Half Marathon - tick!

First half marathon done and dusted.  Whoops, did I say FIRST???  That might imply there could be others.  Right at this very moment in time perish the thought!   I'm aching.  But I guess it's a good ache.  An accomplished and proud and pretty amazing ache.    Okay so here's the race wrap up if you're interested.

Saturday night I stayed down in Geelong with my mum so that I could get a good night's sleep.  Mike was going to come down early on Sunday morning.   Being that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, mum and I thought oh well, best we carbo load, so I made spaghetti for dinner.  Jamie Oliver tomato and basil sauce, no cheese.  Yum.

Early night and after a fitful night's sleep where I reckon I woke up about three times mum and I headed down to the river nice and early so we could get a good park.  I had a few worried moments on the way as it looked like spots of rain, but nope, just my dirty windscreen !!    

No sooner had we arrived we met up with Leitchy and Sarah.  For those that don't know, Leitchy is a very highly inspirational gent, plus he has a persuasive nature, because it was he that talked Sarah and I into this race in the first place.  And Sarah is a fantastic girl who I "met" in the 12WBT Runners Connect group, and this was the first time we were to meet in person.  She's pretty awesome I will tell you that.  Excited smiles, or was that teeth chattering grins, it was a tad coolish!

Here's Leitchy practising his soft knee approach to running  ;-)   To stop him from towering over us!  The rose between two more roses??  ha.

Dark clouds looming behind me.  Mike still hadn't made it, race time was approaching.  This is the look of WTF have I got myself into.  21.1 kilometres is a flipping long way.  Lots of questions, do I need to go to the loo one last time being the main one!   Thank goodness I was a rebel and took my headphones, as I'd noticed others with headphones there too.  The rules said no headphones.  But the thought of 21.1 kilometres listening the drivel coming from my own head was too much to bear.

Mike made it about 5 minutes prior to the start.  Yay.  Quick good luck hug and a couple of pics.  I was so glad that I got tapped on the shoulder and to my surprise AlleyCat introduced herself (gosh do I even know her real name??)  She had stumbled onto my blog a little bit ago and I've been reading hers.  She said she recognised my running top, being that it's my fave and appears regularly on my runs! ha.  I'm a bit out of order here, this photo was actually taken after the race.

So the wise cracking Race Director in his address before the race mentioned that the quicker we run, the quicker we finish.  Funny!  And then it was started.  I quickly started my Runkeeper on my phone and popped it in my belt and off I went.  Sarah and Leitchy were close by, almost like a security blanket.  We ran in silence, each with our own thoughts, running our own race, but it was comforting to be able to see them.  After five minutes I realised heck, even though I was at the back of the pack, I was running faster already than my nice LSR's, I just wanted to finish, not set any records. Well actually, I had a cross-fingers-hope-to-finish-time in my head of under 3 hours.

It was perfect conditions.  The coldness at the start was comforting, the sun was lovely as it popped out from behind clouds at intervals, no wind, it was perfect.  And on and on it went.  Being that it was entirely run on a walking track, there were no intersections or roads to deal with, that was great.  And people were out and about their regular activities too.   It was a bit disconcerting as I was running along and could see on the other side of the river the front runners were already making their way down the other side of the river.  Finally got to the Breakwater turning point and I decided to high five some of the marshalls, ha!

To start with I was only going to walk at the water stops, but as the race went on I discovered there were a number of times I needed to slow down and walk and take a breather.  No shame in that, walk is not a four letter word.  I just kept on moving, never stopping.    It was a nice surprise when I was about the 7 or 8km mark and Mike and mum had crossed the foot bridge to cheer out on the other side of the river.  Scary photo as I reached up to high five him and he snapped the camera!  Hmmm I was still smiling at this point.

On that side of the river there were a few groups of families with young children watching the race and the little ones would pop their hands out, so what the heck, I high fived them too!  I was a high fiving fool!!

I remember getting to the 11km mark and that was when it hit me I was over half way there.  All downhill form here (figuratively speaking because some of the rises to come were only gentle but they were certainly not downhill!)

Finally got to Fyansford, thought I'd never make it, and from then on in every drink break I would throw half the cup of water over my head and down my back.  I still couldn't visualise myself finishing this thing, it felt like it was lasting forever.

Once I got to the 16km marker I remember Leitchy up ahead looking back over his shoulder and yelling out to me ... "It's only a 5k fun run from here!!!"  And I remember thinking in my head "SHUT UP!!!!" I don't think I said it out loud, maybe I did.  My right foot had the beginnings of a blister.  But it was there I really started to count backwards.

At the 17km marker I thought okay, only 4km to go.  That's my short run around town on the side of the highway I live, it's exactly 4km, so I started visualising myself running up my street and around the corner and up to the golf course, it helped.

At the 18km marker I thought hello, I'm in unchartered territory here, this is the longest I've ever run.

At the 19km marker I held onto the thought that there was only 2km to go.  I remember "Happy" came on my headphones and I was starting to feel happy, that it was almost over.  Some of the runners who had long since finished were wandering back and would yell out encouragement.

At the 20km marker that was it, only 1km to go, that's just a run around my block at home left, that was a comforting thought.  I took the earphones out and just enjoyed the last kilometre.   I have no idea if it was a chance meeting or if she had been waiting for me (because it was a long wait for her as I came 6th last!) but Alleycat called out and ran along side me for encouragement, which I really appreciated.

Oops, I'm not meant to be on the path, I'm meant to be on the road she said!! 

No one said jumping was part of the half marathon!!

I was smiling here at Mike, probably a bit delirious, knowing I was almost there!  

An exhausted smile perhaps.

50 metres to go!!!  And the crowd went wild!   Perhaps in my head it did.

It was nice to get a little cheer.

Sarah was hot on my heels and Leitchy right behind her.  Here we were the moment we met up with each other after the finish line.  Exhausted, thrilled, sore!  We did it.

And here are the stats from my Runkeeper which I didn't turn off straight away.  I cracked the 3 hour!  Yay.

And here are the official stats.   2 hours 49 minutes 33 seconds.  I came sixth last!  But you know what, I might have come 731st, but looking at the Tomato Timing the numbers for the individuals went up to 900 so for those that didn't turn up, I beat them too!  Right?

By the end my calves felt like they had tennis balls under the skins so Sarah had hightailed it to the massage tent and I quickly (or awkwardly quickly) followed.  Had to fill out a form with our details and the first question was "Athelete's Name".  HUH?  Hey when did I become an athlete?  Wow.  I got the most wonderfully painful massage on my calves, I swear I almost flew through the roof of the tent a couple of times it was so painful, but oh so good.  I think that went a long way to helping me walking that afternoon, not to mention a 2+ hour drive home after a bit of a rest up.

You know one of my fears was that I would have taken that long to finish that they would have packed up when I came over the finish line.  They had started removing the barriers by that stage and it was then, while we were waiting for our massage that a cheer went up and we looked around and the last runner was coming through.  I tell you she was shuffling painfully and one of the official bike riders was right behind her and everyone was clapping and there was more than a tear I would expect, I know I started to tear up.  A wonderful moment for her, but in my head I was screaming stop packing up!!!  Let her get through, which of course they did.

Sarah and family and mum and I decided to go for a brunch lunch and Eggs Benedict was the order of the day for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Hit the spot fantastically.   Mike in the mean time had gone to visit his dad in the hospital and do a few things at his house.

It was a long drive home, but we did it in tandem, and funnily enough, I put my race mix on and listened to that in the car on the way home.  Reliving the moments I guess.  

So big tick off the bucket list.  To run a half marathon before I'm 50.  And I did it with 4 and a half months to spare!

Keep Calm !!

Couldn't help myself !!   What can I say, I'm a little nervous, but I'm glad I did that 18km run a couple of weeks ago, I think that's the moment the self-belief set in.  I've got lots of support from friends and family and especially my "12wbt family".  I know that my runner friends will be out pounding the pavement at the same time as I am taking this challenge on.

I'm heading down to Geelong today so I can stay with mum and get a good night's sleep.  I've packed everything (hopefully).  I have checked a few times that my knickers are in the bag.  Ha!  There has been a discussion on our runners group as to going Commando.  I think that would be even more uncomfy!  

So I'll catch you on the flip side.   Obviously with lots of pics  ;-)

Socks!!

So I want to talk about socks.  I have a few different pairs, a lot of el cheapo ones and my favourite running socks are my Under Armour ones I got from Anaconda.   Although after a few years of washing and wearing they've gotten a bit hard and scratchy and blisters are becoming prevalent again, starting oh about 7 or 8km into a run.

So I scouted around online and found Socks for Living and on a whim bought two different brands of socks.   The first were Compressport Run Pro Racing Socks V2 Low Cut.  Now don't be alarmed, I don't call myself "pro racing" anything!!  But I liked the look of them.  Although when I decided on a size I had to work out my size on US sizings.  Although the length was good, I found the cut across the top of the sock was quite tight (perhaps were the ESS on compress would lay there).  Perhaps that was the compression part of it?  Who knows.

I thought the little bobbly bits were interesting, almost like pressure points.  Interesting texture.  I'd say they were okay for me, but still not what I was after.  I'd give them a B for me.
.  

I also bought Sof Sole Women's Running Select Low Cut.  Now these were more like it.   They were light but still had that nice amount of pressure around my inner foot.  I liked these A LOT.  In fact I will definitely be going back and buying more.  Plus they were in a two pack so more economical.  Again, I'm one for the low cut socks, and like the ones before they also had a tab at the back, not that that has ever been an issue for me and blisters.  My blisters comes on the edge of my inner foot about an inch under my toe.   These ones however have seen a blisterless run, combined with Body Glide of course.  A+

Great service from Socks for Living, it was a chance stumble on the site, but so glad I did.  I'll be back.   Anyone care to share what their fave socks are?

Did my last long run on Saturday, now a few shorter runs before next Sunday.  Honestly I really don't know what I'm doing, I'm gathering any advice anyone cares to throw at me and taking everything on board.  It was good though on Saturday, as there was light misty rain.  I don't like running in the rain, so it was good to do a bit of a rehearsal in case next Sunday is rainy.   All good.  Oh except where two heeler type dogs came rushing out of their unfenced yard straight for me, barking like Cujo!  I did a panic and meekly yelled out Go Home! Until their owner showed up from around the side of his house and profusely apologised.  I tell you though, I almost pee'd my pants.

Hope your Easter has been a lovely one.  We went to the dawn service here in town this morning, the churches in town take turns in hosting it.  It's a nice small service by the lake, followed by hot cross buns, coffee and little eggs for everyone for breakfast.  It's a nice morning to chat with friends from town.

It all adds up

So I mentioned that Runkeeper were doing this thing, trying to clock up 118,000,000 miles before this year's Boston Marathon.  The website telling you all about it is 118 for Boston.   And when you clock your run on Runkeeper which I do, you tag your run with #118forboston and the tally of your run goes across to the site.  If you look at it, it's adding up all the time.  Crazy amazing thinking of people running all over the world right now, considering it's almost time to go to bed here.

So I worked out when you save your run, if you quickly look at their website as your run is registering, your Runkeeper photo gets put on the front screen of the site.  Hey there I am!!!!  Bottom left corner in the pink shirt.  Yahoooo.  Hey, we all have to find our fame any which way we can.

So tell me runners, I was in a quandry this morning and wasn't entirely sure what to do.  I was running on the outskirts of town and ran past the house that had the two Golden Retriever dogs that ran out at me a few months ago - I wrote about it briefly here.

So this morning I was doing my run and ran past that house again and the two dogs were sunning themselves in the paddock across the road and GAME ON!  They decided they wanted to play and follow me.  I called to them in my sternest voice a number of times "GO HOME" but still they bounded and played with each other and kept pace with me.  They were having a wow of a time.

Across Ararat Road I went heading to a stock route which cuts through to the Hamilton Highway.  They followed me the whole stock route until I got to the Highway where I had planned to run on the grass on the other side of the cypress trees.  What to do?  I did not want to be responsible for them as I went to run down the highway.  What if they ran out onto the highway where the big semi-trailer trucks often barrel into town??  So I turned tail and ran back the way I came down the stock route back to the corner where they lived again.  And follow me they did and ran back to their house and I continued on my way, albeit a different route than planned.

What would you have done? 

And just because ... here's a pic from Saturday.  We went to a very casual wedding at a farm, eh okay it was my husband's ex-wife's wedding!  Strange family that we are.  We all get on and so the kids know no different, isn't this how all families are!!!  But I was feeling good and slim, it was a nice feeling.  

13 days to go till the Half.  Tick tock.  My race pack was mailed to me the other day and in as well as my number and details about the course and a map, there was an organ donation pamphlet!  Eeeek, perhaps they are expecting some casualties on the day!!! 

Yet another ... Longest Run Ever !!

I'm going to have to work out a different way of titling these posts if my runs keep getting longer and longer.  And I am absolutely blown away that I set my mind to 18km and actually achieved it on Sunday.

I'll back track a bit, as it wasn't ideal circumstances in which I ran the 18km.  Saturday night Mike and I headed down to Geelong to a birthday party of a dear friend of mine.  Dress ups, fun fun fun, the whole shebang, it was terrific.  I drove home the 2 hours (Mike married well, me being the designated driver!!) and we didn't get home till 12.30am.  Wind the clock back so okay lets call it 11.30pm when we got to bed.  Knackered!

So the alarm went off and I opened one eye and thought, urrrgh, late night, can't I just roll over and hit the snooze.  Nine minutes later it went again.  I remember my friend Munuela once saying that the pain I would put myself through not doing a run, would be worse than the run itself.  So I dragged myself out of bed, splashed water on my face and woke myself up and got ready.

I knew I wanted to do 18km, this would be it, this would be the top run of my half marathon training and Mike had suggested running from Mortlake to Noorat would be about 18km.  So Sunday morning about 7.30am I set out.

It's a long road for sure, cows in the paddocks for company (actually the cows ran from the fence faster than I was running, that's for sure), I ran on the side of the bitumen and the handful of cars and trucks that came the other way were very courteous, but of course I jumped all the way into the gravel or grass when they went by, urrgh prickles!

And look.  Look at this!!!  2 hours 30 minutes.  I wonder if this puts me in good stead to do the half marathon in under 3 hours.  It's only another 3 kilometres right?  That's my goal, under 3 hours.  Actually my goal is merely to finish, but under 3 hours would be great.

The aim of Sunday's run was to run to Noorat where I would ring Mike to come pick me up to take me home.  Around about 2 hours after I left, little did I know that Mike decided to drive up to see how far I'd come.  I hadn't seen him drive past and when I got to a certain angle of the road I looked ahead and see him leaning against the car parked on the side of the road.

Got to love it, as he saw me approaching he ran across to my side of the road and held out the drink bottle!  In true race style hey?  I stopped for a bit, bemoaned that my knees were hurting and that I didn't think I could run the rest, but he told me to pull up my big girl panties and just go for it.  He knew I wouldn't be satisfied if I got that far and didn't complete the rest.  As once I hit the mount up ahead it was downhill all the way.

So then he got in his car and slowly drove a bit further up the road yelling out encouragement and parked again and snapped a few photos.  Very blurry, but yes, that Mount in the background there is Mount Shadwell on the outskirts of Mortlake.  Yep, I had run THAT FAR!

So off he went again yelling out he'd meet me at Noorat.  I tell you, running downhill into town was the best feeling.  A sleepy tiny little town, no one in the main street except for Mike cheering as I got to him.  Yay, I had done it.  "Not quite" he yelled, I had to keep going another block up the road to hit the magical 18.  I begged to differ, but I did it anyway.

GRAND TOTAL 18.24km and Runkeeper gave me a nice trophy there.  Thank you Runkeeper, I live for the recognition!

So wow, what can I say, I'm very VERY lucky to have Mike as my support crew in my corner.  He's so very proud of me and what I have been achieving and he too is looking forward to the half marathon coming up.  Oh and what a guy, he even remembered to bring the chocolate milk for when I finished my run.  Yes folks, I'm enjoying a choccy milk at the end of a long run, a hint given to me by an ultra-marathoner that I work with.  Yum.

So I expected to feel sore after Sunday.  And yes Sunday afternoon and evening I was walking around like a little old lady.  But I have sprung back surprisingly well.  I was surprised.

Oh and something new I tried on Sunday, finally took some sustenance with me.  After the week before I was so famished at the tail end of my run, I reckon I could have eaten one of the cows I ran past, so I knew it was time to start downing something during a run.  I have never tried Gu or Gels, but Matilda of Run Mum fame had mentioned Amazeballs from Runners Kitchen.   So I placed an order during the week and as quick as a wink they were here.

I had one ball before my run, being that I had just gotten up and don't usually eat before I head out.  That's a lot of kms to run on an empty stomach.  And I took two with me in my pocket.  I had one at the 1 hour mark, and another at the 2 hour mark when Mike met up with me.  And I can honestly say I felt good, no after affects, no stitch, and most of all no hunger that would make me bite the belly of a low flying duck.

Thanks Matilda for the recommend.  I'll definitely be a repeat customer now.