Here it is 6 days later...

... and another Fun Run under my belt !!!  :-)

Noorat to Terang fun run was on last night and there I was lined up yet again, two fun runs in six days!  I've got it bad!!  This was originally going to be my first fun run in my early grand plans and yet here I am lining up with a few already under my belt.

It was not boding well though, we had torrential rain in the afternoon (as in the little town I live in it rains as if someone turns a tap on and then can stop just as quick as it starts).  The heavens opened up, there was lightening, there was thunder.  It was still hot and humid and steamy.  We were basically just waiting for the locusts to arrive to round off what mother nature was going throwing at us Friday!!

However in a JFDI nature (work it out!!), off we headed off in the car and found that only about 15km up the road at the start of the race it was bone dry.  Crazy mother nature.   Crazy me too, I was jumping at the bit when I got out of the car!!  Love this photo that Mike took of me.  Who knew I could jump so high off the ground!!  It is actually probably now one of my favourite shots of me and embodies how I feel about life right now.

I quickly registered once there a bit miffed that I was in the VETERAN section!!  Hmmmph people of Terang, please have the wheelchairs ready at the end!!  I'm only 48 and yet a veteran!!  I then set about finding my friends in the crowd, we had a few 12wbt ladies from the Warrnambool & Surrounds crew running that evening.  And my good friend Nadine (who also happens to be my hairdresser) wanted to join in the fun with the plan of running step by step with me the whole way.  

I kept joking I had my entourage along for the evening.  My photographer/paparazzi (Mike) snapping away at me and my hair stylist (Nadine) to ensure I looked my best during the race, a little touch up here and there!!  bwah ha ha ha.  

Some of our beautiful 12wbt ladies before the race - Lynn, Janelle, Vanessa and me.

And the gorgeous Nadine, the most encouraging woman (and successful Tough Mudder I might add)

who I'm proud to call my friend.

Soon enough the walkers took off at 6.30pm and then at 6.45pm the runners lined up for the starting pistol.

And they were off and racing!!   

This sleepy little town hadn't seen such action in a long time!!

Mr. Paparazzi was kept busy as we ran on by...

True to her word, Nadine kept up the encouragement the whole way to Terang.  

I actually find it kind of cool we ran from one town to another.

Nadine ran pace to pace with me, it was actually a new experience 

running alongside someone and it actually was a lot of fun and made me push myself even more.

She even had some energy for some selfies!!   Yep, see we were really out in the sticks on this run!!

I very well may have been saying (through gritted teeth) "put that blasted camera away" at this stage

I'm not sure.  I know I was exhausted.

See the storm clouds behind me, that gave me the impetus to keep on running.

Once we hit the 80km post on the outskirts of the town I knew I could do it, it was such a great feeling.   Love love love the people of Terang.  As we ran past houses people were out on their porches or sitting in their front yards clapping encouragement, some had sprinklers and hoses set up so we could run through them.  I've never felt such relief and actually ran through every single one!!

Soon enough though we rounded the last corner in town and I could see the big FINISH line.  Mike was waiting for us, snapping like a mad thing (there will be some photos never to see the light of day though, I don't even recognise myself!!!!)  But I absolutely love this one.  Nadine looking as fresh as she did at the start of the race, and me looking ... well ... we'll just say sweatingly elated !! (some of that is from the hoses mind you)

Flushed with victory.   I ran the 5.92km in 43 minutes and 07 seconds.  

And so okay, I've shown you the good shots up there.  So one thing about having a dear husband fun run paparazzi is that you can't control what he sees in a split second.  Did I really do so many goofy faces (and trust me people, this is just the tip of the iceberg, he took about 150 shots on the night!!)   Some might call it goofy, but I'm going to call it exuberance!!!  Work with me on that will you!  :-)

The one time I turned tables on him before the race!!  My greatest supporter and encourager.  Encourager? Is that such a word?  Well it is now.  Thank you honey for all the waiting around and snapping like a mad man so that we could get pics of our 12wbt girls as well.

So what's next in the fun run calendar?  I think May is the next one for me, so there can be a lot of training, drills and keeping up the endurance over the next couple of months, and roll on May for the Mother's Day Classic.