GOR (a bit more than a) Half Marathon!!!

So unless you've been living on the moon, you may be aware I was doing the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon last Sunday!!  Or I should say "a bit more than a" half marathon as it is 23km as opposed to the usual 21.1km.  I will admit I did wonder if I had that extra 2km in me.  Turns out I did!

So sit back for a read, this is a photo heavy post as a picture tells a thousand words, and I'll just narrate the other thousand!!

Last weekend was full of running and friendships and enjoying like minded people who love this running caper just as much as I.  Our beautiful girls from the 12WBT Runners Connect Group were out in force over the weekend running the various events - the 14km on the Saturday and the Half and Full Marathons on the Sunday.  It was a time of renewing acquaintances, making new friendships and drinking in the atmosphere.

Saturday the weather was amazing and it was wonderful to see my friends Kellie, Alison, Mel, Jane and Anna running the 14km.  Many meet up photos were taken as we found more people.  We come from far and wide here - country Victoria, Melbourne, even beautiful Melissa from Tassie was over for it.

The sensational Warrnie crew.

So for those of us running on the Sunday and beautiful Floss (the cow!!) who came to support, well you all know of our group's cow fetish right?  We had important cheering to do to bring our girls home.  They had no idea we would be half way down the road as you came back into town with our signs and cowbell ringing and hooting and hollaring.  Floss blew us away, she brought so many smiles on people's faces, she would run alongside those who were walking and in pain getting them running again ... or maybe they were running way from the crazy cow, who knows!  We had a ball.

After the 14km race had been held we wandered back and celebrated with the 14km runners and looked enviously at the beautiful finishers medal they had received knowing the job ahead of us the next day to be worthy of our medals.   Trina and I had been looking at the gorgeous blue sky, would it bode well for the following day?  We kept checking various weather apps until we found one that made us feel a little better.  But we knew we were in for a wild day with 35km/h head winds forecast.

We had rented a house between five of us so checked in and Sue, Trina and I decided to head down to the beach to paddle and stroll, not being too strenuous on the legs though, before sunset.  It was beautiful.  

The evening was sensational.

Sue's exuberance of getting into the water suckered me in.

I rolled up my trousers and all was fine until a wave came in!

Sunday morning we were up early the five of us - Sue, Trina, Jane, Shev and I did our ritual pre-race morning routines and breakfasts. Well Jane had already done her hard work on the Saturday at the 14km so she pepped us up. We walked a block to the busses which were well organised and said goodbye to the Marathon girl Sue who was catching a different bus to Lorne, and made our way to Kennett River, the start of the half marathon.  In the dark as the bus was travelling I was trying to mentally feel the hills as we went up and down and I swear we must have been on the wrong bus as it was a never-ending drive. 

We got to Kennett River and Shev had us organised as she'd done this before, bag drop, loo stop, sunrise, greeting friends, photos.  It was a beautiful morning, what on earth was the Willy Weather app talking about.  Surely the weather man had got it wrong.

Runners milling about on the beach capturing the beautiful sunrise.

Trina and I saw a couple of crazy Scots - yes they run in kilts and horns - take note Mike!!  And we had to get our pics taken.  We had already bag dropped at that stage with our warm clothing to be taken to the end, but ah ha!  I had a couple of disposable throw away plastic raincoats we could pop on to keep warm - they actually do keep the chill off.

I saw my Warrnie buddy Leah, a sight for sore eyes.  Just seeing this beautiful girl who inspires me so much set my racing mind to rest.  Shev in behind us here too.  Both these girls are gun runners that I'm so lucky to call my friends.

A bit excited I needed a start line pic before things got too crazy.

  

We all needed start line pics - Jacqui, me, Trina and Rachael.  
Jill came in later but I don't have a pic of that one.

They kept moving us back as more and more runners got ready, self-seeded.  And even in amongst this throng of people there was a kind of calm in knowing we had quite a number of our 12WBT Runners Connect group out there on the course.  Waiting for the start amongst the crowd of runners lined up, I feel a hand slip into mine and I looked at Trina.  We were full of anticipation ready to take on this beast.  And before we knew it the race had started.  It would be starting simultaneously at 8am - us at Kennett River, the Marathoners and Ultra-Marathoners at Lorne.

I just set off at my own plodding pace knowing there were two big hills to start with.  I kept thinking of my training runs up Cairnlea Lane or Mount Leura or Lake Pertobe Road.  They stood me in good stead.  I see somewhere waaaay over int he distance where we would be running to.  Heck, what was I thinking.  But I was planning to take it just 1km at a time, be mindful of the beautiful scenic surroundings, when on earth does a person get to run along the beautiful Great Ocean Road free of traffic.

This was a blessing and I was taking part in something so much bigger than just a run - this was a beast of a run and it would take every strength of mental toughness I could muster.   I stopped a couple of times along the way for a quick pic, walked a little, ran a lot.  It was spectacular.  I think I was at about 13 or 14km when the eventual marathon winner passed me.  Yes he started at 8am and had run about 35km and caught me.  Crazy stuff.  It was thrilling to see. Not to mention he is the fellow who fitted me for my last pair of runners at the Running Company!

This is a bit of a lonely run, other than the runners alongside you.  There's not much audience participation at all until you get to Skenes Creek.  There was one farm where the farmers were down at their gate handing out snake lollies to runners.  He saw me coming and yelled out "here's a green snake to match your shirt".   It's not until you get to the odd water stations along the route and then Skenes Creek where you really get a bit of audience participation, people were cheering.


Mother Nature decided that we were going to earn this medal today and she threw everything at us - we didn't just have to contend with rolling hills, but the sunshine soon turned to 35km/h head winds, then some wicked cross winds, then we saw the most glorious rainbow.  But with a rainbow there's rain and soon enough we saw the clouds covering Apollo Bay and the rain started.  Showered for a while and then it bucketed down with about 5km to go.  

Just knowing that everyone was in the same boat, hat down I just kept plodding.   Seeing Floss and Jane (pic below) was a highlight.  OMG what a lift of spirits seeing these two crazy cows jumping about cheering and clanging their bells. I was so proud to call out to the lass next to me "they're my friends" she said "you're lucky". Yep I know.

I had been tag teaming with this young girl we were chatting. She said this was her first and last half marathon and I told her by next week she'll be looking for her next one to enter.  She looked at me like I was crazy, I hope she remembers that conversation.  We got to the first lot of buildings in town and I said to her no more walking let's own this. There was no one in front of us at that stage and I told her to soak in the cheers they were all for us. The people were lining the streets and yelling and clapping it was a great feeling.  I called out to her to bring it home strong and from somewhere we both found something and sprinted to the finish line joyous. 

I was given my finisher's medal and I popped it over my neck and took a photo elated and if I thought it had rained before the heavens then opened up as I walked through the chute. I was already saturated so just stood in the rain drinking my drink and eating my banana so happy and thankful that i had the ability to do this. 

3 hours 2 minutes 41 seconds

My goal was 3 hours but maybe next year, although as the great Leitchy has mentioned I did stop for photos so I probably did run the 23km in under 3 hours.   The actual 21.1km mark (official half marathon timing) was 2:50:47, so considering weather conditions and the hills I'm really happy with that.

I ran into Shev at the finish who had obliterated the run with her speed, and she was heading out to give support to our two Marathon girls Sue and Melissa.  So I headed back to the house which was only a block away from the finish line to dry off and change, I found Trina and we then found our bovine friends (giggle) !!

It was here we did our important cheer leading duties.  Oh my goodness what fun.  Floss and Jane brought so many smiles, they were in so many selfie's that runners took, or go pro videos, there was even a runner who came back after the run to ask "why cows?" as she was a dairy farmer!   It was an awesome experience cheering on the runners - by this stage the half marathon runners had long since finishes and we were cheering the full marathon and ultra marathon runners.  What stamina.   Sue and Melissa came through to riotous bell clanging and cheering from us.  It was a great feeling being part of it.

This was truly the most amazing event I've ever been a part of, the hardest race I've ever run, the toughest conditions I've had to endure - and you know what - I'd do it all again in a heart beat.  Roll on next year.

These are the beautiful girls I shared this most magical weekend with - I will call us the Fabulous Five.  Between us five we ran 127 kilometres.

That night we went out for a beautiful meal, although our dear friend Shev had to leave early to get home, the rest of us were staying an extra night.  We drank champagne, wore our medals all night and finished up the evening with Baileys hot chocolate.  Yep we know how to party alright - we were all in bed by 9pm!!!  hahahaha  Exhausted.

And of course Monday morning look at the weather - I took a few quick pics at the beach prior to going home.  Typical!  What a difference a day makes.

Until next year GOR, I'll definitely be back to conquer you once again.