Melbourne Marathon Festival weekend

Forgive me blogger for I have sinned, I have fallen off the blogging band-wagon and I have a few races and events to catch you up on, so thank goodness for the race recaps we post in our online running group, so I can refer to.

So back in October, four weeks after Sydney (ouch!) I ran the Melbourne Half Marathon.  What an event, a fun madcapped weekend with many of the crew from the 12wbt Runners Connect group.    

I got up to Melbourne on the Saturday morning and dropped my bags off at the motel and then straight up to the 'G' (the MCG for those not in the know) to pick up my bib ... because stupid me realised only two weeks prior that despite training for this event for so long, despite the build up all year, despite even booking my accommodation way back the January before when they announced the dates ... I had actually forgotten to enter!  

* I'M NOT KIDDING *

Imagine the panic stations when I realised that little tidbit.  Luckily there were still spots two weeks prior and I got in (OMG the devastation if it were full!!) but that meant that I had to pick up my race bib on the morning.

I also did a bit (read .. a lot) of shopping at the race expo.  I went nuts!  I bought a new running cap (light purple, what's not to love about that), some glow in the dark flouro Glimmer gear armbands  for Mike and I for our early morning or evening running, a pair of Ryders sunglasses which I will go on record and say they're the best glasses I've worn, I hardly know I have them on, and I'm sure there were a few other items but my memory is not serving me well tonight!

So lunch was at Federation Square where we were all meeting up and what a hoot it was.  There were ladies that I had met a number of times, a lot of the crew from Victoria, some ladies from NSW that I'd never met and gorgeous Amy came from Queensland and Mel from Tassie and Catherine from WA.  What an Australia-wide group we were.  

And well, any excuse for a photo right?

We went a bit nuts taking photos.

These ladies all mean the world to me from our 12wbt Runners Connect Group.

After a long afternoon of eating and chatting and reminiscing and catching up and making new (in real life) friendships ;-) it was time that everyone started filtering away.  I took my leave, checked into the motel properly (as I'd just left my bag there earlier on in the day) and then wandered to Myer to do some shopping.  I had some pasta in a little sidewalk cafe in one of the street arcades that I tend to go to and then back to the motel for an early night.

Getting my gear ready before I hit the sack and was quite chuffed at my nails.

Ha!  When I bought the green bottle the woman at the chemist said

"didn't think anyone would have bought that colour" !!

Well I don't mind telling you I was tired heading into this weekend and I didn't sleep well, it was a very light sleep and I was up early but I had no idea what the weather was like outside as the motel room had a frosted window that wouldn't open.  So relying on my weather app I was hopeful it wasn't too cold.

Headed down to the MCG and soon joined a throng of runners heading the same way.  I not long got there and ran slap bang into the gorgeous Cat who we read each other's blogs and meet up at races from time to time.  You can read her account of Melbourne HERE.   And anyway, what's with that, tens of thousands of runners and we run into each other in one of the busiest areas where people were going in for the bag drop.  Crazy stuff.  Thanks Universe!   And look at me will you, wearing a very old to be donated/thrown away Contiki windcheater ... really how old do I think I am!!!???

I then headed over to the tennis steps to meet the others at the pre-arranged 7.30am.  The 10km runners were heading over to the start and quick hugs to Katherine, Sarah and Lynne as we spotted their shirts.   Then photos with our half marathon group on the steps and silly hijinks at the start line taking photos.  We heard Mona talk over the loudspeaker and the girls were yelling "Carol's here Steve, over here" ha!  National Athen was sung and then we started.   Mind you they had worked out the microphone system very well, as far back as we were from the start we could hear it all crystal clear.

Full of anticipation for the 21.1km about to face us

with the lovely lady "MCG" in the background, our final destination.

Beth looks about in tears at the thought of her first half marathon on the left

And then just being silly on the right.

I think delirium had overtaken her.

Any excuse for the camera right!

Waiting waiting and then we start!

Kept with Melissa for the first however many k’s, but she got a shot of adrenaline when seeing her family on St Kilda Road . Loved that Kellie's son yelled out, as did Mel’s hubby as I ran past, it's so good to see a familiar face on route.  Beth and Karen were close by and there's a sense of calm, running our own races, but within sight of each other.

When the lead runners came through in a flurry of police motor bikes and helicopter it was quite thrilling. By then I seemed to be on my own, no one around that I knew until I heard a voice and it was the lovely Kim at my shoulder yelling “selfie” and out came the camera. Fun times.

That slog around Albert Park does my head in, and the wind had picked up. I hear some woman chatting up a fellow running behind me and realise it’s Karen and Beth again. Yay they were there again. We ran with the man in pink for a little bit and rounded the end of Albert Park and thankfully the wind was at our backs again. I lost Karen and Beth again around here somewhere, probably because I had my handheld water and didn’t need to stop through water stops. Not saying I didn’t walk at times, because I surely did. But I knew in my head I was running longer sections between walks than I had for many weeks.

The out and back section in Albert Park I kept a look out for anyone I knew and saw Jen, it was like a shot in the arm seeing a familiar face, she was running strong and smiling a big smile. It made me smile and kick it up again. I saw Mel she yelled out to keep running strong, rounded the end and on the way back saw Beth and Karen, Karen did a little dance as only Karen can. Then shortly after I saw Judy and hubby and I tried to yell out and all I could get out was “Ju, Ju, Ju” my mouth wasn’t forming any words, thankfully her hubby nudged her and we wove.

Back to St. Kilda Road where we met up with the marathoners and I was feeling tired, the wind was in our faces again and I hear a friend from Hamilton come up behind me, Narelle is a strong marathon runner and she grabbed my hand and said “keep it going Carol” and I swear she pumped magic into me, it was like a shot of adrenaline. As she sped away I just powered on. Every time the wind picked up I just put my head down and looked direct at the road in front of me and kept running slowly, but when it abated I would try to speed up a bit to make up for time.

Back into the city around the loopy tunnel bit and I find out later that Mel was caught down here with a downed runner, I didn’t even see her, I’m so sorry. That woman will never forget you Mel. Back up through the gardens and saw some race signs, one which I’d never seen before “Blisters are braille for awesome”. Well my toe was feeling quite awesome at that stage as I felt a blister forming!

Oh my goodness seeing Floss in her cow suit up ahead was incredible, I stopped to give her a sweaty hug and that red frog tasted better than anything at that stage. Just up ahead from her was another of our ladies Jacqui also in cow attire who had been running alongside someone to get them going, she saw me, another hug and she ran with me a bit. You girls were incredible, I know you didn’t just help us but helped so many out there. You were like an oasis out there for us you gorgeous things.

Back to St. Kilda Road then along that path heading to the G. The darn photographers on the bridge so I smiled my best smile, but it’s a bit hard when you’re exhausted and going uphill. Did the loopy bit then that road to the G entrance. Right on the corner there I see Beth’s David holding a cow sign. What a shot in the arm that was, I held my head high and proud and ran that road and then I hear another “Go Carol” and Char who I have never met but love love love her blog and her fantastic Run Amok tights, sees me and she’s calling out.

Then the best part of all, running through that tunnel and you can just hear the cheers of people echoing, then out onto the hallowed turf. As I make my lap I’m almost at the first photographer and he puts his camera down, whaaaaat !!! No not now. Come on. I ran on the grass with Shev and Sue's voices in my ear to run on the hallowed turf, then the next photographer, don’t you dare put that camera down mate or I’ll throttle you. Good. Then to the finish line and arms in the air I finish.

I loved that they didn’t rush us off the G, we hung about taking photos and celebrating with friends.We celebrated Beth coming over the line. We got to do silly photos and just have the best time winding down from the run. Kellie had found a photographer in the stands so we asked her to take our photos, yay! Then we went to the café in the G to meet up with the others. It was great being able to sit and enjoy and just relive moments.

My gorgeous friend Mel from Warrnie.

The newest to the Half Marathon Club, Beth.

Kellie, fresh off her Sydney Marathon triumph.

We just kept snapping photos, and why not?

When else do you get to recover on the MCG.

And there it is.

And it's soooooo beautiful.

Melbourne Marathon Festival really do gorgeous medals.

On my way back to the motel, I had to stop on the iconic Flinders Street station corner.

And if you're not sick of seeing my face, haha (hey it's my blog right)

then these are some of the race photographs that I really really like.

Must have looked so good, the lady behind me is copying!

Hey trend setter that I am!!

Spot a photographer, ask her to take my photo, that's how it works!

And we needed a Warrnambool shot too.

Happy girls.

Celebrating with some of the girls.  

Notice our "loose legs" haha

Never wear anything new on race day right?

Whoops.

Rocking my new sunnies I bought the day before.

So there you have it, race recap from Melbourne.  I loved every single part of that weekend. Well maybe not so much the wind, but you get my drift. A huge thank you to everyone in this group who really make my life complete. This silly running caper is in my blood and with that you are all my running sisters.

So headed home, missed the train to Geelong so had to wait an hour. Got to the railway station in South Geelong and there’s one taxi left and this woman looks at me still in my running gear, looks at the taxi and I swear the theme from Chariots of Fire started playing, it was like slow motion, she took off and had no competition, I just yelled out “Nooooooo” my legs couldn’t follow. I banged on the window when I got to it and got the taxi driver to ring me another, but by then the rain had started and I was cold and wet. Taxi didn’t come, gaaaah had to ring them myself, finally came, got to mum’s, changed into warm clothes and then drove the two hours in the rain, urrrgh. I was sooo glad to pull into our drive.

Things I learnt from the Melbourne weekend:

• Don’t trust Jane the weather lady, there was not meant to be wind on Sunday.

• Running two half marathons within four weeks of each other is a bit much for these old legs.

• I know in my heart I need to drop around 5kg or more to feel comfortable running this distance again, otherwise it is a slog.

• Never underestimate the power of seeing a familiar face in the crowd, it’s energising.

• And cows truly do rock!

Sydney - the Prelude

Okay, well sooooo much happened last weekend I'm going to have to divide it into three posts, so bear with me.

Sydney - the Prelude

Sydney - the Main Event

Sydney - the Encore

So the Prelude ...

Friday afternoon three very excited runners made their way to Avalon Airport, thanks to Alison driving.  And it was a sign.  In our uncanny way amongst our closest friends in our Athletics Group that we turn up wearing the same colours - we've even done it for the plane flight - all wearing stripes!  It was a sign!

The flight to Sydney and we got in before the scheduled 7pm and decided on a taxi rather than working out the train system.  I think the poor driver thought we were checking up on him, we all had our mobile phones out and he kept explaining the one way streets that he really *was* on his way to our accommodation.  Except he took a wrong turn so turned the meter off and made his way back to where he was meant to be going.  So there's a tip people, you won't get ripped off in a taxi if they think you're GPS checking up on them!  

We were delighted by our accommodation at Hyde Park Inn.   I can well and truly recommend it - in terms of location (right opposite Hyde Park),  location to the train stations (within a very easy walk to both Museum Station round the corner and Town Hall Station a couple of blocks away), and the accommodation itself was exactly like the picture and the slight problem we had with the fridge not working they actually replaced the fridge for us.   The accommodation also gave us free continental breakfast, free newspapers, free wifi and there was free parking (if we had a car, which we didn't).

Alison found a nice pizza/pasta place around the corner called Macchiato, and we were ready for a feed so headed down there post haste.   Ended up with a flirty waiter who asked me for my ID, hahahaha.  Well it was a bit dim in there, the girls quickly got out their phones and used the torches for the menu!  Got to love their ingenuity.  You can take the girls out of the country but ...

Up and ready on Saturday morning to explore we headed to the Expo to pick up our race pack and drop off our bags to the bag drop - warm clothing and anything we needed after the race would be taken to the end for us tomorrow.   I tried on a number of the Asics event tops but they are all such super slim fitting and didn't suit me at all.  I came away with a nice cotton t-shirt with the event on it, which I actually liked a lot better and I have been wearing it ad nauseum this week with jeans.  I also bought some mandarin GU which has been my favourite flavour of late, tastes like Fanta!  What's not to love about that.   The GU man (well what do you call him, he seemed to be a GU aficionado) was showing us the new GU wafers about to come out, a pre-run snack to have to keep the hunger pangs away. 

So right, event bag dropped we headed back to the hotel to take our all important race bibs back so we didn't cart them all over the city and decided we should do a trial run to the event start for tomorrow, being that it would involve a train trip.  Nothing like being prepared.  We had bought our Opal card and timed our walk to the Town Hall Station and then the train trip to Milsons Point.   

Silly me, I don't know what I was thinking, we were on the train and I looked out and it was my first glance at the Harbour, and then the penny dropped.  WE WERE ON THE BRIDGE!  But were we?  I'm looking out the window for the bridge, is it possible we were on the bridge or another bridge?  And I'm asking all these questions out loud in the train to anyone who would listen to me ... "Are we on the bridge, noooo we're not on the bridge, are we? OH MY GOD WE'RE ON THE BRIDGE!!"  

Apologies to my travelling companions for being such a dork!

So we we were glad to have done this trial run to Milsons Point so we knew exactly what we were to do the next day and could work backwards so we knew what time to leave the accommodation.  So we had a little wander down Milsons Point, I'd never been over there, it was great seeing the Bridge and the Opera House from this unique angle.   And as you can see it was a magnificent day.  We were just relishing being in short sleeves after leaving such a cold Victoria.

So as the tourists we were, we thought a ferry trip would be in order so decided on a ferry to Darling Harbour.  Inside or outside?  Doh, was there any question.  We enjoyed the scenery as we sailed.

We really didn't want to walk too far, so took a very easy stroll to the Queen Vic Building to our meet up with the other ladies from the 12WBT Runners Connect group.  Although on the way Alison and I were accosted by "Giovanni" from some beauty salon.

First rule of thumb ... DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT !!

Too late, he had us in the store and sat down and started applying gunk to our eyes.  He doesn't just take any woman off the street you know, he only takes those he thinks he can help!  What a line!  Need to work on your flattering skills Giovanni.  Once the $300 bottle of diamond dusted encrusted gunk was presented to us, Alison and I hightailed it out of there.  Oh Lordy Lord.

Lunch at the Jet Bar at QVB, yay, getting to meet the Sydney contingent from our runners group was surreal.  It was actually hard to take pictures in the cafe as it was dull inside so by the time the cameras came out a number of the ladies had left.  But not before I got these shots.  I also got to meet my RDU buddy Tamra in the bright pink shirt, we cat and mouse all the time on Run Downunder.

And after lunch we got to see some of the delicacies at Zumbo.  I didn't even trust myself with one macaron, it all looked too amazing.

We utilised the kitchenette in our room that night and Kellie, Alison and I had pasta with a plain tomato napoli topping, parmesan cheese and a bread roll for dinner and it was perfect.  I didn't even do a 'Flat Carol' like I usually do, this was as good as it got.  Red on red, that means fast right?

Alarm set for stupid o'clock 4am wake up as we would want to leave the accommodation by 5am the next day, we said our good nights and I'll honestly say I had one of the best nights sleep pre-race than I've had before.   More to come in the next post.  Stay tuned.

Sooooo ... what's the next big thing?

Okay well first off today's Aths Club meet was an 8km and the venue was moved because of inclement weather expected not wanting a muddy track to run.  I knew we were in for a rough trot when Kellie texted me knowing I'd soon be heading for the coast and warned me not to look at the weather forecast but to wear long sleeves and bring gloves.  Oh joy!  

And it was cold.  Ouch.  Along the coastline the cold air was chilling and with His Nibs not running as he feels he's lost some condition since being laid up with the chest cold and not capable of 8km, I ended up at 4 min handicap but it still made me the first runner being that he wasn't there.  I went like the clappers in the first half and was at 6km almost back to the clubrooms when the avalanche of runners started passing me.  Still no shame.

It was good after the event as the President did a talk for aspiring marathon runners, which really was a talk for all of us - his ten top tips.  He didn't include the one I mentioned to him earlier about adjust the bra straps and make sure any undies wedgies were taken care of.  Hmmm.  I'd actually put that at the top tip!

And so this leads me to my (ta daaaaaah!!!!) NEXT . BIG . THING.

See these girls, these running legends, well they can talk a person into anything.  I get a message from Kellie one evening saying ... "Alison and I were wondering..." and I said "yes" before I even knew what was coming.  I just knew if these girls were part of something, I wanted in! haha. 

Soooooo........

This was what they were wondering ... mean anything to you?  I see three runners and a Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

Yippee!!!  We're going to Blackmores Sydney Running Festival.   Entries have been done, flights booked, accommodation paid for.   How flipping exciting, we get to run ACROSS THE SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!   You can see the video at that link on their website.  How exciting does the route look - Sydney Harbour Bridge, the beautiful Harbour, Circular Quay and finishing at the Opera House.  Now all Sydney has to do is put on a nice day for it and we'll be set.  No nasty weather please!

So there you have it grasshoppers.  My next half marathon is in Sydney.  :-)    I have races before then, but this is the one where the excitement is building.

Mind you four weeks after this one I have my fourth half marathon for the year in Melbourne.  I don't do things by halves now do I?  Or maybe I do! ha.

Yahoooo GOR photo day!

Got to love it when the official photos come back after a big event.   And I always factor in the cost of the photos because who knows how long I'll be able to do this running gig right?   I want to remember every moment while I can run.

Great Ocean Road half marathon - We got some fun photos at the start at Kennett River taken, I like this one in particular at the start line, complete with photo bomber walking behind us! haha  All ladies from our fabulous 12WBT Runners Connect group and "Pepe", Rachael's other half.

The field soon spread out, amazing how quickly that happens.

Thousands of runners went whoosh!

It's more fun at the back of the pack anyway!  ;-)

Thumbs up for the race photographer, the sun was out, what's not to love!  

A smile on my face, I'm running on the famous Great Ocean Road, yahooooo!

It was great to be alive, we'd had wind but at least it wasn't raining!

Whoops spoke too soon.

5km to the end we were pelted.  My clothing was water laden.

My top seemed to get lower and lower! 

But I love all my finish line shots.

You can't see it but I had a young lass to the left of me 

and we were both racing to the finish as hard as we could.  

AIR SHOT !!  

I felt like I was flying.

And my favourite finish line photo of any race.

Despite the weather.

Maybe because of the weather.

 And there you have it.  Has it really been a week?

It took 6 days but I finally went out for a run/walk with Mike for 4 k's on Saturday and then continued on for another couple of k's on my own when he headed back home.

And then today I decided before I had lunch about 11am I went out and did 10k.  In the wind.  Go me!!   And then in my wondering what my next event could be, I decided to enter Run Forrest.   Check out the video at this link - how superb does it look.  I'm in for the 10k.  Readers of this blog may remember a couple of years ago I entered this event and our car broke down on the way and we had to limp back home amongst my tears.  With a big fat DNS against my name in the results page.

I have unfinished business to take care of!

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.