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I’ve just come home from one of the most beautiful running experiences of my life - running with my daughter Alex as she made her half-marathon debut at the Sunshine Coast Marathon Festival.

I’ve featured Alex in the newsletter a couple of times before - once documenting her progress as a runner and a second time on what running has come to mean to her. A little over a year ago she would have been flat out running for a bus. To think she’s progressed from that to running 21.1k is pretty incredible.

And she did it with such control, running the entire distance and finishing strong. We’re all very proud of her - and she’s also deservedly proud of herself.

It was a really interesting experience for me too. I told Alex I’d run with her, but not to pace her or to help her achieve a goal time. My run was totally in service to her - I told her I’d match whatever pace she set. In fact, if anything I was encouraging her to slow down!

Because we were travelling at what was conversational pace (for me at least), it also meant we were able to have a chat while we were running - although I must admit it was me doing most of the talking. I took advantage of having a captive audience for 2.5 hours!

We had lots of support too - most notably from my wife Caron and my other daughter Charlie, plus Alex’s partner Connor. There was a large posse of Fat Cannon Run Club members running the event as well, all of whom provided encouragement on the course.

And four of Alex’s friends - Zoe, Michael, Nadya and Lachlan (all of whom also run) - made the trip from Brisbane to the Coast in the early morning rain just to cheer her around the course. We also saw our mates Kate and Liam - the second year running we’ve unexpectedly bumped into them at this event.

Cold start, perfect finish

We may have been taking part in the Sunshine Coast Marathon Fesitval but there was certainly no nominative determinism in effect here. Showers, many of them very heavy, began lashing the race precinct from the early hours of the morning.

Due to superb planning by our crew chief Caron, we were staying literally across the road from the precinct. So, with our race not due to start until 7:15am, we decided we’d stay inside in the warmth until just before 7am before heading over.

There’d been outbreaks of sunshine between the start of the marathon at 6am and when we left our apartment. But there’d also been showers - and as luck would have it one arrived almost as soon as we’d set foot outside the door.

Alex and I had self-seeded into the slowest starting coral - D - so while the gun time for our race was 7:15am, we didn’t actually get to the start line until almost 20 minutes later. This, the rain and a blustery wind that was whipping down the coast meant I was so cold by the time we started that I was literally shivering.

The start of the race is all uphill, but it’s also the most picturesque part of the course, following with the ocean on your left as you head up over the headland and into Mooloolaba.

It then turns inland to a turnaround, taking you back through the start-finish line - and therefore past those ocean views again - in the first 7k. This also means you get to see your cheer squad twice in the first third of the race, which is super-encouraging.

Not that Alex needed it. She dropped more or less immediately into a comfortable rhythm at around 7-minute kilometres. In those early kilometres we agreed three goals for the race. Our A goal was to finish inside 2 hours 30 minutes, our B goal was to run the entire 21k and our C goal was simply to finish.

We knew if we stuck to that 7-minute average, we’d knock off the A goal, so that gave us a good structure. I focused on our pace, which let Alex just concentrate on turning her legs over.

Regarding nutrition, she went for Pure gels (highly recommended) - one every half hour, the final one of the quartet including caffeine. And we stopped at most of the drinks stations to down a quick cup of water or Fixx, the race’s electrolyte partner.

Thankfully, the pre-race shower that drenched us was the last for the day and by the time we were heading out through Cotton Tree towards the Maroochy River part of the course, we were enjoying more or less perfect running conditions - neither too hot nor too cold, and with just a zephyr of a breeze to keep us cool.

With her mates cheering her on at various points on the course, Alex was able to easily maintain that 7-minute pace, plus or minus a few seconds, through the middle third of the course.

Once we turned for home, we were consistently passing half marathon runners who’d gone out too hard, plus marathoners who were struggling in the last part of their race, which follows the same route as the half.

With 5k to go, things got even more congested because that marked the turnaround point for the 10k race, so we had them to contend with too. We were perfectly comfortable running our 7-minute pace, like metronomes. In doing so, we were passing broken half and full marathoners.

We also had relatively fresh 10k runners breezing past us. And in some cases we were being passed by marathoners who’d paced their races superbly and were gunning for a sub-four-hour finish.

In short, it was crowded. And it was easy to be carried along at a faster pace, particularly given the injection of enthusiasm the 10k runners had added to the field.

We did speed up a little towards the end - our two fastest kilometres were numbers 19 and 21 - but because we paced things so consistently, Alex finished strongly in 2 hours 29 minutes and 7 seconds, an average of 6:59 per kilometre.

She really could not have executed the race better. Bravo Alex! What a great first half marathon.

Next challenge: trails!

But before that, we had to celebrate this triumph. And we did that in the traditional Fat Cannon Run Club way with lunch and a pint (or two) at Your Mates Brewing in Warana. A fitting way to cap a day I suspect we’ll both never forget.

Bad habits

The Sunshine Coast Marathon Festival has become a bit of a staple for me over the past few years. I’ve run both the marathon and the half before this year’s crack. But I’m beginning to think running these races at a beach venue is giving my brain conflicting signals.

When I think about holidays, beach venues are right near the top of the list. And a beach holiday generally means not just sun, sea, sand and surf, but also beer, ice cream and generally eating far more than I ought to.

On the surface of it, this doesn’t really seem compatible with running! But on this trip, I gave it a red-hot go. I reckon I’ve come home a couple of kilos heavier, which is pretty amazing in itself.

It hasn’t put me off the long-distance running event/beach holiday combination though. Already we are talking about a repeat next year, only swapping the Sunshine Coast for the Goldie.

Upcoming Events

There are way too many events for me to list everything that’s happening around the country, but here is a selection of upcoming races (with a bias towards South East Queensland).

The Running Calendar website is a great source if you want a comprehensive understanding of what’s available around the country.