(The Story Behind the Story)
Originally written in 2025
As most of you know, my stories always seem to have a twist — especially my racing ones — so just indulge me for a bit.
Back in late August, I started training for Point to Pinnacle. My coach, Josh, was confident we had enough time to rebuild my fitness, even though I hadn’t been running for over a year. I’d only been doing strength training.
Two weeks into training, out of sheer madness, I decided to do the Perth Marathon as well.
That gave me only six weeks of training, including a taper week.
Josh said it was doable, but we shouldn’t expect too much. We’d treat it as a long training run for Point to Pinnacle.
A very expensive long run. I could’ve flown to Europe for that airfare to Perth! 
On race day, I stayed at the back to avoid annoying everyone with all the beeps from my watch. I don’t like wearing earbuds while running, so there was no hiding them.
I was literally the last person to cross the start line.
About 200 metres in, I spotted a line of toilet cubicles.
From experience, toilets on marathon courses can be rare — Melbourne and Sydney only had two — so I decided to take the opportunity, partly to calm my nerves.
When I came out, even the tail-walkers were ahead of me.
I remembered the lesson from my Melbourne Marathon:
Never rush your pace or you’ll pull a muscle. 
So I stuck with my planned pace and trusted the process.
It felt painfully slow.
Josh had programmed the first 3 km as a warm-up. It normally takes me about 5 km just to warm up!
Eventually, I caught up with the tail-walkers and passed them, which was a huge relief.
Then I passed one runner.
Then another.
By the time I’d overtaken about 60 people, I stopped counting.
I figured I’d redeemed myself enough.
We were also experimenting with my race nutrition. I was using natural maple syrup, and I was slightly anxious about how my stomach might react.
So every time I saw a toilet, I stopped.
Until I realised Perth had very thoughtfully placed them about every 5 km.
Apparently, I had found the luxury marathon.
At 35 km, my race plan stopped.
No more prompts from my watch.
I felt a little lost, but I assumed Josh had deliberately designed it that way. This wasn’t my A race, after all, and I still had Point to Pinnacle to train for.
So I slowed down.
I chatted with volunteers.
I cheered on runners who were struggling.
And strangely enough, instead of feeling exhausted, I was having a wonderful time.
Unlike my previous marathons, I didn’t hit the wall after 38 km.
My legs still felt strong.
My spirits were high.
And I crossed the finish line feeling proud, grateful, and completely alive.
Six weeks earlier, I wasn’t even training for a marathon.
Somehow, I had snuck into one anyway.
Stories Along the Way 