TIME FOR NEW GOALS!

Now that the New York marathon has come to a close (phew), and I no longer have to endure 33km runs on the weekend (double phew), I figured it was time to switch my focus to a new goal!

My aim this season is to go back to short distance racing (my one true love) and attempt to qualify for the Australian team at the World Age Group Triathlon Championships in the USA in September, 2015.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the process, the International Triathlon Union hold a triathlon series around the world each year, where non-professionals compete against the best in the world in their age group in the Sprint and Olympic distance triathlon. Next year, it will be in Chicago.

You can qualify for the Australian team by competing in any of Triathlon Australia's qualifying races around the country (they take your best three results). I have chosen to race in Olympic Distance and have already competed in Yarrawonga to score early points (I came 9th in 35-39 age group). I also plan to do Wollongong Olympic Distance in March, which is National Qualifier and offers double points (which hopefully means I won't have to do a third race).

                                                  

Yarrawonga Mulwala Multisport Festival, Victoria (try saying that 3 times fast)!

In order to represent Australia, I need to finish in the Top 25 in my age group in both races. The higher up you finish, the more points you get. The more points you get, the higher your chances are of being selected. 

If I get chosen, I'll be competing for Australia against the best athletes in the world in my age group. I won't be chasing the podium in Chicago. In fact, I'm about 20 mins off the pace! However I will be competing for the opportunity to represent my country in a sport that I genuinely love. What an experience it would be to race for Team Australia!

With this in mind, I have committed to the following races in 2014/15:

Balmoral Triathlon Club Series (400m swim/15km bike/4km run) - Nov 23, Feb 1, Mar 29

(www.balmoraltriclub.org.au)

Tri Orange, Orange (1.5km swim/40km ride/10km run) - Feb 7

(www.eliteenergy.com.au)

Husky Sprint, Huskisson (750m swim/20km bike/5km run) - Feb 21 

(Husky Long Course weekend)

Tri the Gong*, Wollongong (1.5km swim/40km ride/10km run) - Mar 8

(www.eliteenergy.com.au)

NSW Club Championships, Forster - May 16

*denotes qualifying race for World's

To help support my upcoming season, I'm excited to announce that I have been chosen as an ambassador for Northside Runners, alongside the likes of race commentator Matt Harris, Surf Ironman Kendrick Louis, and elite runner Lauren Hamilton. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, as I'm just a middle-of-the-pack age grouper who loves to swim, bike and run. But I love their products, the team behind the store and what they represent, so it has been a perfect fit. Thank you to Mike Delgarno and the entire NSR team for making me feel so welcome and supporting my racing this season.

If you're a Balmoral Triathlon Club member, you get a 10% discount when you shop at Northside Runners. Go in and have to chat to the guys at the Crows Nest or Manly store. They provide expert knowledge and advice to the running and triathlon community. They are also extremely passionate about running and can help sort you out for the summer season of racing. So if you need shoes, race nutrition, or running and compression gear, tell them The Fonginator sent you.

If you want more info on the latest NSR running events, check out their website: http://www.northsiderunners.com.au/running-help/events

In the mean time, I will continue to be coached by super fast Ironman, Owain Matthews from Energylink (check out his blog here. You can also follow him on Twitter/Instagram: @owainmatthews) and I look forward to working with him over the next few months!

That's it for now. Bring on 2015! 

Post Marathon Reflections

It was fun, cold, windy, and I have no desire to ever run that far again!

The New York Marathon is one of the most iconic races in the world. You hear so much about the crowds and the atmosphere and hell, who wouldn't want to go to New York for holiday?!

There are some pro's of training for a marathon:

There's always someone to run with

The achievement of finishing a marathon is pretty special

The medal is awesome

You get to eat a lot of food

There are also a few con's:

You feel slow

It takes a while for the legs to recover

Concentration span after 20km seems somewhat blurry

It hurts. A lot.

42kms is a LONG way

To say you've done the New York Marathon is a pretty exciting thing though, and I am officially in celebration mode! What I will say is that despite it being such a memorable experience, I am very happy to have ticked the box and I am equally satisfied about moving onto something else. A lot of people have said I will do another one. If I ever think about doing another one, I only need to remember the pain in my legs from the 30km mark and realise that it is indeed a stupid idea!

My friend Teresa (www.thehealthwhisperer.com.au) and I trained for this race for about 20 weeks. We both agreed at the start that we would be doing this race purely for the enjoyment and the experience. I really wanted to enjoy the day, so aiming for a particularly fast time was definitely not on the cards. I figured if I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, then I could always go back and race it. Let's just say I won't be in a rush to do that anytime soon!

New York was FREAKING COLD! Having trained the last few months in our Australian summer, it certainly took some adjusting. The city was buzzing though and it was very cool to see them setting up the finish line in Central Park.

RACE MORNING

Hats off to the organisers of the New York Marathon. I can't even imagine what a logistical nightmare it must be to transport 50,000+ runners via ferry and bus to Staten Island (45-60 mins from NYC) at 6 o'clock in the morning. We were lucky enough to be a part of the Team for Kids charity and in hindsight, it was actually a genius idea. Not only did we have our own private buses to transport us to the start of the race but when we arrived, we had a huge Team for Kids tent with bagels, coffee and heaters. Just what you need when you're freezing your ass off and having to wait 3 hours before your wave start!

Race morning was about 7*C with killer head winds and side winds blowing everyone all over the course for the first 5 or so kilometres. The wind came in gusts throughout the day which made the race a lot more challenging (because apparently running 42kms isn't hard enough). Teresa had about 6 layers on at the start (including a plastic bag under her jumper) and I had about 3. We both ran with gloves on the entire way. I don't think I've ever worn that many clothes for a race ever. I just couldn't get warm.

THE MARATHON

It completely lived up to expectation. There were people EVERYWHERE! I'm talking complete strangers, standing on the side of the road, cheering their lungs out for people they didn't even know. It was like the City 2 Surf on steroids! The race itself required 10,000 volunteers, so you can imagine how electric the atmosphere was. That's on top of the entire city coming out to support the race. There were marching bands, rock bands, DJs, rappers, hip hop artists. You name it, we saw it. The first few kilometres, we danced, we cheered, we sang and we were so excited to be there. I even high-fived a bunch of NYPD cops who yelled, “Go The Fonginator!”

At 88^th St, I saw my friend Amy who is a New York native. We met about 10 years ago and we hadn't seen each other for about 3 years, so it was such a nice surprise to stop and have a photo together! Prior to that, I made Teresa stop and get a photo with the San Francisco Fire Department. HELLO FIREMAN!

Still plodding along, I started to get really wheezy and my body and lungs just couldn't warm-up. The sun started to disappear behind the clouds and the wind was picking up again. With 10km to go, Teresa and I made a pact to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and only walking when we went through an aid station. We didn't do a lot of talking at this point but I must say, having someone by my side the entire way certainly helped me mentally.

In the last stretch before entering Central Park, we were really feeling the pinch and before we had a chance to have a sookie-la-la moment, there they were – crowds and crowds of people, thousands of people, 10 deep behind the barricades, holding up motivational signs, yelling, clapping and cheering. All I heard was noise! It was very emotional and like nothing I had ever seen before.

We entered the park and this was it. 5km left and it was time to make this dream a reality.

We crossed the finish line with a hip bump, chest bump and a leap across the line, in true Teresa and Bel style! I need to find the footage of that somewhere...

After the elation of finishing, I was struggling to breathe - a mixture of asthma and the frigid weather conditions. Thank god we were able to get fleece ponchos at the end. I told Teresa to go and get some food, and I headed straight to the medical tent. After examination, I was put on oxygen for about 20 minutes. The nurses in there were amazing and there was no way I could have gone home without their help. There were some perks from being in the medical tent; we got transported by buggy down to 72nd St (about a 10 min hobble)! Unfortunately my asthma continued to play up for the next couple of days but we were at least able to walk around the city to get the legs moving and do some last minute shopping. It is now Friday and my legs and lungs are now starting to feel somewhat normal. 

I want to say another huge thank you to everyone who has supported Teresa and I over the last few months. We could not have done this race without people helping us raise vital funds for the Team for Kids charity. Whilst I don't recommend that anyone should ever run a marathon, I must say that New York was a pretty special place to do it. If you can, get a charity spot and do the race with someone. It's definitely a day I will never forget and it was way more enjoyable having someone to share it with.

I have put together a short clip of some video footage and photos I took in the lead up to, during and after race day. It includes our friend Jo who came along as support crew and team massage therapist, I hope you enjoy it!

Here's to the next adventure, whatever that may be!!

The Fonginator

Watch the clip here: https://vimeo.com/111184707

(photo courtesy of Amy Guerrera)

Pre Marathon Reflections

NEW YORK, BABY!

Well, I had every intention of doing a monthly blog in the lead up to the marathon and clearly, I've been a complete slacker. Its now the eve of the New York Marathon and here I am, writing this post the day before the race - whoops!

I still can't believe we are actually in New York! It feels very surreal and up until this morning, I had almost forgotten we were here to do a running race. The tourists must be having a lot of fun! 

We are also very lucky to have our friend Jo here with us as support crew. Not only is she good company but she's also a massage therapist. Smartest idea ever. Hashtag winning (love you Jo Jo)!

We've spent the last couple of days wandering around the city, including a visit to Times Square, Whole Foods and of course, the amazing M&M store. We posed for photos at the expo and even made it onto the TCS New York City Marathon social media pages (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). See? Sometimes it pays to be an idiot.

 

I've never really had the desire to run a marathon but I always said that if I ever did one, it would be New York. Talk about a dream come true. Many people have asked me if I have a time goal in mind for the race. I definitely have a goal of having a good time! Teresa and I will aim to run around 6 minutes per kilometre but who knows what can happen over 42km. I really want to enjoy this race and plan to take a lot of photos. Having fun will be the ultimate goal and I have no doubt we will tick that box!

If you want to track us, you can download the TCS New York Marathon app. For more info, visit http://www.tcsnycmarathon.org/race-day/mobile-app-and-runner-tracking. Look for Teresa Boyce and Belinda Fong. Our wave starts at 10:30am New York time.

I want to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to everyone for helping me get to this race. There is no way in the world I could have done this without all the support. To everyone who came to our trivia night, donated prizes and money directly to our charity (Team for Kids), bought energy bars, Monte Carlos, spring rolls, those who baked food for us to sell and anyone who has invested any sort of interest in this ridiculous idea over the last 20 weeks! I am so grateful that I never had to do a long run on my own, so if you were one of the lucky suckers who I roped into coming with me on a long run, you deserve the biggest medal ever. It made a massive difference, trust me!

Thank you to Owain Matthews for writing me a kick-ass running program and providing endless support when I needed it; Northside Runners (www.northsiderunners.com.au) for fuelling me up with my training and race day nutrition, shoes and running gear; Funkita swimwear for kitting me out during my recovery swims; Bare Blends (www.bareblends.com.au) for the pre and post training recovery fuel and lastly, to Teresa Boyce (www.thehealthwhisperer.com.au) who decided to make the trip over with me. I would not and could not do this without you.

One more sleep - it's on, like Fong! New York Marathon, HERE WE COME!