Out of any race route I've done of any distance, the current Auckland Marathon would be in the top two that I have run the most, and on Sunday I ran it for the fifth time on a beautiful Sunday morning.
My peak weeks and taper were completely as planned, and with a 5K PB just a couple of weeks before, there were many good omens. I compared my peak week training for this event with that I did with Christchurch and was pleased to see that I had in fact been qualitatively better. I had wondered why I had thought that I might be able to break three hours at Christchurch apart from glasses coloured with pink hope. The training in the lead-up Auckland Marathon, I had hit the paces regularly required to go under three hours.
But this course that I had traversed so many times physically and mentally is not a docile loop like Christchurch. Christchurch is just four 10.5k loops with barely a rise, and that was too much for me at the required pace back in April. Auckland starts with constant undulation for 10km and then the crossing of the Auckland Harbour Bridge and surrounds before flattening out for the last half to St Helliers and back.
This time round I tried to hold myself back on the first half hills but a breed of marathon mind virus snuck into my brain, saying "if you hold back on the first half, the second half you will need to go much faster than the pace you trained for". It raised a good point, and it is hard to know exactly how much slower I should be. My 5km splits for the first half are below (with the measuring stick of 21:15 would be right on pace for just under three hours):
- 0-5km: 22:04 (emerging out of Devonport - 49 seconds given to the hills)
- 5-10km: 21:52 (processing Takapuna - a further 37 seconds given to the undulation)
- 10-15km: 20:33 (finally on the flattish area, the motorway to the Bridge, claiming back 42 seconds)
- 15-20km: 22:19 (the Bridge and surrounds - 64 seconds given to the Bridge)
So in total, almost at half-way, I would have to run the required pace for the rest of the race at least and get back the now 1 minute 48 I had "given" to the first half. It doesn't sound like much but it means the required every kilometre about 3-4 seconds faster than an already fast pace, 4:12/km.
- 20-25km: 20:37 (flat as a pancake to Hobson Bay, maybe the excitement of the flat, this was 4:07/km, clearly now going too fast)
- 25-30km: 22:11 (flat as a pancake to Kohimarama, and now the legs and brains have realised the game is up; what should have been in the 21s, and the physical struggle is becoming more apparent)
- 30-35km: 24:31 (the St Helliers turn and back to Bastion Point; the dream is over but the hope of a PB is still on; but another demon has emerged: cramping, first in calves and then hamstrings)
- 35-40km: 22:29 (a bit of a second wind pace-wise as the end grows nearer; I had to stop for a a little while to stretch my hamstrings toward the end)
- 40-42.5km: 12:41 (and into Victoria Park, my watch actually shows me as having a sprint into the finishline which briefly hit 4:00/km speeds)
And that brought me to the time of 3:09:21, outside of career PB but still a significant course PB for me. I was a bit of a shivering mess at the end, enough for them to think I was worthy of a golfcart ride to an overcrowded St Johns, which was overwhelmed. The final long hour was when the temperature rose pretty sharply which was a factor for me and others. I pretty much discharged myself after getting more fluid and electrolytes into my body.
The five efforts at least show progress:
2017: 3:46:47 (first ever marathon)
2018: 3:29:55
2019: 3:22:54
2023: 3:16:07
2025: 3:09:21
I am still in the post-marathon recovery week and still thinking about the possibilities for 2026 and assorted little challenges that I want to attempt.
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