It's now been a couple of weeks since I pulled out at 30km in the World Champs Marathon. Pulling out sucked!

I still cannot believe I had to do that. I have been so critical of athletes who have failed at major championships, and now it appears I have become one of them. My record currently stands at 0 from 2, and it really disappoints me that my stats so far are way less than desirable. I guess the only way is up.

Anyway, a quick rundown on what happened just before I pulled out. About 25km into the race, my calves started to tighten up on me, with the outside of my right soleus bearing the brunt of the tightness, and by 29km it had gotten really tight. I had tried running at the highest and lowest points on the course throughout the race, but it had not helped. Then, around 100-200m before 30km, it became unbearable and I hobbled across the final timing mat I would reach for the day. I turned off the course, took the Australian singlet off, limped away to the athletes area, tried to make sense of the million things running through my head, and then sat down trying to tell myself that didn't just happen. Unfortunately, it had just happened. I was somewhat comforted by seeing the likes of Gebre Gerbremariam and Abderrahim Goumri back there as well, but it still didn't ease the pain I was in physically and mentally.

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