on the water. Sadly, somewhere around the 6 km mark, we were separated from each other. I stopped and waited a couple of minutes in the hope that Judy would catch up, but when she didn’t appear I decided to press on. I was running smoothly and strongly and without pain, and was delighting in the beauty of the course. This was just going to be a “fun run”; I was scheduled to run another marathon in two weeks’ time where I hoped I would finally secure a “BQ”—a time that would qualify me to enter the Boston Marathon—so it was important to take it easy today.
Without a doubt, the course for this marathon was the most picturesque of the more than 20 marathons I have run. We ran along Jutland Parade in the suburb of Dalkeith where the most expensive homes in Perth are located. We ran through Kings Park and Botanical Gardens, a 1,000 acre park within the city that is a a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland. We ran along two of the three “Honour Avenues” in the park, where plaques honouring service personnel who died during war service and were buried overseas sit in front of the eucalyptus trees that line the avenues. We were accompanied all along the course by native birds with their distinctive calls—the Australian magpie (whose warbling reminds me of R2D2), the Australian raven (which can sound like a baby crying) and the kookaburra (with a call that sounds like raucous laughter). There was so much to take in that it was difficult not to stop every five minutes to take a picture of another beautiful sight—and I did take a few.
Except for the first 10 km along the river, the course took us over a series of low hills. None of them produced more than 50 metres in elevation gain, but the cumulative effect of all the hills began to wear me down. I allowed myself a short walk on some of the steeper hills, reminding myself that this was supposed to be a “fun run”. To keep myself motivated, I began to keep track of the runners I passed. From the 25 km mark onward, I passed a net of 40 runners, many who were walking or running with extreme difficulty. The last big climb came at the 41 km mark, just one kilometer before the finish at City Beach—one of the many beaches within the city of Perth. Once at the finish line, I grabbed some refreshments and then returned to the finish line to wait for Judy to arrive—which she did, several minutes later, struggling with the heat and the hills.
Notwithstanding that I set a low goal for myself in this race—just finish!—it was one of the most relaxing, most pain-free marathons I’ve ever run. That’s an astonishing thing, considering my condition on Friday night. I can’t give all the credit to ibuprofen! The human body is a remarkable machine. I’m grateful that my body responds well enough to training and discipline that at age 65 I can still run 42.2 km. I’m grateful as well for the opportunity to use my influence to help bring an end to cybersex trafficking of children. Thank you to all who have supported my fundraising campaign, and all who are still considering a donation. The donation page will remain active until October 9. Until then, you can make a tax-deductible donation at https://ijm.akaraisin.com/goingthedistance/2018.
Where should I run for “Going the Distance” in 2019? Africa, South America or Asia? Any recommendations?
All text and photos © 2018 Edwin Wilson
