With the last minute decision to change of course, marathon number 8 was set to explore the familiar bike paths and trails close to where I live. Not only that but, with only my wife set to run the last few kilometers with me, it was going to be a solitary marathon.
The course: for details of the run check the Garmin activity.
I put my earphones, turned up the volume, and under a grey sky I started my run. After 11 km of bike paths and the view of construction sites of yet another neighbourhood in Canberra, I finally reached the trails of Mulligans Flat. I tried to maximise my time there to enjoy the dirt track and to increase my chances of seeing kangaroos. I’ve been living here for 10 years and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of them.
For the first few kilometers not much happened and the view was like this:
It didn’t take long for me to spot some kangaroos at quite a distance from the main track. But as I moved away from the main entrance and towards the inner part of the reserve, they became closer and closer. This wallaby remained still until I slowed down and turned on the camera. Even after that the little fella didn’t really move that much…
That made my day. The run continued pretty much the same for quite a while: dirt track, gum trees, and kangaroos. Typical Canberra outdoor scene. Lovely to share the trails with these guys (warning: when watching the video below you may get sick with the motion of the camera)
That was it for Mulligans Flat. After that I was back to the bike path, went down from Forde to Yerrabi Pond, and with just over 30km I was very close to home. I took my mobile and called Marcele to ask how many km she would like to run with me. The answer was zero. She wasn’t feeling well, so from that point on it was officially a solo marathon. Still 12 km to go, so close to home yet so far away…
I spent the rest of the marathon with my mind focused on calculating distances and planning a route that would take me home with no less than 42.195 kilometers but also not much further than that. Thanks to my local knowledge I covered 42,92 km, just over the official distance, in 3:47:50.
The uneventful marathon was followed by an equally ordinary period of donations (or lack of). Since then, I picked up my game and reached over $3600 in donations! Thank you all for helping! Marathon 9 is only 3 days away (yes I was pretty late with this race report).
Promoting the cause!
Fit it in one 