Well this was a bit of a different approach for me – we’ll get to that, let’s first recap my history with this event.
2015 was my first ever Barossa, my second ever marathon, and my first ever race report! (Probably less words than I would write now, and also I hadn’t figured out how to put more than one photo into a blog post!)
In 2016 I had just done UTA 100k and was in training for a BQ at Gold Coast so I opted for the half marathon.
In 2017 I ran the half again, this time as a 2 hour pacer, not long after returning from my Boston Marathon trip.
Then in 2018 I decided to run the marathon again to try to qualify for Chicago. I did, and in October this year I’m finally going to run it! (Deferred due to injury in 2019 and then deferred again as marathon cancelled due to COVID in 2020)
I ran the half again in 2019 but for some reason decided that was not worthy of a race report. I ran 1:46:38 so I’m not sure why no race report!
And then last year I went back and ran the half again, in PERFECT conditions, and ran what I would describe as a PB because I was so far from beating my ACTUAL PB at the time, I thought it would never happen!
After finally beating the elusive PB a month ago at McLaren Vale, and knowing Barossa was a flatter course and in good conditions definitely a PB course, I had entertained the thought of trying for another PB. I had planned to run in my Nike Vaporflys as I thought I was in better form and had learned my lessons from my ‘disastrous’ run at Victor 6 months ago. They had certainly been serving me well in parkruns, I had run 3 sub-21 minute times in the past few months after having not done that since 2015! I’d gone out and done a Tuesday run in them to test them over a slightly longer distance than parkrun and that went well, and then planned to do my ‘traditional’ Sunday 12k in them 1 week out from Barossa. One of my regular running buddies Ben had bought a pair about 18 months ago and was also talking about running Barossa half in them (having only broken them out of the box a few weeks ago!)
I ran a PB at Mount Barker parkrun on the Saturday in the Nikes but then when I went to get ready for my Sunday run, there was a sore spot on the outside of my left foot (right where the shoe rubs) and I didn’t want to risk running in the Nikes, which are narrower than my usual Mizunos, so presumably would rub more. I had a good run and didn’t feel that spot at all, and was well set for a good run at Barossa.
The next day, it was a bit sorer so I wore my running shoes to work (a bit more room than my usual work shoes, but still OHS approved unlike what I would have preferred to wear ie ugg boots or thongs!) and by the end of the day I just could not wait to get them off! I decided to give Tuesday morning’s run a miss, and running/coffee buddy Beck suggested it might be infected and I should go see a GP. I did just that and sure enough, he said it was infected and I’d better have some antibiotics otherwise it could get into the bones, and I didn’t think that sounded too good!
I ended up not running for the rest of the week, it did not seem to have improved much by Thursday and even on Saturday I wasn’t sure if I was going to risk running Barossa. The last thing I wanted to do was make it worse and put my marathon plans in jeopardy! I didn’t want to miss it, and being so late I didn’t think I’d be able to get a race credit, so I thought I’d go out and try to run a couple of laps round the block on Saturday arvo and if that went well I’d go!
It ended up being only one and a bit laps because then it started raining and I was wearing my race shoes AND socks so I definitely did not want to get them wet! (It was likely to rain on Sunday during the race but I didn’t want to START with wet feet!). Interestingly the new Mizunos I had only recently bought (Wave Rider 26) did not rub at all on that spot, whereas the other shoes in my regular rotation, Wave Rider 25, did rub a bit!
So everything was all go for Sunday, I hadn’t run (other than around the block) for a week, certainly a more extreme taper than I’m used to! I also had had an extra day off caffeine, I hadn’t had any since Wednesday morning so it was a full 4 days. Normally I stop after Thursday morning. The idea is that then my race day caffeine has a much bigger effect! I’m sure 3 or 4 days is not enough time to have a real impact but it certainly seems to have been working for me so I wasn’t about to change it!
Because there were over 1000 people registered for the half marathon (eek!) and 2000+ overall, SARRC had organised buses to try to reduce the traffic and parking congestion. Great idea, but the marathon/half marathon bus was leaving Tanunda at 1:30pm, and I was having a hopefully celebratory lunch with Amanda and some other running friends to celebrate Amanda finally getting her Boston qualifier, and I definitely was not going to be ready to leave at 1:30! Also, because I was unsure until Saturday afternoon if I was even going to be there, I could not commit to signing up for a bus! In other circumstances I may have taken that option and it looks like quite a few people did.
I decided to try to get there by 7 (30 minutes before the marathon start and 1 hour before the half) to have a better chance of beating the crowds and getting a close park. That meant getting up at 5:30 and leaving home just before 6.
Not far into my trip, before I had even got to the motorway, a familiar car pulled up next to me, it was Thursday run group leader Nat (doing the half) and her husband Stuart (doing the 10k). Nat’s son was also doing the half as was her dad, and her mum and daughter were doing the 5k. A real family affair!
There was a definite convoy headed to Tanunda, and traffic was a bit slower than anticipated so I ended up getting there just after 7. I was a sheep and parked on the road as I saw other people doing the same – as it turned out I could have got a park in the mud bath that was the car park at the Rex rec centre where the race village was and not had to walk quite so far – but the main thing was that I had got a park and I might be able to avoid walking through mud to get to it!
It wasn’t as cold as I thought it might be, which is good because I actually was not at all prepared to run in the cold. Having had some good half marathon results in the same kit recently, I decided to go with the ‘old favourite’ purple top and black short tights – originally worn at City-Bay 2022 and chosen on that occasion because it was all very fitted and would not cause any issues if it was windy. With likely strong winds as well as rain at Barossa, it seemed entirely appropriate! As long as it wasn’t cold. The only real difference in kit from my previous recent halves was I was wearing the newer shoes.
One thing I remembered from last year was that the bag drop was inside the rec centre which would be particularly important on this occasion with likely rain and also having to park a long way away! Normally if it looked like rain I’d leave my bag in the car to keep it dry and then go back for it after, but didn’t really fancy doing it at Barossa!
As an eternal optimist I put sunscreen on while I was standing in the toilet queue – I’m sure those around me thought I was a bit strange! (I also wore my sunnies on my head ‘just in case’, and at one point the sun did come out and I put them on, but they were covered in rain spots and my top was too wet to be able to dry them effectively, so I gave up on that idea!)
As always at these events there are a lot of familiar faces around! I saw Ben, he wasn’t wearing the Nikes but he did have them in his bag to change into. I thought I might be struggling to keep up with him today! Every time I saw someone with Vaporflys (or similar) I got a bit envious but I was sure I had made the right call in not wearing them.
I was there for the start of the marathon but I got to the start line too late to see Amanda set off on her BQ quest (she needed to run sub 3:40 so needed to finish before 11:10). Immediately after that I had my pre-workout and then a last toilet stop before taking off my hoodie and slowly making my way outside (where it was already drizzling) for some semblance of a warmup. (People were running laps inside the rec centre but I didn’t want to look like a dick. In the end I looked like a dick running laps outside in the rain between the start and finish lines instead)
I didn’t really have a plan as such, but I was still hopeful of running a PB (my McLaren Vale PB being 1:37:20) if the weather wasn’t too unkind. My McLaren Vale pace was 4:36 so I figured if I could start a bit quicker than that and then take it from there, I might be a chance!
Unlike Clare and McLaren Vale I actually managed to get myself into the appropriate pace group at the start. I did say that being a bit further back helped me to not go out too fast, so time would tell if being with faster runners would be a help or a hindrance!
It was a bit weird not having my buddy there with me but he did give me some advice which I had in my head at times during the run (and I may have even followed some of it!)
I decided to try to stick with the 1:40 pacer for the first little bit, and then try to get ahead. I could also see the 1:30 pacer (yeah, right!) and at the time I was completely oblivious to the fact that the guy with the balloon standing next to Ben in his speedy shoes was actually the 1:35 pacer. (Not that this would have mattered at the start, I definitely was not going to try to keep up with him!)
From the start I was having issues with watering eyes which was really annoying but thankfully didn’t last too long – then came the runny nose that lasted throughout and I wished I’d worn a sweat band with which to wipe my nose with monotonous regularity! (I decided not to give any high fives because of possible snot contamination!)
I’m not sure how long I was following the 1:40 pacer but it couldn’t have been too long, I was going by feel and I felt like I wanted to be running faster than he was going so I passed him. I wasn’t sure if this was going to come back and bite me in the arse but I was reminded of the advice of one of the guys from my running group before I ran my BQ at Gold Coast in 2016: “Go out hard and hang on”. What could possibly go wrong? (That tactic certainly didn’t work out too well for me at Victor Harbor!)
At around the 3km mark I could hear the distinctive sound of bagpipes, it sounded kind of like ‘Scotland The Brave’ but not quite, and I thought that’s cool, someone’s playing pipe music at the drink station! Well when I got closer I realised they had an ACTUAL FREAKING PIPE BAND there! A lovely touch, I really enjoyed that!
As I had done successfully at McLaren Vale, after not too long I switched my watch screen to the one with lap pace and heart rate, so I couldn’t see my elapsed time, overall pace or distance. And I tried not to look at it too much.
One of the great things about Barossa is that there are multiple out and back sections, which can tend to slow you down a bit but you do get to see the other runners both ahead and behind you. I don’t think we crossed paths with any of the 10km or 5km runners, but I would have seen most of the half marathon runners and a lot of the marathoners. I got a few greetings from some of the runners coming the other way, apologies to those I didn’t see while I was in the zone! I tried to cheer on as many of the runners as I could, especially the marathoners, and especially the ones that were behind me that were potentially going to be out there for a long time!
At one point I saw David, doing the half marathon after having run Boston last month, and who is way faster than me, except he was BEHIND me, not in front! Something was not right! (I later found out he went out too fast and the Boston hills caught up with him but he still managed a sub 1:40)
Everything seemed very comfortable until around the 8km mark when we first started running into the wind. It seemed like we were running into it pretty much the whole way after that, even thought that’s impossible!
I could see I was comfortably ahead of the 1:40 pacer and also well behind the 1:30 pacer. If I could hold that position I would at the very least end up with a course PB (last year was 1:40:30).
When I first saw Amanda she was hanging with the 3:30 pacer so she was looking good for a sub 3:40 marathon finish! I knew a few other marathoners out there today (including Chris doing Barossa marathon #11 and who knows what number marathon overall?) but having run with Amanda a lot and seen her first attempt at BQ a few years back, I was particularly keen for her to do well! Especially as I was having lunch with her afterwards and I’d brought my Boston hoodie and it would seem somewhat insensitive to wear that to lunch if things didn’t go so well!
Next time I saw her, as I was headed for the finish and she was into her second lap, she was a bit off the 3:30 pace but looked comfortably ahead of her goal time. Fingers crossed!
I didn’t look at splits too much but the ones I did look at were around 4:30 or less so I guessed I might be on track for a PB? I did note my 12km time was just under 54 minutes which is 2 minutes quicker than I ran City-Bay 12k last year.
With around 5km to go (I managed to resist the urge to say “just a parkrun to go”) I seemed to be about to get swamped by a whole bunch of runners! I was confused (and annoyed!) because surely the 1:40 pacer was well behind me? A few of them passed me including Ben and the guy with the balloon. It wasn’t until after the race that I worked out that the bunch of runners about to swamp me was the 1:35 pace group! Fortunately I was able to hold my pace so only a few of them passed me!
I finally worked out that the guy with the balloon was the 1:35 pacer after about 1km trying to keep up. He said he was a bit ahead of goal pace so we had a bit of a buffer. That came as a surprise to me as I was not expecting to be anywhere near 1:35 but now I was so close, could I hold on and get a bonus sub 1:35?
Ben ended up taking off and Andrew (the pacer) dropped back a bit with around 1km to go, telling me I had about 5 minutes, and I just tried to hang on. I still didn’t change my watch screen over, this tactic had worked for me at McLaren Vale and it was clearly working for me here, so all I had to do was try to run a time with a 4 in it and I would have my sub 1:35! This did not take into account how far back in the pack I started (12 seconds behind the gun.) I wasn’t going to take any chances by taking it easy, I’d just keep going the way I had been since the start!)
I got a bit excited when I saw the finish line, I definitely picked up the pace a bit and when I crossed the line and stopped my watch, even though I was pretty sure it was going to be sub 1:35 it still came as a surprise when I saw my watch and it read 1:34:55! (It still feels a bit surreal writing that!)
And I felt a bit dumb for almost bailing on the event thinking that there was a good chance I might not be able to get through it – my foot did not bother me for one second!
My official time was 1:34:53, 148th out of an incredible 957 finishers, 19th out of 414 females and annoyingly 4th out of 87 in my age group! (3rd was over 2 minutes ahead of me so at least I didn’t have to wonder what might have been – I was never going to be that quick!) One of these days I’ll get an age group place!
I didn’t end up stopping at any drink stations, I probably should have got some electrolyte drink but I just didn’t feel like I needed it at the time. I just made sure I did plenty of rehydrating at lunch and then later when I got home!
Looking at the halfway split, my first half was 46:48 and my second half was 48:04. So a bit slower in the second half but not a huge difference!
And all of my splits were under 5 minutes (ranging between 4:21 and 4:40) and my heart rate (watch-based so not super accurate) was consistent and max 162 which I am also super happy with.
There was plenty of time to drink my Coke, get changed, take my bag back to the car and get my rain jacket, and be back at the finish line in plenty of time to see Amanda get her BQ and a PB – lunch was definitely going to be a celebration and I could wear my hoodie without being a massive bitch!
Lunch was at Char Barossa, I had checked the menu and although it is very much a meat-centric restaurant, they had vegan dumplings so I thought done, I’ll have that! I didn’t see the eggplant dish until I got there so I thought I’m definitely going to have that too. Both were DELICIOUS – would definitely have again! And I was going to buy a bottle of bubbles but Amanda had apparently made a deal that if she got her BQ she’d buy the bubbles. And who was I to argue!
I eventually got home around 3:30, driving home was a bit gnarly at times, with the rain on the motorway being so heavy I had my wipers on full blast – that doesn’t happen often! Weirdly though, rear wipers were never needed!
Barossa has always been a thoroughly enjoyable event for me and today was no exception. Despite intermittent rain and strong winds (probably the worst weather conditions of all my Barossas) it was still a fantastic event and I would like to thank all the volunteers who made this event happen, especially those who had to stand out in the wind and rain for hours! And well done to all the runners and walkers – it was amazing how many people I spoke to that ran PBs in those conditions!
As a bit of an afterthought, I thought I might do a bit of a comparison of the first 8km of Victor and Barossa. At Victor 8km is where the wheels fell off because I went out WAY too fast because of the fast shoes, and at Barossa 8km was where we first encountered the cursed headwind! The numbers surprised me! What was ‘way too fast’ 6 months ago would be pretty slow by today’s standards! My ‘too fast’ pace for Victor was slower than every 1km split at Barossa (4:40 being the slowest, in kilometre 20)
Victor 4:43 4:38 4:34 4:40 4:47 4:46 4:45 4:48 37:41 (average pace for first 8km 4:43, finished with average 5:19 pace)
Barossa 4:22 4:22 4:21 4:27 4:24 4:27 4:22 4:24 35:09 (average pace for first 8km 4:24, finished with average 4:29 pace)
Interestingly too, 4:29 pace equates to a 22:25 parkrun, a time that I would have been happy with a little over 6 months ago!
So in recent times it seems like if I set low or no expectations for a race, I seem to do better! Victor was supposed to be a PB and ended up being one of my worst ever halves. With the weather being not so great, at McLaren Vale I didn’t expect anything great. Barossa, while initially earmarked as a possible PB, I went into with high hopes but low expectations. I ended up running a PB at McLaren Vale and then again at Barossa!
My next event is Pichi Richi half marathon in June. I did the marathon last year, once again with no particular expectations or goals, and ended up doing way better than I would have expected! And having never done the half there before, it’s a guaranteed course PB! (It will be a freaking miracle if I can run an overall PB there – pretty sure I can rule that out right now!)
