Fraser Darcy

I can hop, I can run! It was on Monday morning that after five days off from running my body felt strong enough to hop and therefore strong enough to jog. Given I was unsure of how far I would make it, I went from home on my faithful arvo run loop down Shepherds Hill Rd. At the time, it felt ok, I was aware I still had a sore hip, but at the end my watch was also telling me that was the fastest I’d ever done that loop before so I couldn’t have been feeling it too much. Of course with only a short run on Monday morning I still had plenty of time to get on top of admin, relax, head out for a bike ride and even head to the sauna. The plan for this week was to hopefully continue progressing my running each day and be confident enough to race the Melbourne 10km on Sunday.

To be able to run 60 minutes the following day on Tuesday then, was a great success. It came after leading the RAO session and doing some heavy lifting for the rest of the morning. I think the heavy lifting actually helped to activate all my little stabiliser muscles which meant I could run a bit more ‘free’. Still, it wasn’t a great 60 minutes and I had to stop twice to do some stretching but it was still a progression from Monday.

Which continued into Wednesday as well. This time, I ran from the mechanics and went out to Belair, did a loop, felt stiff and sore on the trails and retreated home. On the final few km’s home I actually really started to loosen up and thought about progressing it to 70 minutes but decided against it. Stay in front of the injury, don’t chase more running just because you can. I even managed some strides after this jog which was exciting and very promising but could still feel my sore hip when doing some big single leg hops.

The strides weren’t the only exciting thing on Wednesday though. I had a MRI appointment to go and see what was actually occurring with my hip. I did feel a bit silly going in because it was starting to progress and be ok but I thought it would be a good idea none the less to actually see what was the issue. The whole MRI experience was actually pretty exciting. Get naked down to the undies, put a gown on, lie very still in a big tube of a machine, listen to it beep randomly, feel the camera pad heat up, no sense of time, just stay still. I almost fell asleep by the end. When it finished I asked the radiologist for a quick look at the pictures and noticed a few white spots but no real obvious stress fracture in my bone so I thought I was pretty right. Great success!

Not quite. Emma had a look at my results briefly that night and told me that I probably had a few thing going on in my joint but not necessarily with my bone. It wasn’t the worst case scenario but it wasn’t the best case scenario. Given how good my Tuesday run felt after doing some heavy lifting I opted to do some more heavy lifting work on Thursday before my run to yield the same benefits. It worked pretty well and this turned out to be one of the best runs I’ve had in the last month or so. Only 2/10 pain at worst, nice sunny day, cracked 70 minutes and felt like I had a rhythm going. The progression was continuing and it looked like I would be able to race on Sunday at this stage.

I still wanted to get a session done though beforehand just to see how my body felt at pace and how it would recover afterwards. On Friday I ran the RAO session, got myself sorted, and just before I was about to head out for a run Emma sent through my official results from the MRI. I had a labral tear and an intralabral cyst. Again, not great, but not too bad either. Means I can still run if I want too but I really need to take it careful and build up some strength in my left leg/hip to make sure it doesn’t get worse. The cyst and tear should repair themselves but if I overdo it then they won’t. Having to remove a cyst via surgery would be terrible.

I still decided to do the session in the end as I felt good. A quick 2 minute effort, 1 minute jog a few times followed by some 1 minute on, 1 minute off. 15 minutes of work all up and I got down to some fast paces. Great success?

Yes. I was able to head back to The RunHouse pretty positive and then jumped in the car for an 8hr drive over to Melbourne. I would’ve gone even if I wasn’t racing but the fact I was confident I was going to race made the drive a little easier. After a stop in Bordertown and Ballarat I arrived in Brighton to stay with family friends the Dohnts just after 8pm. Brilliant.

The next morning was a little busy. I had to get into the city for a group shakeout run and met a few famous faces there plus the normal RAO crew. I was a bit stiffer than I would’ve liked on this run but put it down to the travel the day before. After the run I went to the exclusive Nike Company store that’s supposedly invite only but when inside it felt just as busy as any other store. Much the opposite of what I was expecting. Every man and their dog was also making the most of the 40% discount you receive in there buying heaps of shirts and shoes. I bought a new pair of running shorts to replace some holey ones and all up the adventure out there and time waiting in store costed me over an hour!

Which meant I was pushing it to get back to Brighton, park my car and catch the train back into the city to test out that mode of transport for race day. It worked fine and I had a bit of time to spare. The reason I was heading back into the city was to attend the elite briefing and collect my bib similar to Sydney. Except, where Sydney had World Athletics Officials conducting it, this briefing was very Melbourne. We had an acknowledgment of country and someone introduce themselves with all their pronouns. Plus some marketing spiel from Nike. I got my bib in the end had a chat with some other mates and then finally returned to the Dohnts house for a well earned afternoon nap.

What followed that nap was a bit more relaxing, an arvo walk, dinner with the Dohnts and then an early bedtime. I was really unsure about how the next day would play out. Would my leg/hip feel ok? Would my fitness allow me to run fast or will I get exposed? What will happen in the other events? Yadda yadda yadda… The only way to find out the answers to these questions was to go to sleep and get stuck in on Sunday.

Race day: I actually felt pretty good warming up. My body wasn’t sore and my gait wasn’t too restricted. I knew I was still carrying something but I was able to stride out pretty confidently. My game plan heading into the race was to stick around near Connor and try and close a bit harder in the final few km’s than I did at the Dolphin 10km earlier in the year (where I ran the first 7km’s well but not the last 3km’s. Given this course was a lot hillier than the Dolphin Run course I was expecting anything from 30:25 to 32 minutes.

In the first few km’s I settled into a pace that was on track for just below 31 minutes. I felt good and I had someone to chase for a bit and then run with. Slowly, a second pack formed with Connor and myself in it so I knew I was in the right area. The only annoying thing is I had started out a bit ahead of this group and they only closed to me and another runner at around 4km’s on one of the big hills. I didn’t feel too exhausted going up the hills but noticed going downhill I couldn’t turn my legs over as fast as the other guys. Was it my sore hip? Or was it my lack of faster training since the marathon? Either way, I was heading out the back door of the pack through 7km’s, right when I wanted to be picking it up.

I tried pretty hard to stay onto Connor’s back as he got a gap but also didn’t want to blow up entirely. I let him go a bit and tried to run out the last couple of km’s as best I could but really knew I was going to log a result I’d be a little disappointed with. Getting beaten by training partners is never fun. Sure, running into the MCG was a pretty cool experience and I picked up my pace in the final sprint across the grass but I was pretty glad to be done with it and not damage my hip/leg any further. I ran 31:25 (1 minute off my PB) and finished 11th. It’s hard to gauge what the result means given I’m only four weeks post Sydney marathon, I had five days off last week and I really haven’t had any rhythm in my running since Sydney. When I ran my PB I was moving really well for 8-10 weeks prior. To still be within 1 minute given my issues and the nature of the course I’d say it’s an ok result. It’s always hard as well to go from one exceptional result (Sydney) to the next without feeling a little let down.

The good thing about having an ok result is that it does motivate me to improve on it next time. Plus, it was good to get a feel for the 10km and the Melbourne marathon event in itself. Without racing the 10km I wouldn’t have been able to get into the elite room, mingle with other elites and then also be allowed to watch the finish line as the winners of the half and full marathons finished.

It’s crazy to think of how much I love running and follow it as a sport but this event was the first time I’d ever seen in real life an Australian male run 61:42 for a half marathon and 2:11:49 for a full marathon. Seeing that level of talent and quality up close was awesome and is probably the biggest takeaway from the event myself. It was the same in Sydney in 2023 when I watched Brett Robinson run the marathon there. It’s a little too early to say but seeing Jack Rayner cross the finish line in Melbourne on the weekend did motivate me to seriously consider racing the marathon in Melbourne in 2025. If I was to continue my progression in running, have a bit of luck with the field there’s a fair chance I could challenge for Top 5 next year which would be amazing.

But enough future dreaming, back to the present and to finish off my time in Melbourne I headed back into the city for some drinks with Brett and his mates first (including another Olympian and several Australian representatives) before joining up with RAO’s drinks. It was nice to relax and enjoy a bit of the social life in Melbourne. It’s probably the most beers I’ve drunk in a while too which was good (and without any repercussions the next day).

Overall, you probably already get the picture that I enjoyed elements of my trip in Melbourne; being part of the festivities was great but I wish I ran a bit faster.

The next couple of weeks are again interesting from a training and racing perspective. I’d like to still prioritise getting my body right and getting back into some consistent 140-160km training weeks. I’d also like to race the State 10,000m Champs in two weeks time. I don’t think I’m in good enough shape to run the 29:45 qualifier I wrote about previously so if I choose to race in two weeks time it’ll purely be to aim for a PB and to race in the State Championships which always motivates me. Along with running I also have some work in Quorn to do so there’ll be a bit of driving involved and a bit of Quorn life too. Thanks for reading this week.