GOR

For those 'in the know' that stands for Great Ocean Road and for those REALLY 'in the know' we know that a person is talking about the Great Ocean Road Marathon carnival at Apollo Bay.

I decided to enter the 14km Paradise Run and it was fantastic.  I am so proud of myself too, Mike couldn't make it and I didn't know anyone else from my neck of the woods going to it so I took myself off on the 2.5 hour drive (through some hairy roads through the Otways).  And look at the day!  It was spectacular.  I popped across the road to check out the water, absolutely gorgeous.

  

The only thing about going to these events alone is that unless you find a kind soul to help out you end up with selfies!  The other thing is tha you just end up wandering around and making some chit chat with people as you pass by.  And coming back over the finish line and you are all elated and you just want to hug someone and share the moment and there's no one.  But I can't expect Mike to come to all the events with me, I just need to find a like minded local that wants to do these events as well and share the experience.

Pretty soon we were lining up on the Main Street to start, crowds had lined the street, I was a bit closer to the start than I was comfortable with so I kept way over to the side so I didn't get in the way with too many people, and then we were off.

Up the Main Street and soon enough we had left town and were making our way out to a paradise.  Kind of a cool,ring to it, hey today I ran to Paradise!  What a gorgeous setting to run in, lush green vista on each side of the roadway, beautiful country scenes.  We passed a paddock with some amazing looking horses and they were having such fun galloping up and down the fence line as the runners ran past.  

It was hot!  And looking ahead in the sweeping road it was amazing how quickly the pack had spread out.  I was just past the the 4km mark and the front runners, two guys, were already passing us on the way back (the 10km Mark for them).  They were positively sprinting, I can't wait to see the results to see how close they finished.  All the runners around me, myself included, broke out in spontaneous applause as we all passed them.  It was amazing seeing their stride.

I continued m plod, the water stops were very welcome, I was drinking a cup then dowsing myself with another cup.  Soon enough though we were up in the beautiful fern filled shady treed area, the shade was bliss!  I hit the 7km turnaround point and was slightly ahead of my goal.  I wanted to finish by 2 hours, yes I am a plodder!

It's funny, I look at the elevation and it looks horrendously steep, but I would more say it was undulating, although obviously gradually raising.  It was nice thinking I was homeward bound, and not last by a long shot, there were still plenty of runners making their way to the turnaround point.

At one stage the ambulance went past and shortly after we saw a fellow in distress being worked on.  This is obviously a wonderfully run event, a number of motor bikes up and down the road checking on runners, and St Johns Ambulance were out in force.  I was also taken with the support by the people.  People were out and about calling encouragement. The Main Street was positively packed with people cheering as you were coming down the straight.  I heard "Another one Bites the Dust" being played over the loudspeaker and I sprinted to the end.  1 hour 45 mins or so I saw up on the board, I'll have to wait to get the official time.  I was rapt, well within the 2 hour limit I had said.  Not a cracking pace, but on target for me.

And I finally got bling!  It's been a running joke with my friends that I sooooooo wanted a medal.  Not a convertible keyring, not an embroidered facewasher, but a medal, undeniably a medal.  And I now have one.  And it's beautiful and quite heavy for it's size.  I wandered back around to the finish and snapped this photo.  I had just run 14km and I think I was on a high, I didn't look as exhausted as I felt.

Oh, you'd like a closer look ;-)

And here's the course...

Oh and I loved the signs that people were holding...

"If you think your legs hurt, mine do too standing here watching!"

"The only thing between you and the finish line is sweat"  (I called out to her that she told us that 12km ago, being that I'd seen it on the way out of town!!)

"Run like Joel Selwood is standing at the finish line with a puppy" 

I wanted to get going home pretty quick smart, to get through the curly bit through to Colac before dark, and I did, but not before stopping at the bakery and buying a chocolate milk and a sausage roll!  I deserved it.  2.5 hours later and I was home.  And now about ready to drop.  What a great day.  Fantastically run event, completely enjoyable with amazing scenery, I would certainly do it again in a heartbeat.

MDC Geelong

Okay so Mother's Day is a pretty special day for us in Australia (just for my overseas friends reading this), not just because it's Mother's Day, but it involves the Mothers Day Classic.  People all around Australia take part in a running event in cities and towns across the country, all raising money for breast cancer research and awareness.   It was this time last year which was the first time my mum had seen me run.  And she couldn't wait for it to roll around again this year.  Mum used to be a keen walker (comes from not having a drivers licence) and I know she would have loved to have taken part in the walk, but for her hip problems.  However she is an amazing cheer squad.   And once again it was fun taking part in the Geelong event with mum.

So the day started early, here's my alarm!  Pushy isn't it?

We had a quick breakfast so it would subside by the 7.45 start and donned our pink, and in our opinion the brighter the better!   Check out mum's runners!  Yes my mum is short, cause I'm not the tallest by a long shot, but mum is 4'11 and a half inches tall (yes, she says that half is very important!!)  It was a PERFECT morning.  No wind, no rain, it was just glorious.  Overcast, but then the sunrise was beautiful.  Couldn't have ordered a better morning.   

It was a fun fun morning because some of the runners from the 12wbt Runners Connect group were there and funnily enough recognised me from my hair!   ha.  So I got to meet Shev and Trish as well which was super super great.  I love that this running gig brings you into contact with the most wonderful people.   Not to mention my partner in crime at the Geelong Half Marathon Sarah.  We made our way to the start line as we were taking part in the 8km run (mind you Sarah finished and then did the 4km walk with her family, go Sarah!).

Lots of people there, they had flipped the course a bit this year, and we had to make our way up the extension of Brougham Street up along the water front at the top of Eastern Beach.  Ouch.  That's a nasty start to the race.  A bit excited lining up at the start, and Sarah with her trademark smile, does this girl ever have a down moment?  ;-)

It was a fun morning, there was an 8km run and walk and a 4km run and walk, but it was only the runs that were timed.  The official times are now on the website:

• My time:   57:17    (last year I was 56:37 so close, I'm blaming the hills)
• Overall placing:   606 out of 676 runners in the 8km run
• Gender:  470 out of 528 females in the 8km run.
• Category (female 40-49):  118 out of 128.
• An average pace:   7:09 min km, which is fast for me, so I'm happy with that.

There's a bit of a running joke in our 12wbt Runners Connect group that I am holding out to finally get a medal.  And that I don't count a convertible keyring on a lanyard as a medal.   I don't want a transformer medal, I want something that is undeniably-can't-be-used-as-anything-else-medal.   But still, I'm pretty pleased to get another one of these.

And a princess sash!  What can I say, it's official, I'm a pink princess!  Mum won a spot prize of an umbrella too, she was rapt (it was white with butterflies all over it).  They put us in front of the wall and took our photo and stuck a big bow on mum's head!   Got to love it.

What a great mornining.  Mum had enjoyed it down there as they had singing and entertainment, a number of stalls, it's a gorgeous water front, she had a ball chatting to people and soaking up the atmosphere.  

Article from the Geelong Advertiser so you can see the fun of the day and the beautiful area we had to run in.

Home, shower, change and then it was a lovely lunch at Empire Grill for us, for their special mother's day lunch.  We've been going out to a lovely restaurant for years now, but for the last three have kept going back to Empire Grill.  Sensational.

All that running ans spectatoring meant we were in fine spirits to enjoy a beautiful three course meal, including a yummy dessert.

After dropping mum home I finished off the day going to the cemetery to leave some bright coloured flowers on my mother-in-law's grave, and stopped in at Rebel Sports for a bit of a look see and then the long drive home.   And the surprises didn't stop there, waiting for me was a little box of chocolates and a mother's day card, such a clever menagerie we have  ;-)

So what's next ... Saturday the 14km race as part of the Great Ocean Road Marathon Festival, the 14 km being from Apollo Bay to Paradise, out and back.  I'm a bit uneasy thinking of the elevation, but eh, I do believe there may be a finisher's medal involved.  A real-live-medal.  I got my race pack in the mail today, squeeeeeeal !!

Oh and yes Cat, I was filmed 4 times getting my runners - my old ones, bare foot, and the final two which I had narrowed it down to.  Amazing seeing the difference in each.

Ready for tomorrow

Clothes are all laid out, new pink top cause I needed to go brighter than my other pink tops!! ;-).   Ready for the Mothers Day Classic 8km in Geelong tomorrow.

Mum has her pink all planned out too! Although her days of any distance walking are long since passed as she has hip problems now.  Still she will be there to cheer and disk up the atmosphere and entertainment.

This arvo though I popped into The Running Company in Geelong West and got fitted for new runners.  What a fantastic experience.  They videoed you running on a treadmill from behind paying particular attention as to how your ankles rolled when you landed.  I was shocked at the inward roll of my ankle, I swear it looked like my ankle could have snapped.  What pressure I've been putting on them with my plodding.  I'm lucky it hasn't resulted in more serious problems.

After a lot of talking and testing I came away with these beauties...

Mizuno Wave Alchemy 12.  The difference in my ankle roll when running in them was quite amazing and they feel sooooo good.  

I won't wear them tomorrow however. Don't do any different on race day!  But I'll give them a few runs during the week to see how much they love me ;-). I do believe a love affair is about to begin.

Back tomorrow with a race recap.  Do for anyone running the Mothers Day Classic across Australia have a fabbo morning.  And everyone have a lovely Mothers Day.

Not nice !

I had my first bad blogging experience day before yesterday after all my years of blogging.   I have another blog which is just craft and family related things.  No big secret, you can find it at Pins & Needles.   My stepdaughter sent me a message to say that one of the photos from my blog was on a site on facebook that she happened to see.  Huh?  I went had had a look, and someone who had a less than desirable facebook page with pictures and captions of people saying they were from suburbs in Geelong and being quite derogatory in his terms of phrase, had taken one of MY pictures that I HAD TAKEN so it BELONGED TO ME, and put it on HIS facebook page.

It was a photo of my husband's uncle who came over to visit us from Scotland.  It was a day that we had taken him and his wife to Halls Gap to visit around the area, and it was hot.  It was hot for us, so it was waaaaay hot for a Scot.  So he ended up stripping down to his shorts and white singlet for the day.  Who cared.  Anyway I had a picture of him in the bush, and let's just say he is a rotund type of fellow.  Well this facebook person has happened onto the picture and saved it to his computer and put it on his Geelong site with a less than flattering description.

Since when did this become acceptable practice?

So I pm'ed this person and asked him who gave him permission to use my photo and how did he get it, and I got a smart arsed comment back that he found it on Google and if I have a problem with it, take it up with Google, and he told me the search word he used, which I won't use here because there were less than favourable pictures when I searched.  And I scrolled down as far as it would let me, and nope, my photo of my husband's uncle was not on it.

So I pm'ed him again and asked him once again to take it off his facebook page, it belonged to me, it wasn't on the images when I searched what he said, and I got another smart arsed comment back that that I have no idea how to use the internet.

I beg to differ.

At this stage I was trying to work out what to do, Mike was livid.  I pm'ed him once again and said maybe so, but I would like you to take it down, there are plenty of other photos he could use in its place, this photo belonged to me, etc etc.   I think he realised I was not going to let up.  I was ready to let the masses know to bombard him.  So I got "alright alright" and the photo is now gone from his facebook page.

And I have in turn found out how to make the photos on here so that you can't right click and save to your computer.  Or if you can after what I've done to the code, I don't know how, so it might slow people like this ... errr ... gentleman down.

Lesson learnt.  This whole blogging thing is a bit of fun for me, a way to memory keep which I'm all about.  But it can turn to crap in an instant when someone abuses trust you place in the internet.

Half marathon ... the aftermath !

Well glad to say I've pulled up AOK!  Surprisingly so.

Sunday night I was in agony after getting home, had a light dinner and I think I was in bed by about 7.30 or so.  Woke up around 1am and my legs were screaming, I couldn't work out how to ease them.  Ended up getting up as I was so restless, made a cup of tea and built a ramp on the end of the couch and tried sleeping on the couch with my legs up in the air and my nice tight boot socks pulled all the way up.

That was okay, until tinkle tinkle tinkle plop.  The cat decided that my stomach might be a nice place to sleep and she came out and joined me.  Then started doing the kneading thing that cats do right on my stomach.  Sorry puss, back to the basket you go.  I slept in fits and starts until tinkle tinkle tinkle about 3.30am woke up and Lucky had decided he wanted to join me and I had a little dog jump up and try to nestle between me and the back of the couch.  I think about 5.30am I ended up back in bed again.

Monday I was okay, kept the boot socks on and pulled up nice and tight around my calves which seemed to be the only thing hurting, rubbed ice gel into them a number of times, and then by Tuesday wonder of wonders no aches, no pains.  It was a miracle.  I do think that massage straight after the run on my calves on Sunday did a lot to start the healing process on my muscles.

I had booked Monday and Tuesday off of work as I hadn't known how I'd pull up so it was just two days of rest and relax.

So no post race depression in this house, I have finalised the entries of my next three races.

11 May:   
Mother's Day Classic at Geelong (8km)
This will be a nice day, I did this last year and mum and I had a great time, it was the first time mum had seen me run.  We had a lovely morning all decked out in pink, then had a wonderful mother's day lunch at the Empire Grill in Geelong.  A very special day to be repeated again this year.   Mum doesn't walk much any more because of her hips, but she was happy to sit and soak in the atmosphere.

17 May:
Great Ocean Road at Apollo Bay (14km)
I have never done this event and in a moment of madness the other night hit enter! ha.  A most beautiful part of the world down the Great Ocean Road, and I know there will be hills involved, I have looked at the elevation.  The 14km is an out and back from Apollo Bay to Paradise and back.

8 June:
Run Forrest at Forrest in the Otways (10km trail run)
This is the second year this event is being run, I was so close to entering last year but for some reason I didn't.  Although I do gravelly runs here at home, it's not really trail runs, so I have a bit of training to do over the next month ... Mt. Leura for training here I come!


So there's an event missing there.  Sorry Matilda.  I decided in my musing about upcoming runs to enter that I will give Run the Gap a miss this year.  And my reasons are shallow, I will grant you that.  Out of all the fun runs I have done over the last year and a half, I have never received a finisher's medal.  Probably because a lot of the races I have done are smaller local events.   I have so many runner friends who have a whole truck load of race day bling and I've not got a one (I'm not counting the convertible key ring I got at MDC last year cause it's a keyring essentially, it's not a medal).   After the Geelong Half Marathon and running 21 freaking kilometres and coming away with an embroidered face washer and a bag of snake lollies and  okay so it was really a very small sweat towel, but it may as well have been a face washer, my want/need/desire/ to get a finishers medal is at an all time high.

I was never good at sports in school, I have never been athletic in anything.  I do not have any sports related trophies or memorabilia in any way shape or form.  And whilst I may not be a great runner, I am a runner nonetheless.  And I really reeeeeeeally want a finishers medal.  So I know there's one on offer at the GOR race so that's what tipped me in doing that race over the Run the Gap, as much as I love the Run the Gap.

Shallow maybe?  But eh, it is what it is, right.  I wonder if organisers even realise there are lots of people like me out there and we would definitely pay more for an entry to races just to receive a finisher's medal.

Now I've dipped out of the next round of 12wbt.  I want to go it alone again this next three months.  I mainly used the last 12 weeks to train for the half, despite my eating not being what it should be.  So the resolve is there now, to turn this next 3 months into a successful one.

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  ;-)