Running with horses: Mt Mee Marathon

It's been four days since Mt Mee Trail Marathon, and i still have to pinch myself to see if it was all real. The aches and fatigue in my lower leg muscles assured me that i was not dreaming.

This year's Mt Mee Marathon (Mt Mee to Dayboro) assembled a decent field of strong runners, with the top three runners from last year's edition (Dayboro to Mt Mee) returning, Greg (a 2:40 marathoner) and Daniel Nunan (whose PB for 5km is 15:19 and he did 9:28 for glasshouse 100km last year) toeing the starting line. For the past two months, I have moved to Mt Mee (as a temporary accommodation before i move to Delaneys Creek at the end of this week). Mt Mee is indeed a training paradise for runners as its hilly terrain and beautiful trails meant that you can a great work out each time you head out.

For this race, i was determined to get my pace right. It's my first marathon since 2011 and i have forgotten how to pace a marathon, and the bonking experience in Pinnacle Classic is something that i don't want to repeat again.

When the race started, all of us settled into a comfortable pace, just running and chatting along. Greg went off with another relay runner and they both disappeared from our view in about 4-5km into the race. I was running with Dan, Richard (1st from last year) and Simon (2nd from last year), and Peter (3rd from last year) joined us soon after. The five of us traded places every now and then, but always staying in sight of one another. The first part is essentially a downhill run for about 10km, and then we started the first steep climb for over 7km.

When we reached the Rocky Hole (the bottom of the first 10km), Dan and I started to make a move away from other runners. From the way Dan was running, you could see a sense of ease in his uphill stride. We chatted a little during then, and i had to work hard to hide my nervousness running beside this runner star. He is the kind of guy that i read about online and in articles, so running next to him is definitely a great and adrenalin-filled experience. He would pull away from me in the uphill, and i would slowly wheel back in the downhill (thanks to the hokas!). At about 15km, we caught Greg and another relay runner. Greg was not enjoying the hills so much, coming from his road marathon background. Dan and i then continued our way to the gantry (17.5km mark) in first and second position.

From the gantry, it was mostly downhill (with a stretch of 1.5km of uphill in it) all the way to the bottom of Mt Mee, where the trail joins into tarmac road (26km mark). Dan and I continued in the same pace, and I tried to run as easy as possible in the downhill to save up for the last 16km of undulating road terrain. We exited the trail at 1:58, and we were now on the road for the last 16km. This is where i thought Dan would just speed off and i would never be able to stick with him.

I was holding my nerve at this point and i told myself i would run 1km at a time. We were doing 4:05-10/km pace then. To my surprise, i was still able to keep up with Dan, and the pace wasn't killing me. I was consciously keeping it under control because i didn't want to lose it halfway and end up having to crawl to the finish line. I wanted to finish the same way i started.

We then reached 34km mark where we did this out and back route for 3.6km. This part has a lot of uphill in it and we both had to slow to a hike in certain part. We then reached the turn-around and much to our horror, Greg was not too far away. Since the trail joins into tarmac, he has been capitalising on his road-running speed and slowly closing the gap. Ahh!

Soon after the U-turn, Dan started complaining about his hamstrings spasms. As a result, he was not able to pick up his speed anymore than what he was doing then. He asked me to go ahead, and with last 4km to go, the thought of winning the race occurred me for the first time in this race.

I mustered all that i have to try to hold off Craig, whom i know was coming strongly after us. Sadly in the last 1km, he overtook me. I tried to catch up but he was going too fast. I have reached my critical point and I had no energy left for the final sprint. Finally, i crossed the finish in 3:13:42, my new personal best for marathon.

Caboolture Road Runners: Me (Left), Ian - runner up in 10km (middle) and Steve

Simon (runner-up in last year's Mt Mee Marathon)


Daniel (right) and Krista (Daniel's wife)

Greg (middle) and Sarah (Greg's wife)

Honestly, I could not have been happier with this result. I have never thought i would be able to run this time considering the amount of ascent (1034m) and descent (1505m) in this race. I was initially aiming a 3:30 for this race. Also I didn't mind being overtaken in the last part of the race. Being able to run and keep up with Dan is already quite a reward itself. My confidence level has definitely increased and i am now aiming to run a sub-3 marathon in KL Marathon (Malaysia) on 30 June.

You can see the move of Mt Mee Marathon here.