One month to go today, until I test myself again over the marathon distance (Fukuoka on Dec 6th). I feel I am fit and ready to go. I am in as good a position as I have ever been leading into a major race. I am very fit, mostly injury free and I am content with life at the moment. My last marathon was the Gold Coast Marathon in July. That race was make or break for me. I put in a solid performance running 2.16 to place second, four minutes off my best; however I felt I was competitive. It was this race that gave me back the belief that I could still run at a high level. Prior to this race I doubted my ability to perform at the highest level and run fast times. My new improved passion and confidence comes from getting back to basics and enjoying myself and all that running gives me. For too long I placed unrealistic expectations on myself and stressed about everything too much. It was the end of the world if I got injured and somehow I would blame myself for it and dwell and stress. I now take this in my stride, as I know I do all the right things not to get injured, physio, chiro, massage, icing etc and what will be will be, some things you cannot control.
I never stopped enjoying running, although 12 months ago I did start to question it and my body was not allowing me to train and compete as I would have liked. My body healed via treatment and a good rehab program. Most importantly I began to race more and compete. For a few years I went from running marathon to marathon and hardly any races in between. This meant that if the marathon went poorly it felt my whole year was a right off. It has been the road races that have really kept my passion alive, road races are exciting, the crowd, other competitors and the helicopters buzzing over head all add to the atmosphere. It is also a great chance to catch up with a lot of my running buddies that also happen to be my competitors. Those such as Mart Dent, Scotty Westcott, and Andrew Letherby to name a few are great to catch up with after a race, often over a few beers. Recently myself and Michael Shelly enjoyed a few drinks after the City to Bay and needless to say neither of us were very successful in putting together my son Jesse’s porta-cot and left that task to my wife, I am not sure she was too impressed.
I am a local Ballarat boy, a town with a strong running history. Some great runners have hailed from this small town or used it as their training base (Steve Moneghetii, Lee Toop, Shaun Creighton, Collis Birmingham are names that spring to mind. Ballarat is surrounded by forest with endless tracks and trails and we are fortunate to have picturesque Lake Wendouree (6km of packed gravel path, great for sessions) situated in the centre of the town. Life for a distance runner is very enjoyable in Ballarat due to the ideal running environment, and secondly, the strong running culture that exists. I always have someone to train with and our running group would consist of 20 athletes that could run under 35 min for 10km, this means there is always someone to run with and help out with the longer or more demanding sessions. Then of course there is Mona, reliable as ever and still turns up to all runs and sessions. The running culture that exists in Ballarat can be attributed to this man. The path around Lake Wendouree has been named affectionately after him - Mona’s Track.
With six weeks until the marathon I have been fortunate that Collis Birmingham has been back home in Ballarat after his successful season. It has been great training with Collis again and I believe my training has lifted a notch with him around.
This year has been a massive change for me; I am working for the first time in 6 years as a PE teacher and loving that. I have a son Jesse who has just turned one, I am sure I run a few extra k’s each week chasing him around. 18 months ago I would have told you that it would be impossible to work, have a baby and run 180-200km a week. But I sit writing this and I can’t imagine life any different. What I would have considered once to be an impossible situation to perform in, is now an ideal situation for me and as I mentioned earlier I am happy and content in life and hopefully this translates to a good outcome in six weeks time. I do not consider that I sacrifice anything to run. It annoys me when athletes complain that they sacrifice things for their sport. This is rubbish, as all the good athletes I know run because they love it and not to run would be the sacrifice. Any way that is another story.
'I know I do all the right things not to get injured, physio, chiro, massage, icing etc and what will be will be, some things you cannot control'
Shane Nankervis
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One month to go today, until I test myself again over the marathon distance (
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