Marathon memories

Three years ago, on Sunday October 10, 2008 at around midday the humble but furiously enthusiastic Mulherin Marathon Support Crew could be seen at the front of a crowd of other furiously enthusiastic support crews, about 1km from the MCG and the finish of the Melbourne Marathon. We were waiting for Chris, Andy and I think Stu and Dan (two friends).

As we waited, watched and cheered the runners on, Ben was sending periodic texts of inquiry from his hospital bed like this one:

“Well done guys, solid effort. Hope you’re all happy.”

He was sick and had begun the last couple of months of roller-coasting predictions about his prognosis and increasingly nightmarish experiences with chemotherapy and surgery and had texted prior to the race;

“Haven’t slept…blood is a hassle…canula for IV has to be changed every 48.”

If memory serves me correctly, he had been planning to run that 2008 Melbourne Marathon with Chris and Andy and his friends before he got sick in the June.

Traralgon 2004

He had run two marathons previously - one with Chris and one with Andy who was running the 10km alongside them both. Ben was 18 when he did the Traralgon marathon.

Today Matt, Tim and I formed the cheer squad for Chris who ran the 42km with an unlikely yellow helium balloon bobbing up and down behind him on a tall thin stick, advertising that he was a “pacer” for people wanting to finish in 4 hours 30 minutes. This year Andy opted to don a fluoro vest, ear piece and walkie talkie in order to be a bike-riding official for the half-marathon leaders.

My thoughts today returned often to the marathon of three years ago and I found myself in that same surreal head space I find myself in so often; “Surely it can’t be true. Surely it didn’t happen. Surely he got better...” And on it goes.