It's a little after 6 on a Sunday morning. It's drizzling outside. I'm coaching runners at 8am. My sleep has been and gone. So fast.
I check the date.
It's been 3 months since I've been here with you. Not in spirit, because I visit running and running thoughts and running words every day. Just in blog form. Summer has been and gone. So fast.
The date tells me more.
Much of my last 3 months has been planning 2012 (and beyond) with others: with you, with runners, with coaches, with sports-medicine professionals. and with sports-scientists. amongst all that planning there are a few regular questions. One of those asks about your race/s. What is your Big Race for the year?
And, as I speak, one Big Race is about to get underway here in Melbourne. It's not a running race. It does have a run component. It's the inaugural Melbourne Ironman Triathlon. I think it may actually be the Asia-Pacific Championships.
Regardless, with the elite men finishing in a few-ticks around the 8-hour mark, the elite women close-by, and a cut-off time of 17-hours for 1,700 or so competitors. It is a Big Race, in many ways. A marathon is an achievement in itself. Completing a marathon after a 3.8km swim and a 180km cycle capitalises the "A" in achievement.
I dabbled in triathlons through the late-80s and early 90s. I liked to go fast. I liked to run fast. Sprint and Olympic distances were my preference. In fact, there existed only a handful of world Ironman events in those days. And the IM logo never existed. Personally, slugging out 6-, 7- or 8-minute kms is not my idea of racing or competing in an event. More importantly, I certainly get the allure of this for others: it's the challenge, and the promise, and the rebuttal. And the commitment
As Sascha Baren Cohen would have once said as Ali G, "Respect!". As Borat, "Very nice!"
Go you IMMrs.
What makes a race big though? We all have 'The Big Race'.
What's yours?
What's mine?
It's 7.15am, With pre-race nerves now gone, the IMMers are about to "be".
