4 Marathons in 4 Months

• 4 Months
• 3 Countries
• 9 Flights
• 5 Races
• 3 Marathons
• 2 Half Marathons
• 3 Sports Watches
• 1 Personal Best
• 1 40th Birthday
• 1 Bad Mustache

It originally started out with me wanting to support my girlfriend as she wanted to get a Boston Qualifier, so running a race in Las Vegas seemed like a great idea. It was just a coincidence that the race was about a month before my 40th birthday, so in the lead up to racing in Las Vegas, it got me thinking about how I could best celebrate my 40th birthday.

Getting old has never been something that I was afraid of but turning 40 is a bit of a milestone so I wanted to do something a little bit crazy to celebrate, even a little epic. This epic celebration was a way for me to embrace it but at the same time remind myself that anything is still possible and my age is not going to stop me from doing all the things I still want to do.

I think I've been fortunate enough to fumble my way through life without a real thought on what the end goal is. As a result I think it's lead me to meet so many amazing people, and experience things I never would have been exposed to otherwise. There are a lot of people who have looked at me and questioned why I do things, without any real thought on their own motivations on life.

That being said, the constant thought of moving completely out of my comfort zone kept popping up and with that, the plan of running 40km for 40 days straight was born. Fortunately this thought didn't last for too long and I'm not sure I would not have enjoyed it. My race in Las Vegas combined with trips away for other races got me thinking, and in the end running 4 marathons in 4 months for my 40th birthday sounded like a better idea.

Lets be clear, and if you've been following along you might have noticed something a bit funny. I didn't run a full marathon in the month of May. Yep, your right and this wasn't me trying to cheat the system and water down what I'd set out to achieve. It all came down to logistics. In the end I thought two half marathons would be a good compromise for the month of May.

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?"
Leroy "Satchel" Paige

Before the first race in Las Vegas

Then I started Running

Las Vegas was amazing! I'm not sure if it was just the fact that I was able to get away for a holiday, the warm weather, the fact that ran a PB, or possibly a Boston Qualifier, ti was a great way to start off my challenge. I was apprehensive about the run, not knowing what to expect as I didn't think I had put in enough work to get any good results, but it was a great surprise on the day.

Kicking it in Melbourne

Running A Marathon In Two Halves

The month of, as I have been able to organize, was split into two half marathons. Coming off my Las Vegas PB only two weeks after, I traveled to the South Island of New Zealand to take on the St Claire Half Marathon. Even with the quick turn around my body obviously was liking the shorter distance. I had set out to not take the run to quickly as I was still recovering, but at the same time this did turn out to be one of my better races. Without hitting a personnel best, I managed to get into the top 30 of over 1,500 runners which was pretty cool.

My second run for the month was two weeks later. My girlfriend has shipped me off home to Melbourne for the weekend as a nice birthday present. As well as visiting friends and spending a lazy weekend roaming around the city, I ran a small race in the middle of the city, which was a hard fort run, with some impressive race times by some of the top runners. My run was again under my personal best as I was looking forward to my next marathon only a week later.

My girlfriend and I still smiling in Christchurch

Christchurch Marathon

OK, so this wasn't my best performance, and I am a little embarrassed to say that I had one thing to do, and that was help pace my girlfriend the marathon for a Boston Qualifier, and unfortunately I don't think I did a good job. Let's not go into specifics but I think I could have done a better job. The weather was not the best and it rained most of the day, taking a lot of energy to get through the run. I did complete the run, but it was a miserable day and was not celebrating after my girlfriend had a DNF for the race.

Finally Wellington

Definitely not my best run as I struggled again in the wind and rain of Wellington. Limping across the finish line, I am not sure if it was the exhaustion from the previous four months, or the conditions on the day, the last 10km of the run was ugly.

The last time I visited Wellington was for an open water swim and on that occasion, the weather got the better of me and I needed to pull out of the swim. Even thought it feels like Wellington weather may be trying to kill me, I was able to get through the run in the end.

What Did I Learn From All Of This

1. I have to admit, it was good fun, but it was definitely not a way to improve my marathon run times. After each marathon, the last thing I wanted to do was a long run, and my times didn't get better as I continued to run.
2. A lot of people will not understand why you are doing something like this to celebrate your birthday.
3. Leave time to celebrate. For my last marathon in Wellington, I was rushing back to the hotel to have a shower and get back on a plane...I did have a celebratory pizza when I got back home.
4. Less than 1% of the population have completed a marathon, so doing something like this should be looked at as a challenge. Sometimes when you have a lot of friends that run and race, or even follow on Steemit, you can forget there are a lot of people out there who will never do something like this.

Whats My Next Epic Adventure

Well I guess we will just have to wait and see, but I am always up for suggestions, dares, fund raising opportunities or sponsorship proposals.

Details of Each Race

• https://steemit.com/running/@run.vince.run/wellington-marathon-race-review
• https://steemit.com/running/@run.vince.run/revel-mt-charleston-race-review
• https://steemit.com/running/@run.vince.run/running-through-the-vineyards-of-new-zealand
• https://steemit.com/runningproject/@run.vince.run/half-marathon-in-melbourne-before-a-marathon
• https://steemit.com/running/@run.vince.run/christchurch-marathon-race-review

My latest post for the @runningproject is my last post for the 10km Training Plan, so feel free to look it up below:
https://steemit.com/runningproject/@runningproject/the-final-week-of-our-10km-training-plan

If you have found this post useful or interesting, please consider Commenting, Upvoting, Following and/or Resteeming @run.vince.run