A few weeks ago now, I participated in the Pichi Richi Marathon for the 3rd year in a row. After many years of finding excuses NOT to run it, I finally went up to run the marathon in 2022 and loved it so much I went back again to do the half in 2023.
This time around I wasn’t sure how I’d go, last year was a pretty extraordinary year for me and it’s hard to imagine that I could replicate that this year, although I had run my all time half marathon PB in the last few months, so, anything was possible I guess!
I drove up Saturday via Clare and Port Germein – not the most direct route but I did manage to get wine, dinner for Sunday night and also pop in to visit friend Michelle’s little piece of paradise!
With these detours, unfortunately (or should that be fortunately?) I arrived in Quorn too late for a gin tasting with fellow half marathoners Gary, Lachy and Carolyn on Saturday! Oh well – I guess after the race is a better time to be indulging in gin!
For the third year in a row I stayed at Elizabeth House, the ‘backpackers’ only a block away from Flinders Gin (happy accident, I swear!). I say ‘backpackers’ as it is not your typical hostel, being a former hospital with generous private rooms and nice cosy shared living areas. The bathrooms are shared too but in my previous 2 visits I’ve never had to wait for the bathroom! After being impressed by the facilities last year, Gary had decided to stay there as well (it may have also been a tactical move – last year he’d stayed at the Great Northern, where the after party happens, and if you’re staying there, you can’t really get away from the party even if you want to go to bed!
After a quick walk to stretch the legs (where I stumbled upon a new very cool mural) and change out of my trackies (having been jumped on by Michelle’s very enthusiatic dog!) I wandered down to the Transcontinental to join the rest of the crew (I think there were about 25 of us?) for dinner – once again I had the veggie burger with chips which was very nice! I teamed that with a sparkling wine so Serg couldn’t top me up with red wine – not to be deterred, he went and got a fresh glass for me which I couldn’t say no to!
It was a relatively early night on the couch back at the hostel, Lachy and Carolyn were picking Gary and me up at 0730 to drive to Quorn Oval where we would catch the 0745 bus to Saltia, where the half marathon started.
I hadn’t quite decided what to wear, I’d brought a T-shirt and a singlet but as it promised to be cold, I opted for the T-shirt. Like last year I also wore arm warmers, and on top of that I put on a hoodie, trackies, beanie and gloves.
It was a long wait in the cold at Saltia – just over 1 hour, during which time we saw the half marathon walk start, and the first marathoner (David) come through. (The second marathoner also came through while we were waiting but I missed seeing him)
Trying to time my portaloo stop so I only had to go once, I left it a bit late, meaning I ran out of time to do a warmup, having to make do with jogging on the spot while waiting in the queue!
It seemed like there were more people there than last year. And lots of young, fast looking ones!
Like last year, even though I felt very much like an imposter, I stood at the front at the start line. Being a gun start, who wants to run any further than they absolutely have to?
After the gun went off, the first 4 runners quickly got away (2 female and 2 male, including eventual winner and course record breaker Fraser Darcy) and then not too long after the start the 3rd guy passed me. I figured it was only just a matter of time before another female passed me!
As per usual I started way too fast (blame it on the fast people ahead of me!), when I looked at my watch after about 200 metres my pace was 4:30 – knowing that was completely unsustainable I sensibly slowed down a bit!
I didn’t really know what pace I should be aiming for – I didn’t think I’d get near my time from last year, especially having slowed down a bit since having a 2 week break back in May. Consequently there was no point looking at my watch, so I covered it with my arm warmer – although occasionally I’d take a sneaky look to see how far I’d gone, as I kept missing seeing the kilometre markers painted on the road, and anyway they were for the marathon and even though it’s pretty simple maths to work out, it was too much hard work!
Probably around the halfway mark I decided this race was a stupid thing to do and I must remember not to sign up for it again. The vibe of the whole weekend is great, but the run itself is pretty brutal!
My plan was to get a drink at every drink stop (I was almost certainly dehydrated going in, after a day of driving in which I didn’t even get close to finishing the 1 litre bottle I brought with me) which I did at all but one where I picked up the cup from the table and promptly dropped it as I continued to run, by the time I realised I’d already gone past the table and no way was I going back – at that stage I still hadn’t been passed for 3rd spot and I didn’t want it to happen because I had to go back to get a drink!
Not long after that (around 13km) I did hear footsteps behind me and thought, ‘here we go!’
As the footsteps drew nearer, I’m not sure exactly how you can tell but it sounded to me like a male, at which point I thought maybe it was the leader of the 10.5k run. (I hadn’t long passed the start of the 10.5k, and I wasn’t sure exactly how much of a head start I had over them)
He caught up with me, it was actually Ben, the 3rd placed marathoner and he said he’d been chasing me for a while and I had really helped him with his pace (meanwhile I was chasing the 3rd placed male in the half marathon, being the only runner ahead of me that I could still see!). He was aiming for a time of 3:15, and I did the maths (we’d started 90 mins behind the marathon, that’s easy maths) and worked out that would be 1:45 for me. I said, I hope we both do better than that!
After a short while he took off, and I tried to keep him in sight for as long as I could, as I was losing sight of the 3rd placed half marathoner. I remembered him telling me about running the tangents (which I knew, but I kept drifting towards the shoulder (old habits die hard I guess – running in the middle of a main road doesn’t exactly feel natural!) and noticed he was running right on the centre line, so every time I found myself veering to the right I straightened myself up again!
I was passed by the first two 10.5k male runners, the first one not too long after Ben had taken off, and the second one as I was nearing the finish line.
I was on my own for a large part of the run but once again there were a few cheers from passing vehicles, and I knew a lot of the walkers (the walkers for each distance started half an hour before the runners) and I did manage to pass most of them along the way so that broke it up a bit!
As tempting as it was, I never looked behind me until I reached the final kilometre into the finish line. As I approached the last turn towards the Quorn Oval, I looked behind me a couple of times just to be sure and there was definitely no-one there, so I was going to make the podium after all which was pretty exciting – no more than 200m into the run I knew that 3rd was the best I could do and Mandy Towler (Pichi Richi royalty and multiple winner of the marathon) was behind me and I was convinced she was going to catch me at some point!
I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard in the last 4km of a race! Even though it was mostly downhill, it was bloody hard work!
I was 13 seconds slower than last year, which is nothing, and I definitely could not have gone any faster – I left it all out there! A very satisfying run, and to get a placing as well was a massive bonus! Could not have been happier with that!
(I am pretty sure that, had I been overtaken for 3rd place, I would have taken the foot off the gas a bit so it’s good to know I did the best I possibly could)
There was a long break before the presentations so after hanging out at the finish line for half an hour or so to catch my breath and wait for a few of the others, Gary and I went back to the hostel to shower and put on some warm clothes (it got cold pretty quickly!) before wandering back to the finish line for some food and the presentations.
The trophy was really nice – nice and weighty, would be useful for self-defence as well as a memento of a fantastic event!
After the presentations we headed back to the hostel before Gary and I went to the distillery (about 1 block from our accommodation – be rude not to!) – he had done a tasting the previous day and I had originally planned to do one but decided instead to get a G&T as I’m not a big gin person and I knew there would be more drinks to be had later that night! We followed that with a drink at Scruffy Fella, which was previously just a shop aimed at men (think beard maintenance products but also some pretty fancy leggings for the ladies) but had, since our last visit, morphed into a coffee shop and cocktail bar – there we found fellow half marathoner Andy and his partner Kathleen who had prime position by the fire so we sat and chatted with them for a bit.
The traditional after-party then followed, we got there around 5pm (it was already in full swing) and I left around 10ish – next morning I found out that we’d had 30 bottles of wine (mostly red) – that’s a top effort! As always it was a fun night complete with dancing (the obligatory Nutbush, of course!) and one of the reasons I probably WILL go back again next year!
After packing up the car on Monday morning and meeting up with a few of the others at the Quandong Café for a coffee, it was time to hit the road for the long drive home. I can’t seem to make the trip without running into someone I know along the way! This time around, I ran into Lachy, Carolyn and Gary in Laura – I decided to stop there for a coffee as I’d never been there before, and it’s always cool to check out different little towns along the way to break up the drive!
As always – thanks to the fabulous locals (runners, spectators and of course volunteers) for putting on a great show, and the SARRC crew for making it a weekend to remember!
