{"id":338814,"date":"2023-10-15T09:09:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-15T09:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338814"},"modified":"2023-10-15T10:00:52","modified_gmt":"2023-10-15T10:00:52","slug":"olympians-weird-experience-as-marathon-pass-mark-nailed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338814","title":{"rendered":"Olympian's 'weird experience' as marathon 'pass mark' nailed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two weeks after\ufeff Collingwood<\/a> and Brisbane<\/a> players tested their limits of endurance in the AFL grand final at the MCG<\/a>, two-time Australian Olympian Ryan Gregson battled cramps and exhaustion on the same turf as he made an impressive marathon debut on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Gregson would be done with his races in about three-and-a-half minutes in his days as a 1500-metre runner, but the 33-year-old's move to the marathon has signed him up for cut and thrust exceeding two hours.<\/p>\n

In a chat with Wide World of Sports ahead of the Melbourne Marathon<\/a>, the Brisbane-based runner said he wanted to break \ufefftwo hours and 15 minutes in his first hit-out over the 42.195-kilometre distance.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Tszyu's three-word message to 'delusional' US champ<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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He nailed that goal, crossing the MCG finish line in second place and stopping the clock at 2:14:54.<\/p>\n

Victoria's Reece Edwards spent nearly the whole race running with Gregson and eventually grabbed victory, posting 2:14\ufeff:34.<\/p>\n

He and Gregson hunted down another Victorian in Liam Adams, the inspirational tradie marathon runner, who attacked from the gun and streaked out to a lead of one minute and 50 seconds, before fading to finish third in 2:15:37.<\/p>\n

Adams, a 2:08:39 marathon runner, had tackled the Berlin Marathon only three weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

\"Two-time<\/p>\n

Gregson entered the MCG and stumbled to the finish line, clutching at his right hamstring and grimacing.<\/p>\n

But he didn't suffer any injury and said he was "very happy" with cracking the 2:15 barrier.<\/p>\n

"I think that's a pass mark for me," Gregson told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"I'd probably say I felt really good for 32 kilometres … I realised my body was starting to get a bit achy in the legs, and it kind of held together until about 37 kilometres, but over that last five kilometres I started to cramp in my right hamstring and it just made it too hard to really push on from there.<\/p>\n

"Engine-wise I really wanted to get on with it and finish hard, but every time I tried to pick up the pace my hamstring kept kind of spasming, and from there it was just about managing my body to make sure I actually got to the finish line, so that was certainly a new experience for me."<\/p>\n

He said he "lost control" of his body and described it as a "weird experience".<\/p>\n

"I wouldn't say it's painful; it's more just your body is completely shutting down and you're losing function," he said.<\/p>\n

"I hit my leg a bit and it would kind of relieve my cramp.<\/p>\n

"Thankfully I got there in the end with a respectful time."<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/p>\n

Despite the gruelling experience, he said he "definitely enjoyed it" and would "love to go again".<\/p>\n

"I'll have to sit down with Nic [coach Nic Bideau] over the next week or so and hash out a plan moving forward.<\/p>\n

"But today was definitely a positive experience and it showed that I can cover the distance.<\/p>\n

"Hopefully next time I do it I'm better prepared to make sure instead of my body getting through 37 kilometres, it makes the whole 42 kilometres."<\/p>\n

His wife Genevieve Gregson<\/a>, a three-time Olympian, was the first woman home in the half-marathon.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old\ufeff completed the course in 1:10:07 and was quick to give her husband a hand as he staggered over the finish line.<\/p>\n

Ryan even walked back to their hotel,\ufeff which he estimates was three kilometres.<\/p>\n

"That was my cool-down," he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two weeks after\ufeff Collingwood and Brisbane players tested their limits of endurance in the AFL grand final at the MCG, two-time Australian Olympian Ryan Gregson […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=338814"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338818,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338814\/revisions\/338818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/338816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=338814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=338814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=338814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}