Blackmores Sydney Marathon

Twelve months ago I set a goal of running a barefoot half marathon by the end of 2017.  Unfortunately I achieved this in April of 2017 so that goal needed resetting to a full marathon.  Well, five months later it's now September and I think I'm near enough ready for a marathon in bare feet!  What could possibly go wrong...

As with all other years I headed down on the Saturday about lunchtime and had a walk around Darling Harbour after collecting my race kit.  It was a beautiful sunny day but it was bloody windy.  For all forecasts the wind was going to settle which I was hopeful of.  While remaining hopeful I headed up to my favourite bar on Darling Harbour, Cohibar, and grabbed a beer and enjoyed a nerve calming Partagas Short.  I would have loved a much larger cigar and a million more beers but that will have to wait until post marathon celebrations or commiserations.  The rest of the day I just cruised around and tried to pass time.

Race day morning I was feeling nervous but pretty good.  I headed to the start line with about thirty minutes to spare.  It was quite funny, travelling across to Milsons Point on the train, people just stared at my bare feet and then looked and me without saying a word.  Things didn't improve much at the start line.  I had so many people say "you can't be serious", through to "that's the best thing I've ever seen!".  I expected a lot of comments but not the number I received.  Anyway,  with only a few minutes to go it was time to shuffle to the start line.

Finally off and racing I was happy.  Running over the harbour bridge is still so iconic no matter how many times I've done it before.  A few kilometres later I noticed one other guy in bare feet so I struck up a conversation with him.  Turns out he'd been running bare for 10 years, which was impressive.  We chatted for a while longer approaching Centennial Park.

At the 10km mark I was feeling pretty good.  The road thus far was fairly smooth and my feet were fine.  I was holding a 5:15 pace without issue but as I got into Centennial Park the road changed to reasonably abrasive.  No worries, I thought, just keep going.  Much to my surprise for the next 15km around the park were fairly abrasive.  By the 21km mark my feet were already feeling a little sensitive, which did concern me a little.  Oh well, past the point of commitment now!

The next 15km were pretty good.  The road surface wasn't too bad and where it was bad I was able to stick to some smoother sections.  I still kept a 5:15 pace which was good.  It wasn't until 35km that things got really hard and a little bit comical.

Up until this point I was feeling great, albeit with more sensitive than normal feet.  Approaching the 35km drink station I headed in and grabbed water, no problem, but on the way out my feet got incredibly sticky like a nightclub floor and small sharp gravel started sticking to them.  I had to stop and scrape the gravel off before proceeding as it was a little painful.  It then struck me what I had done.  After grabbing my water the next part was all Gatorade and people had spilled it everywhere, which I ran through!  I had a little laugh to myself and swore at the same time.  Oh well, at least now I know.  Time to keep running.

The next couple kilometres I started to lose it physically as I had to keep good form to avoid hurting my feet.  Normally I would let my heels down and trudge home but not this time.  After the little Gatorade/gravel incident my feet were feeling pretty sensitive but I knew they were still fine.

Heading back around the piers under the harbour bridge a guy on a push bike started heckling me in good humour.  I was really struggling and he was a great lift and encouragement to keep moving.  Passing the Pier One Hotel I was so very tempted to finish the race right there and head straight to the bar where I was with my business partner only a couple days before.   A beer would be perfect to sooth my sore legs!

Heading under the bridge I was now on the side walk and it was pretty smooth which I welcomed.  Soon after the side walk ended and I headed onto the timber wharf.  This was a very interesting change to the feet.  The sensations from such rapidly changing surfaces was surreal.  I did have to watch out for the big metal dome bolts sticking through!

Now with the Opera House in sight and less than 2km to go I was ecstatic and a little bit delirious.  I was completely exhausted and so pumped at the same time.  The final kilometre people lined the fences and just cheered.  One guy yelled out "check out this mad dog in bare feet" and after that all I could hear was people yelling "go barefoot guy", which just made me smile.  The finish chute is now only a couple hundred metres away.

Crossing the finish line was such an incredible moment.  Obviously got heckled by the commentator!  The lady handing out medals was looking at me in disbelief, to which I just smiled.  I walked through and found a pole to lean against and check my feet.  While completely black, there was not a blister in sight.  I couldn't have been more stoked.  Thankfully I dropped off my pluggers the day before so they were waiting for me at the finish.  Time to go grab them and make my way back to the hotel for a clean up and a long, easy arvo around Sydney.

For lunch I jumped the ferry across to Manly and had a couple beers at the Bavarian bar before heading back across to the city and an early night.  The next morning I near ate my body weight in pancakes, which was the perfect medicine before a slow train ride home.

Such an amazing experience.  Can't wait to do it all again in 4 weeks at Melbourne.  Hopefully get my time down a bit!
 

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