Digging Deep

11 Apr

– Sara Kato Canberra Marathon

Words by Sara Kato • Photos by Natalie Wong & Canberra Marathon Official Photographers

After months of training for a 100 miles ultra, Sara found herself at the start line of Canberra Marathon with only four weeks of preparation. It was an interesting race for her as she tested out her ultra legs on the road. Here she shares about her race day where she finished her 10th marathon in 3:20:25 with a massive 9 min PB.

I wouldn't be lying if I said I signed up for the Canberra marathon on a whim.

This year, I had planned to do my first 100 miler (that's approx 165km), having Tarawera and UTMF (Ultra-Trail Mt Fuji), both of which had been postponed due to friendly 'rona.

I'd been training for 100 miles since July 2020, and initially training for Tarawera which was to be held in Feb, then extended the training block to April 2021 for UTMF. Having these two key races cancelled, just like the rest of you reading this; I’m sure you can imagine that I was in a DIRE need to race.

Being trained for 100 miles, I decided to sign up for the Razorback 64km held in Victoria in mid-March. Having had a bad day out there, I didn't quite get the endorphin/ dopamine hit from racing that I'd been after. (I finished the 64km in 14 hours, while walking the greater half of it). I knew the Canberra marathon was just 4 weeks after the razorback.

Running a marathon, whilst being trained for 100 miles? and only 4 weeks of solid training?

Challenge accepted.

I wanted to see what kind of marathon time I could be capable of with my current training.

One Day Ago

After having run my first marathon at Gold Coast in 2017, the Canberra Marathon was my 10th marathon. My last marathon was the Osaka Marathon (Japan) in December 2019, where I ran a time of 3:31:33.

My race strategy had been to start out at 4:40 min/pace, and depending on how I felt; to pick it up in the second half of the race (ultimately for a goal time between 3:15 and 3:20).

Having driven around the course the previous day, and doing the first 3km loop around parliament house, it was quite nice to have a course preview of where I’d be running, as unless I’ve run the marathon before, I have no idea about the course (other than the maps provided on the course website).

So it’s fair to say that I had a good idea for what I would be in for.

The Morning

The alarm went off at 3am, the first thing I did in my Airbnb, was to drag myself to the kettle to boil water for my morning coffee. The race was going to start at 625am, I’ve got a strict policy of finishing my pre-race meal at least 3h before the start gun goes off. My breakfast consists of carb-heavy items, a hot cross bun, some mochi (Japanese rice cake), and a banana. Time and time again, I have this fear that I am not fuelled enough.

Having done the majority of the packing the previous night, At 330am, I considered going back to sleep, but I decided to stay awake and mostly browsed the internet, and made mental notes of the splits I wanted to run during the race.

It was about 5:45am, when I reached the main race area and dropped my post-race change of clothes at bag drop and proceeded to the bathroom line. All that was done at about 6:05am, and I went to the starting chute shortly after. I managed to fit in a quick warm-up, before putting my race shoes on (and double knotted my laces!), and made my way into the starting area.

At the start, the temperature was pretty low (around 5 deg). I tried to keep my long coat on for as long as possible, only to take it off a few minutes before the race started. I handed the coat to my brother, who was running the half and I would be seeing later. Being a cold day, and expecting wind chill, it was a rare occasion that I decided to run with gloves and arm warmers.

The Start

Lining up at the start line, waiting for the start gun to go off.

Oh how I have missed this feeling; this feeling of nervousness combined with excitement. The feeling of how you’re going to think the next 42 km will be. The feeling of regardless of how prepared or unprepared you are, you will still give the 42 km distance some respect.

Having a PB of 3:29:47 (Berlin 2019), I was able to get into the priority start group, to be able to start right at the front. Looking around, I gauged that I was probably the lowest-seeded runner in that pack.

But I stood there and fully absorbed the situation around me. Some obligatory arm, shoulder shakes and thigh/ butt slaps.

And we were ready to be off.

10 .. 9 .. 8 … 3.. 2..1 ..GO!

I looked at my first km split, which was 4:30min/km. I’m never fussed about the first km split, as it’s very easy to get influenced by others, and be a tad too slow or a tad too fast.

I see the marathon as a race of keeping your calm.

The marathon more of a race against yourself; whether you choose to let your mind or body control you, rather than a race against others. In the way I see it, you're actually working together with others and pulling each other up, rather than trying to beat each other.

As you’d expect, that first 3 km loop around the parliament house went by pretty quickly, and we’d looped back to the starting area where we would see some crowds and spectators for the next few kilometres.

Mid-Race

The 5 kilometre section from 5km - 10km, was much the same as the last 5km of the race. At this point I was thinking, I’ll be looping around Canberra and come back here in 30km. It was still in the early stages of the race, and I was trying to find my rhythm but already, I could feel that probably today, my legs didn’t have the kick to go faster than 4:40 min/km.

Much of this 11-21km part was a blur (thank god).

I heard some people around me seeing splits around 4:35km, being aware that I was falling off target I tried to stick with them for the next few kms for 4:27, 4:28, 4:37 for 14-17kms.

I remembered, having driven down this stretch (Alexandria drive) the previous day, thinking that it was very long. However, seeing spectators drawn by the marathon made it feel much shorter than the drive.

I passed the halfway mark in 1:38xx. Most likely just a few seconds short of my current half-marathon personal best.

My next focus was on reaching the refreshment station at 22 km, to grab a drink. I saw also my mum, who had come to spectate right under the bridge as well.

My brother (Jin), who was running the half marathon, joined to pace me from the 24km mark (at the start of the bridge). (the last ~18km of the half and full are the same). This also meant that I would have a huge group of half marathoners in front of me (I was grouped in the bunch who would be running a ~2h half marathon - which is a large group). Having this large group was a bit hard, as it made it difficult to find a clear running path, but also helpful at the same time as it gave my mind some distraction.

Reaching the end of the bridge at about 26km, I could feel ever so slightly that my quads were starting to feel worked and heavy. This was a bit earlier than I’d hoped for. But I decided that the 30km mark wasn’t far, and tried my best to hang on at 4:40 min/km.

At this stage, the course was running along the main highway (parkes way), when it was also starting to get quite windy.

My hat also blew off, and I was prepared to accept losing my hat as a sunken cost of running this marathon. However, In the next km, one of the runners behind me, had caught up and handed me the hat saying “is this yours?”.

Shortly after, we reached the turnaround point at 29 km and then next was 30km! We had passed the 30km barrier. The way I think about a marathon is to count-up to 30 km, and then count-down the remaining KMs.

I knew that today wouldn’t be a 3:15-3:20 day, all I could do was to hold on, and ensure that I was running faster than 5 min/kms. Reaching 32km was a mental note to myself that with 10 kms remaining; the end was insight. I knew that I could run the rest at 5 min/km and be done in 50 min.

The Last Part

Going past the 37.5km mark. I could see the 41km sign on the other side of the road; here, I thought to myself “f*!@# me, I can’t wait to run there”. We now reach the same section as the first 5th - to 10th km, but now it feels completely different. It’s no longer freezing, it’s bright, and the course is filled with runners from various distances. There are so many half marathon runners, and I begin to spot a couple of people I know along the way as a huge pick-me up.

At this stage of the race, I am not even looking at the splits on my watch anymore.

My absolute favourite part of the marathon has to be reaching the 41st km, and running the last km. It’s as though you’ve run 41 kms for a few hours, just to be able to experience running this one last km. Because like it or not. Good race or shit race. You’ve only got 1 km left.

It’s my favourite because, regardless of what has happened previously, you will find a way to dig deep inside of you in order to squeeze out everything to give this last km whatever you’ve got remaining, to make sure that you give 42.195kms the justice it needs. This mental state of digging deep is the feeling that I crave for in all the marathons I run, and something that I also use when I am in a low spot during the race.

you will find a way to dig deep inside of you in order to squeeze out everything to give this last km whatever you’ve got remaining, to make sure that you give 42.195kms the justice it needs.

Turning the corner and running down the final stretch, I vaguely heard some announcements. But all I cared about was reaching to that finish line ASAP. I see that final stretch to give whatever I have left in the tank, and to run till I collapse at the finish line. I’m always telling myself: “are you pushing hard enough that you will collapse?”.

When I do collapse, I just want to lay there, take a breather and absorb the fact that I’ve just run a goddam marathon! (obviously it seems that the first aid staff don’t think that way).

My official time was 3:20:25, given the amount of dedicated training I could do, and the fact that it is bigger than a 9 min PB - I am more than happy with this time.

This time places me 229th overall, 23rd in females and 6th in my age group (19-29F).

Writing this 3 days later, and feeling the DOMS that I feel, and the heaviness in my quads. I can say with confidence that I gave the Canberra marathon everything I had.