Matt Liaw Competes in the Gold Coast Airport Marathon

My journey started in February when I decided to rediscover how to enjoy the process of training and revisit workouts that I loved in the past.  During the past 2 marathon seasons I focused a lot more on long intervals with little to no threshold work.  Even though I set my personal bests in the half marathon and 10K, I was unable to show my best in the marathon since Boston 2015.  Looking back at this season, it was successful as I ran marathon pace runs longer than ever before, enjoyed both 1200m and 1.5mile intervals, and ran more mileage than ever before.  I wanted Gold Coast to be my ticket to a new personal best and maybe a Fukuoka qualifier.

During the week leading up to the marathon, Amy and I visited Cairns and toured the Great Barrier Reef.  Swimming with reef wildlife was a childhood dream come true. However, it did not come without risks.  Drinking seawater did not sit well in my stomach and my lack of body fat caused me to shake violently to stay warm. By Friday June 30, I saw the diameter of my watch band shrunk reflecting a significant weight loss.  Because of this and tendinitis in my right foot, I adjusted my taper to account for lost energy and injury. It may be reckless, but I felt touring the reef kept my mind off the race. 

Gold Coast had good conditions on July 2.  The temperature was 52F and projected to rise to 68 midday. The humidity was around 70% and falling to 50%.  My nutrition bottles consisting of a powerbar gel mixed in 250mL water and one taped gel have been delivered to each 5k drink station and the area seemed fairly flat as the course elevation map suggested.  I felt it was going to be a good day but kept reminding myself just execute the race instead of dreaming.

After the playing of the Australian anthem the gun went off at 7:20am sharp.  Immediately I felt like I was swallowed by the crowd.  The last time I had this many people running so fast was in Boston.  My goal was to stick around 5:55-6:00min/mile until 20 miles then try to pull 5:40s if my legs had it.  After the first mile I joined a pack of 10 running my desired pace and tucked in due to a 7mph headwind.  At 5k I slowed down and successfully caught my first drink bottle.  After taking several swigs, I ripped off the attached gel and regrouped with the pack.  It gave me a mental boost as it was my first time racing with personal bottles.  I planned on taking each gel around 1.5miles after each 5k.  While the course was relatively flat, it surprised me the course undulates and had plenty of long speed bumps.  I tripped on one at 10k but a fellow runner reached out and braced me from taking an early fall.  The pack continued at an even pace until around 18km when it slowed to 6:10min/mi pace.  I decided I needed to continue clicking off 6min miles and broke from the pack hoping others have the same plan.  Unfortunately, no one followed and the next 4-5 miles became lonely.  Another letdown was my 20km bottle and gel was either not delivered or someone else grabbed it.  Instead, I drank a cup of the course nutrition but it was diluted so much it might as well be water.  I was able to pick off 2 runners during this time.  Around 28km, 2 runners from my previous pack caught up to me and we started hammering out 5:55’s.  I saw Amy cheering and taking photos after the 30km mark and gave her a victory sign.  The pace at 32km then picked up to 5:50min/mi but after 2 miles the 2 runners with me fell off pace.  The last 4 miles weren’t dreadful, but the accumulated fatigue in my legs prevented me from finding that surge I was hoping for.  In addition, my right leg went through a series of small cramps before breaking up.  Even though I wasn’t able to pick up the pace I was still able to go on the hunt and move up in place. 

The finish was exhilarating.  First, I passed by the running club tents where teams cheer on their runners.  Then I run through an arch that says “250m to go.”  From there it was a dash to the finish for a new PR of 2h36m55s.  Although my Fukuoka qualifying dream of 2:35 will have to wait, I was elated for shaving off close to 9 minutes from my last PB of 2:45:50 at Boston.