G'day and good morning from Sydney!
After a long, hot summer of training, Giles is back on a marathon start line. It has been four months since London and, after running Paris, Boston and London within a fortnight, the break was needed! It gave his injured calf time to recover, and Giles time to prepare for the second half of his challenge.
When we caught up with Giles this morning to ask how preparations were going, he summed up the challenge perfectly:
"Training through an English summer usually means trying to dodge the rain. This year it’s been the heat. Some of the long runs were pretty grim, but the miles are in and I’m ready to get started."
Sydney is marathon four of seven. Around 40,000 runners are gathering on Miller Street in North Sydney, ready to take on one of the world’s newest Abbott World Marathon Majors.
Ahead lies 42.195 kilometres, more than 300 metres of climbing and a course that crosses the Sydney Harbour Bridge before winding through Centennial Park and the Royal Botanic Garden. The finish waits beside the Sydney Opera House.
The views are generous. The course is less forgiving.
Running cannot fix Motor Neurone Disease(MND). It can raise money, fund rresearch, and help more people understand what the disease takes from those living with it and their families. That is what has kept Giles moving through every difficult mile so far.
They are underway
The start is getting closer, and Giles is heading to the start line. Just before setting off, he shared this thought:
"By 30 kilometres, I questioned why I thought seven marathons were a sensible way to celebrate turning 50. Then I thought about my mum, put my head down and got on with it."
The field begins to move.
There is nervous energy, the sound of thousands of shoes striking the road and the peculiar optimism of a crowd about to run a distance most people would sensibly cover by car.
The Harbour Bridge arrives early. It is one of the great sights in marathon running, but this is not the moment to get carried away. The sensible work is much less glamorous: settle into a rhythm, breathe, take on fuel, and avoid borrowing too much from the final ten kilometres.
Giles knows how quickly a marathon can change. Paris left him with a calf injury. The pain returned within the first half-mile in Boston and eventually spread through his quad. Six days later, with both races still in his legs, he stood on another start line in London.
Today begins with patience.
Halfway, in more ways than one
At 21.1 kilometres, Giles reaches the midpoint of the Sydney Marathon. He also reaches the exact halfway point of his seven-marathon challenge.
Paris, Boston, and London are behind him. Half of Sydney is now behind him too.
It is only a line on the tracker, but it matters. The challenge that once looked almost absurdly large is beginning to take shape, one completed kilometre at a time. Centennial Park brings long, green stretches and a little space from the city. By now, the excitement of the start has settled. Fuel becomes deliberate. The hills accumulate. The body begins sending increasingly firm suggestions that 42 kilometres may have been an administrative error.
The answer is the same as it was in Paris, Boston, and London.
Keep moving.
Where it gets hard
Beyond 30 kilometres, the marathon changes. The legs grow heavy, small inclines feel larger, and every kilometre seems to take slightly more than the one before it.
Giles has run through physical pain before. Boston showed him exactly what it costs when an injured body begins compensating. London asked him to continue when the injury, two previous marathons and jet lag had left very little in reserve.
Sydney brings a different test. After four months away from a marathon start line, he must settle back into the distance and manage a course with more climbing than its postcard views might suggest.
When the race becomes difficult, the reason for running becomes more important. Giles is doing this for his mum and for the other people and families living with MND.
Every kilometre helps raise money for research and support.
That is why he keeps going.
Towards the Sydney Opera House
The course turns towards Mrs Macquarie’s Chair and the Royal Botanic Garden. The Opera House is close now, although a marathon has a habit of making “close” feel surprisingly far away.
This is the part nobody can run in advance. The final kilometres still have to be covered as they come.
One step. Then another.
The finish line appears beside the harbour.
Giles crosses it!!!
Sydney is complete.
Four marathons run. Three remain: Chicago, New York, and the return to Mumbai.
The campaign began with one sentence: “I’m running because my mum can’t.” It remains the reason behind every mile.
If you can, please support Giles’s fundraiser for the MND Association.
Sydney is behind him.
The mission continues.
