If you were to follow the reaction of Australian media after the London Olympic Games, you would have come to the conclusion that the performance of our swimming team was disappointing, to say the least. The “London fiasco”, to use the words featured in the news headlines, was followed by the scrutiny of our athletes’ behaviour prior and during the games. Evidences of a “toxic culture”, which involved the breach of team rules on alcohol, bullying and curfews, were promptly highlighted in the media. But I don’t want to go into the blaming game, the media already did a terrific job with their witch-hunting.

As the Rio 2016 swimming competition comes to an end in a few hours, and we have less medals than in London (we have more golds and, as I write, we still have a couple of chances in the pool today), should we be disappointed again? Well, disappointment is caused by the non-fulfilment of our hopes or expectations, so the question really is: are our expectations realistic? I know that this is a complex question and I’m going to focus on a single issue here, our Olympic medals retrospect.

The graphic below shows our medals in swimming since Paris 1900⁽¹⁾. To make the comparison fair, I divided the number of medals by the total number of medals available (in 1956 there were only 13 swimming events as compared to the current 32⁽²⁾). In this way, the number in the vertical axis corresponds to the percentage of medals won by Australia. For example, in St. Louis 1904, Australia won about 15% of the available medals.

Australian Olympic medals in swimming. Numbers are normalised by the total number of medals up for grabs.

Looking at the recent history we can understand the disappointment. Australia had spectacular results (in terms of medal tally) in three consecutive Olympic games: Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. This set the bar pretty high. However, if we go back a little bit, we see that London results are not only on par with the long term average, but also similar to those from the 80’s and 90’s⁽³⁾.

Note the peak in medal numbers that happened in 1956 and 2000, exactly when Australia hosted the games. This may be an indication that we invested and prepared more for the home games. Interestingly, in both occasions, the numbers remained high for the next two following Olympics (it decayed quickly after Melbourne but was still quite high in 1964), but then went back again to lower levels.

It took me half an hour to get these numbers from the web and plot the graph but I don’t think the TV commentators have done the same exercise. They go with the emotion and tend to expect the best possible outcome from the athletes. When I race I usually set 3 goals: (i)  the dream goal – the one that I would achieve if everything is absolutely perfect; (ii) the realistic goal – the one that I would be very happy with and is consistent with my training; (iii) the pessimistic goal – when things go wrong but I would still be OK with it. Anything under (iii) is a total disappointment, above (i) and I’m over the moon.

I believe that the elite athletes have a similar approach and that Swimming Australia has its own goals for the whole team (and it doesn’t need to be in terms of medals, could be number of athletes reaching finals, for example), but it is that being communicated to the media? We can’t only blame the journalists. It would be much easier to manage media and public expectations if the sports associations fed the information to them rather then letting them create their own fantasies based on previous best-case scenarios.

⁽¹⁾ Source: http://corporate.olympics.com.au/sports/swimming/medals
⁽²⁾ 1956: 7 male events and 6 female events. Since 1996: 16 events for each gender. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_Summer_Olympics
⁽³⁾ Remember that the 1980 and 1984 numbers were probably affected by US and USSR boycotts.

As mentioned in my race preview post, I chose the Great Ocean Road (GOR) ultra marathon as my last one. With almost 800km of road separating my home to the start line, I decided to take a few days off work to drive with the family and enjoy a long weekend at the beautiful town of Lorne. We rented a house big enough to fit the four of us (dog included) and seven of our best friends in Australia (two dachshunds included 😉 ). What a crew for marathon 12! We were all there by Friday night and had a light dinner with wine and cheese by the fireplace. Well, the others had wine…

View from the balcony. Tough life…

Kids by the fireplace.

Saturday – course familiarisation

We had already been to the GOR a couple of times but it was the first time for Tiberio, Cami, Anita, Jana, and Gui, and we took the Saturday to drive to the 12 Apostles. It was also my chance to follow the full marathon course by car. The astonishing view of the sea on the left got me pumped for the race but the number of ups and downs on that road… not so much. As I drove along the road, I tried to picture how the race would unfold the next day: the drinking stations, the points where I would eat, the more critical climbs and the gentle descends where I could pick up the pace. The remaining mysteries were the two big climbs that only the ultra runners would do. I knew them on paper but couldn’t spot them while driving. Maybe it was better that way…

It wasn’t all about the race, though. We really had fun.

Jana, Cele, Cami and me

With the boys

We all had fun! Really?

Gui and Cami

Cele and Tiberio

THE trio :-). I’m wearing my “The flash” t-shirt in the hope of some inspiration.

Abby and Anita

When we got back from the drive, Gui cooked a great carbonara for us. Again, by the fireplace and with good wine. Well, the others had wine…

Sunday: race day

I woke up early in the morning and couldn’t believe it was time for the last marathon. It seemed like yesterday that I started all this. As I’ve done so many times, I put my bright orange Can Too gear and logged into my Can Too fundraising page to check the donations. I went through all the messages of support from my friends and got extra emotional. They were doing their part with the donations, now it was my turn to finish up with the final (ultra)marathon.

It wasn’t planned,  but the house we rented was conveniently located just a couple of minutes from the start line. As I walked down the hill and approached the beach, I could see other runners arriving and started to feel that pre-race excitement. More than 1000 competitors for the marathon and another 65 ultra runners were about to race along one of the most scenic roads in the world.

And here we go! My goal in the first few hundred meters was to control my pace, trying not to follow the speedy guys ahead of me. Despite my intentions, I still went faster than planned with paces of 4:32, 4:38 and 4:33 min/km in the first three kilometers. After that I tried to follow my race plan.

Start line early in the day.

Let them go Andre, let them go!

Selfie in the first kilometer.

I was still scarred by my two previous attempts at running distances close to 50km in hilly courses (see marathons 4 and 11) and I set my race strategy based on that experience. Afraid of the two big hills at kilometers 33 and 47, I decided to run at a solid but not too hard marathon pace (around 5:00 min/km) for the first 33 km and then see how my body would react to the hills. In other words, I had no serious plan for the second half of the race but to survive.

With so many ups and downs it was hard to control the pace. I was going slow in the ascents and playing my strength by going fast in the downhills. For quite a few kilometers a pattern emerged: I would overtake a couple of runners in the descents while they would take their positions back in the climbs. It went like this for a long time and I completed the first 10 km in just over 46 min., 4 minutes ahead of my planned time. If you like numbers, here is a screenshot of the data from my watch for the first 10km.

Data from my Garmin for the first 10km (for the full stats click here). The pace was faster than planned but the heart rate was around 155 bpm, which is the normal level for my long distance efforts.

If you are not interest in the numbers, maybe you’ll enjoy the pictures I’ve taken along the way (click on the images larger versions).

Who has time for selfies in an ultra marathon?

You can see on the right the effects of the devastating bush fire that recently aaffected the region.

I was feeling pretty well and given the strong pace in the first 10km, I decided that I could afford to update my goal pace for the half-marathon distance to 4:50min/km. The ups and downs of the road continued and I kept going comfortably without raising my heart rate. Unfortunately at kilometer 15 my HR monitor went crazy and locked at a much higher rate. From then on I relied only on my perceived effort as the HR monitor took a couple of hours to get back to its normal readings.

The ocean views were amazing, the sun shining on the sea, the waves breaking on the rocks, the rainbow coming out of those dark grey clouds at the horizon… Wait! Rainbow? Dark grey clouds? Oops! It seems that the weather was holding some surprises for the runners.

Look! A rainbow. I should take a pict… What? A rainbow? I wondered what was waiting for us behind that hill.

I crossed the half-marathon distance in 1h 38min, a 4:38 min/km pace. It was a fast half-marathon (for my standards), even more so if you consider the undulation of the course. I was surprised, happy, but also worried that failing to sticky to the plan could hurt me later on…

Data for 11 to 21 km and the HR monitor signal going crazy for a good part of the race.

Is it time for more photos?

When I realised that I was going faster than my PB marathon pace, I decided that was time to slow down a bit. I kept around 5min/km for the next 4 kilometers but then started to slow down even further as I began to stop at aid stations and felt hard to get back on track. As I was moving toward the dark clouds, the conditions were getting worse with a strong head wind that was picking up speed quite quickly. I was getting close to the 30km mark, the point where I usually feel the marathon pain and my morale goes down. It wasn’t that bad this time and apart from the urge to use the toilet and my focus on finding a bush where I could relieve my bladder, my mind was in a pretty good shape. After all, it was the last marathon and I was determined to enjoy every moment as much as I could. Finally at km 32 a portable loo! The pit stop lasted less than a minute and I was ready for the first big hill.

And here is the data from the 22nd to the 33rd km.

At the 33rd km a sharp right turn split for the first time the field of marathoners and ultra-marathoners. I had finally reached the first of the two dreaded hills of the course. My goal for this one, a 5km-long and 5% incline, was to just run without stopping or walking. But things turned out for the better and fear was replaced by strength and confidence. As I turned right, the wind stopped and the rain started to fall. The climb turned out to be well protected from the wind and that was a relief. I also began to reproduce in my mind the feelings and thoughts from a recent training session on the treadmill where I ran 5km with 5% incline at 5:30min/km to try to reproduce this part of the race. If I did on the treadmill I could do in the race! Well, not exactly at 5:30min/km as I had already 33km accumulated in my legs, but still…

View of the right turn for the ultramarathoners to the 5km long 5% climb.

Climb, climb, climb!

At least the view up the is great!

Rain

Happy climber

It took me less than 34 minutes to get to the top. On my way down, I completed the marathon distance and took a photo of my watch: 3h38 min. Not a bad effort! The downhill wasn’t as fast as I thought it would be as my legs weren’t very responsive at that point. It took me 26 minutes to get down that hill.

My watch as I crossed the marathon mark.

Splits for the ten kilometers of the first long hill.

As I reached the base I was feeling awesome but had to face the strong winds back again and slowed down considerably again. At kilometer 47 the steepest hill of the race started: 2.5km at 9.7%. I had also mimic that on the treadmill and used the same strategy as in the previous hill: project in my mind the positive outcomes from that training session. I just said to myself: I won’t walk, I’ll run! It was slow and painful but I did, and it felt really good. So good that I dashed downhill feeling much better than in the previous hill.

From 44 to 52, including the biggest hill of the day.

Back to the road and into the last part of the race, an eight km mostly flat stretch toward Apollo Bay. I tried to keep up with the momentum from the downhill but my left calf started to cramp. I limped, stopped at the side, stretched a bit and continued. I felt that I had more in me and that I could go a bit faster but every time that I pushed a bit more, my calf would contract as if it would cramp. I changed my stride and managed to keep running. Another small contraction, now on my right calf. Walk, jog, and back to running.

Only 8km to go.

Not far now!

The flat stretch to the finish line.

The final kilometers!

I had reached the point where the road was partially open and cars were coming against the runners flow on the other lane. Drivers would honk their horns, passengers would shout out loud to cheer us up. Whenever my black ultramarathon bib got noticed, the cheering would intensify. Yes, I was close, very close. Just before reaching the fenced area, I picked my camera from my back pocket and started to film. I wanted to have that moment registered. Funny enough I got the moment when a runner overtook me less than 50 m from the finish line. Not only was he in the ultra race, but he was also in my age group and beat me by two seconds. I didn’t really care, I had so much more to celebrate. It wasn’t just an ultra marathon, it was the end of a year-long journey of running and fundraising.

The final meters!

Official result

I crossed the finish line, received my medal and started to look for the family and friends. Couldn’t find them. It was a bit of an anticlimax as I really wanted to share that moment with them. Phone calls, messages… they were stuck in the traffic. As I was waiting for them, I found the Can Too tent with the Melbourne crew. I introduced myself, and received a warm welcome from everyone there, especially from Deb Christie, Can Too’s program manager in Melbourne. We took photos, talked about the race and also about my 12 marathons while waiting for my crew. They found me and it was a big, noisy celebration as it always is with Brazilians involved. I even got flowers!

They were late but they were there, and that’s what matters!

Celebrations!

Can Too!

I learned a lot in the past year. I learned about my body, my strengths and weakness, my physical abilities and limitations. I learned about my mind and the power it has to affect my body. In occasions I was let down by my own thoughts but most of the time my thoughts were the only reason my legs kept going.

I learned that sometimes you need to put yourself out there, that to achieve some goals you need to expose yourself, and this was by far the hardest part. People who know me well know that if there were automatic donations for my marathons I would have run them quietly. But there is no free lunch and after all, alongside the donations, I wanted to promote the awesome work done by Can Too in raising funds for cancer research.

It was never my intention to inspire anyone but, if I am to believe in Facebook posts, apparently I did. What people may not know is that they inspired me. I lost count of the times when the message “Andre someone has donated to your Can Too fundraising!” blinked on my phone and tears came to my eyes. Throughout the year, especially on the nights before the marathons, I would read and reread over and over again the messages left in my fundraising page and there was not a single occasion where I didn’t shed a tear.

You inspired me with your donations, you inspired me when you ran by my side, you inspired me when you left me a message, you inspired me when you clapped your hands by the side of the road, and you inspired me with your stories. So, the most important lesson, or actually a reminder, is that there are many, many amazing and generous people out there to support you. I’m so thankful for what you helped me achieve. Couldn’t have done without you. These people deserve this “Thank you” post, you deserve this “Thank you” post.

Donation thermometer on 20/05/16!

The time has come and I’m really excited with my choice of event for marathon 12: The Great Ocean Road Marathon. Well, to be more precise, the Ultra Marathon. This year they introduced the 60km distance and when registration time came, I thought: “Since I set my Can Too fundraising goal to $6000, why not match the numbers with a 60km run? I should finish it off in style.” So in the heat of the moment that was the box that I ticked.

That sounded like a good idea until I struggled quite a lot with a bit over 50km in marathon 11. My performance put a lot of question marks on my ability to race the 60km distance but at the same time I keep I’m telling myself that it was only the effect of heat and humidity and not lack of preparation. We’ll see this Sunday.

Here is the course of what promises to be a scenic and tough race.

Course map

Elevation profile. A 9.7% climb after 47km, really?

And remember: 60km to reach the $6000 to help cancer research. Donate here.

The personalised race bib!

Marathon day started early (as always) with the usual preparation (you know, the same prep that I described in other race reports). This time I was going to have the company of Matt Geleta who is running 2000km in 20 weeks to raise funds for education of Ebola orphans in West Africa. I drove to pick up Matt and then we headed to the race start at Black Mountain Peninsula. Remember that the plan for marathon 10 was to run an actual race, the Weston Creek Half Marathon (WCHM), and then continue to complete the full marathon.

WCHM – the first 21km

We arrived and it was still dark, I got my race number and we discussed our plan. The goal was to take the WCHM easy and keep a steady 5 min/km pace that we would then try to hold for the whole marathon. Under race conditions you usually go out too fast in the beginning but the gentle uphill in the first 600m helped us to stay on track.

Left: our pace for the first 21km. Right: Race map. WCHM is the out and back course in blue. For the full course and stats check  my Garmin or Strava activities.

As we talked about our runs, our fundraising activities, and also about career (Matt recently finished his Honours Physics degree), we inadvertently increased our pace. It was still comfortable to chat, so we kept it close to 4:50 min/km until the turning point. The halfway mark was roughly at the highest point of the undulating course and we had three kilometers of really gentle downhill that allowed our pace to get down to the 4:30’s range. We started to catch the runners ahead of us and we overtook quite a few. We were both feeling well and it was still possible to chat, so we decided to keep it like that. I have to admit, overtaking people makes you feel good and with 4km to go we increased the pace even further. With 500m or so to the finish line we heard: “You with the hat, I’m gonna catch you!”  After so many triathlon races I have this built-in mechanism of speeding up whenever I hear that faster and louder breathing pattern typical of someone pushing hard to overtake you. So when Matt (the one with the hat being chased) looked at me and said: “Sprint finish?” it was too late, my legs were already in sprint mode. Conclusion? Crossed the finish line at a totally unplanned pace of 3:20 min/km.

After the race I briefly chatted with Trent Dawson (a friend from the Bilbys Triathlon Club that finished with an impressive time of 1:21:20), and also met a few other runners including Will, the guy to blame for the sprint finish 😉 . I picked my camel back from the car and off we went to the second half.

With Matt after the WCHM.

From 21 to 42 (or 45…)

We followed back the course of the WCHM race and cheered other runners along the way. We passed the race turning point and continued south to meet Emily at The Runners Shop in Phillip. As I mentioned in a previous post, Emily organised with On to have a pair of Cloud shoes donated to go on a raffle for my fundraising. I thought it would be a good idea to pass by and take a photo of the shoes. Here they are:

Emily bringing the shoes for the “official” photo. This is the model that you may win if you donate to Can Too through my fundraising page (it will come in your size 😉 )

It does look nice, doesn’t it?

Matt and I posing with the On Cloud shoes (in our hands)

Remember, every $10 donate to Can Too from 16 March to 16 April through my fundraising page will give you an entry to the draw.

Visiting Emily at The Runners Shop.

Ah! I also took the picture above with Emily without realising that my GoPro was on for the whole time. This 9 seconds video captured her reaction when the photo was taken. What was she expecting after 34 km?

Just after leaving the shop, we called our friends Ruvi and Ethan that were supposed to meet us for the last 10km. They told us they were on the other side of Red Hill, ready for the last 5km (???). Given that we were still at least 40 minutes away from their location, they decided to start running and meet us at the finish line. So off we went to face Red Hill. It was nice to change from bike paths to trails and the hill wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be.

Hitting the Red Hill trails

The hill was clearly easier for Matt…

After Red Hill, the Parliament House, then the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. At that point we had already done the marathon distance and Tekle, on his bike, found us. He escorted us to the, again invisible, finish line.

Final stretch!

Less than 500 m!

Tekle on his bike.

After 4:04.45 (3:47.30 of moving time) and 45.18 km we arrived at our final destination carefully chosen to satiate two starving marathoners: Brodburger. A big thank you to Matt, Liz, Tekle, Ruvi, Ethan, Richard, Luiz, Paty, Nina, Elton, Mari, Gabi, Aline, Lachlan, and of course Marcele and Clara for joining me at the celebration of marathon number 10!

Official smiley finisher photo (photo courtesy of Liz)

Happy marathoners!

10 marathons and she is still with me… Happy couple!

Cele, Clara, Luiz, Mari, Elton, Lachlan (and little Leonardo), me and Paty.

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Giant!

During the breakfast that we hosted after marathon number 9 we served a typical Brazilian snack called pão de queijo (literally bread of cheese). So today I won’t write about running, training, or fundraising, but instead I’ll reveal the much requested recipe.

Pão de queijo

Ingredients:

• 600g of tapioca flour
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 tea spoon of salt
• 200g of parmesan or romano cheese
• 3 eggs

Tapioca flour can be found in the baking aisle of major Australian markets under the name Arrowroot.

Preparation method: read the captions in the photos.

Put the milk, the oil and the salt in a pot and bring the mix to boil.

Pour the liquid into a bowl containing the flour.

Start mixing with a spoon because it is probably too hot!

When you can, use your hands and mix it until you get a smooth and silky dough (there is no need for kneading).

While the dough cools down you can grate the cheese.

If your cheese has been grated beforehand, while you wait why don’t you visit https://www.cantoo.org.au/fundraisers/AndreCarvalho and donate to cancer research? Remember that any $10 in donation from 16/03 until 16/04 goes into the draw of a pair of On Cloud shoes.

Add the cheese and the eggs.

Mix it all together. Be prepared, the dough will become really sticky and it can get messy.

To be able to roll into small balls you’ll need extra tapioca flour. Use it in your hands and you can also pour a bit more on the dough.

Roll into balls.

Another good thing about this recipe is that you can put them in a container and freeze. One recipe makes around 50 balls.

Put them in a tray and then into the oven pre-heated at 180 degrees.

The final result!

Gets even better with butter or you may add some extra fillings.

After the lonely marathon in January and a rather low influx of donations for cancer research, I decided to organise a more eventful marathon in February. I set the marathon on a Saturday, a couple of days after my birthday, and invited friends to a big breakfast after the run. What better than 42km to celebrate my 42^nd birthday? 😉 In a bold move I put the invitation on Facebook. I knew I was under a serious risk of having way too many people to cook for, but I really wanted to get my fundraising back on track and boost the donations to Can Too.

A big line-up was expected for the marathon with people intending to run from as little as 5km up to the full distance. Joe (the same that ran 10km in the marathon in Rio and a similar distance in marathon 6) wanted to do a full marathon without walking for the first time. I prepared two marathon courses in such a way that we would start from our own homes and meet at around kilometer 10. With a prediction of a 5 hours-long marathon and the breakfast scheduled for 10am, we were in for a very early start…

Course map. For the full statistics check the Garmin activity.

The night before

By Friday we had around 40 people confirmed for breakfast. That meant a long night preparing things for the next morning. While Marcele was making quiches and baking cakes, I was making banana bread and “pão de queijo”, a Brazilian savoury snack that literally means “bread of cheese” (not really a bread though). I finished rolling them after 1am and went to bed to have a little rest before the marathon. The plan was to wake up at 4:30, get ready in 30 minutes and leave home at 5am. The first people that I was going to meet were my friends Ping Koy (from the ANU)  and Tim (from Bilbys Triathlon Club – the same guy that ran with me the last part of marathon 7 during the Triple Edge Endurance triathlon).

I woke up at 4am, looked at the clock and thought: “Nice! Still 30 minutes of sleep.” The next time I heard my own thoughts they’re saying: “Hmmm, these 30 minute have been really effective. It seems like I slept for…” I jumped from my bed, eyes wide open: 5:08 am! I rushed to the computer, sent a message to Tim and Ping Koy (PK) telling I’d be late and got ready as fast as I could.

How to mess up the first quarter of your marathon

I left home trying to setup my GPS watch and the app to track my run. During the first 2 km I was trying to run and type messages in my mobile at the same time and I almost fell twice. I gave up messaging and just ran as fast as I could to meet them. I found PK just before the 4km mark at the south bridge of the Gungahlin Lake and we ran together to the meeting point with Tim. When we got there Tim had already left. He had to drive to Sydney that morning and my delay meant that he couldn’t wait any longer. Sorry Tim!

PK and I headed south to meet Joe who had messaged me just then to tell that my tracking app wasn’t working properly. He was way ahead from the meeting point but that shouldn’t be a problem as we were running along the bike path in opposite directions. There was no way we could miss each other… except that we did! Joe went up along the path on the east side of the road and we were coming down on the west side. After a couple of calls we turned back but Joe was already way north. We pushed a bit more to see if we could catch him but that would take a while…

The first lights and the lakes

When we got back to the Gungahlin lake we met Geoff, another friend from the ANU. Geoff is training for the Australian Running Festival marathon in April and was keen to run as far as possible. The sun was finally up and we were all happy.

Geoff, PK, and I somewhere in Gungahlin

From there it didn’t take long to reach Yerrabi Pond and by then we had finally found Joe and were joined by Oliver (also ANU) and Brendan (from Gungahlin Parkrun). I recognised Brendan’s face at the Bateman’s Bay marathon (the all pink marathon) and on a later occasion he knocked at my door to pick up his daughter. Small world, our daughters are very good friends from school. Brendan is also training for the ARF marathon in April and he did a loop with us before heading to the Gungahlin Parkrun.

Brendan joining for a short 3km loop before going to the Gungahlin Parkrun. Oliver (in green) and Joe also in the picture.

We headed yet again south for a loop around Gungahlin pond where PK left us after more than 20km with me. He showed that, despite the chronic back and neck pain, there is stil a lot left from the great runner that he was in the past.

Almost 20km and we’re still happy. Some out of focus, but still smiling 😉

Oliver and I around Yerrabi Pond.

Heading north again Joe had a quick support visit from his family. Janet and James met us just at the crossing between Gundaroo and Mirrabei Drive and James ran with his dad for a while. What a great supporter!

Joe, James and Janet.

Mulligans Flat

As you may have noticed, there are multiple mentions to the lakes around Gungahlin. The reason for multiple loops around Yerrabi Pond was to make sure that we had access to water at least every 10 km and also to make easier for people to find me. On our last stop at the bubbler before heading to Mulligans Flat we found Mary (or she found us). Mary was training for the Six-foot track and was also going for a long distance run. For Joe and I, the loop in Mulligans Flat started at 28.5 km and ended at 35km, arguably the toughest and most critical part of a marathon. In our favour, the views, the trail, and a break from the hard surface of the bike paths. A lovely place to run.

Mary leading in Mulligans Flat. She was looking very strong and comfortable. Joe and Oliver just behind her.

Again the Lake and final stretch home

After Mulligans Flat we went south, once again to Yerrabi Pond. I was expecting another group to join us for the last 5km to the finish line. It didn’t take long for Emily (on her bike) and Katie from the Bilbys, as well as Ethan, Richard, Sam and Tekle (ANU) to join us. It was really nice to have so many enthusiastic people in the final 5km.

Mary leading the ANU students. From left to right: Tekle, Sam and Richard.

100 metres to go: Mary, Richard, Sam, Tekle, Ethan, Geoff, Joe and Katie

Party time!

We finally got home and it was party time! Marcele and Clara (wife and daughter) did a brilliant job with the decoration: everything was all in the bright orange Can Too colour and the table was amazingly set with great food. I didn’t have much time to rest as someone had to cook the eggs, bacon and mushroom. There were friends from work, from the Bilbys Triathlon Club, from a previous Can Too program, and close Brazilian friends from Canberra. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday and marathon number 9.

Food and more food

The always popular coffee

42 km and years 😀

Marathoners and cooks

By the BBQ

By the BBQ

By the BBQ

I owe this awesome party to my amazing wife!

Thank you all for coming. I really appreciated your presence. You made my day very special.

Special thanks to the runners that joined me as well as those who donated to Can Too, after all this is the reason why I’m doing this!

And above all, my gratitude to my girls who have always been so supportive and understanding. You organized an amazing party!