APRIL

JAMIE KAVANAGH 

Fresh off his marathon debut in Canberra, Jamie is thirsty. After an interrupted training block, he managed to nail his race and pacing, coming in hot in an impressive 2:56:32. Hear about it from the man himself.

Tell us about yourself:
I’m originally from Dublin, Ireland but having been living here in Melbourne for almost 2 years. 

How did you get into running?
I used to run a lot of track and cross country when I was school but fell out of love with it. 3 or so years ago I was pretty burnt out in my job at the time, so started running in the evenings to blow of some steam. It’s just kind of snowballed to where I am now!

Favourite locations to train?
The track at George Knott Reserve for some faster stuff, an out and back along the Merri for the Sunday Long run, anywhere along the Yarra Boulevard, to name a few.

How was your build up for Canberra? Any disasters along the way? 
The training block was a bit messy. I’d set out a full plan with a build and taper, but tweaked a joint in my back about 3 weeks in and had to take a full 2 weeks off and then rehab it. Took me awhile to get back, but thankfully I was able to string 4 or 5 weeks of solid training together in the lead up. 

Thoughts on your first marathon?
Delighted to have my first full under the belt! I’d been planning on doing one for a while, but Covid put it on hiatus. It was about as hard as I thought it would be, I didn’t hit “the wall” until near the finish.
How did you celebrate your performance?
We had a couple of beers that night with a ragtag gang of other racers we’d met on the day. I was pretty cooked post-race so didn’t last too long!

What’s next?
Run Melbourne Half in July and then Melb Mara full in October - hopefully improve on my times for both distances.

Is there an individual/group you’d like to pay homage to?
Massive shoutout to everyone over at AM:PM.RC. An amazing group doing huge things for the run community here in Melbourne. Had I not met them my running wouldn’t be anywhere near where it is today.

Favourite beer?
Any Mountain Goat Ale. I really love a Guinness, but it just doesn’t hit the same here as home!

From ERNIOLD to Jamie and AM:PM crew.
https://www.strava.com/activities/5104971915