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!  

21.1 kilometres.  Unchartered territory for me.

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

Happy Easter

Well Easter Sunday is almost over, almost time to make dinner and settle in for the night.  It's been an interesting few days.

Thursday I took the day off to take Mike to his appointment in Geelong at the dental surgery.  He had to get a back tooth taken out but with the roots being crooked they wouldn't do it in the chair in Warrnie, so to the myofacial surgeon in Geelong we had to go.  Ouch.  But it's the best way to get it done asleep in the chair for sure, although I have often wondered how do you keep your mouth open if you are asleep?  Maybe I don't want to know.

It was a long trip there and back, being that we had to skirt around Derrinallum as the highway was still closed due to the bomb explosion almost a week before.  Read about it here if you don't know what I'm talking about.   What a journey home.  Mike was in and out of sleep and would wake up and say the most extraordinary things like ... "I can't help it if I'm such a sexual magnet" and the like!  Where the heck did that come from???? ha.   But he has a high pain tolerance for sure.  All the pain killers he has been on and I would have been asleep for a week.

Friday was our 10th wedding anniversary.  TEN YEARS???? How did that happen?   So we decided to cancel our planned dinner at a ritzy chi chi pooh pooh restaurant until Mike could fully enjoy it.  He made up for it surprising me with a gorgeous GORGEOUS diamond ring.  He has asked me what I wanted and being that the subscription to the Australian Women's Running magazine he gave me last year had run out I suggested he renew that.  He did that AND said that he thought 10 years deserved something a bit more.  Diamonds!  Wow.

So despite still being on the painkillers and stitches and his jaw swelling up somewhat (although he likes to say it's his ruggedly handsome strong jawline) I knew when he started eating a couple of bacon balls on Friday night that he was feeling a bit better, so on Saturday we went to a fun engagement party of some workmates of mine.  We didn't stay long, just enough to enjoy the festivities, have a meal (soft risotto for him!) and wish them well.

Today he's still on the painkillers, but feeling so much better.  Thank goodness.  We went to the Easter Sunday dawn service this morning, had hot cross buns and little chocolate eggs and coffee afterwards down at the lake with the other friends from town, and then home to snooze off the early morning!

So that was our Easter.  Despite being Easter Monday tomorrow, I am working by choice, so I'll get a day in lieu another time.

Oh and back to our anniversary, I had made a book for Mike but it hasn't gotten here yet  :-(   The tracker says it's on it's way from Blurb, hurry up postie!!  I've never made a book where a photo goes over two pages before, cross fingers I haven't ballsed it completely up.    I also gave him a bottle of his very favourite Lagavulin 16 year old Scotch Whiskey.  Now THAT made him smile!

Here's the 10 pages from the book "LOVE YOU BECAUSE ..."
(if you want to read the journalling click on the layout to bring it in closer, but it's soppy!!)

This book was made super easy because of the templates by Ali Edwards, check them out at Designer Digitals.

Catch up from last Saturday

Gosh I'm hopeless, too many projects, too little time.  A quick catch up from last Saturday.  We went to my dear friend Sheryl's 60th birthday party.  I have known Sheryl for 27 years, she was one of the first people I met when I worked in our Geelong office when I first started.

Well the theme was Italian, everyone was to wear red, green or white.  Eh, romped that one in.  Could I possibly be the only person who owns three green coats!!!??? ha.  We got changed at my mum's being that we were shopping down in Geelong earlier in the day.  Hey, I was holding up my feet so mum could fit my green shoes in the shot.

Well Sheryl had outdone herself.  Her back yard had turned into Italy.  There were details everywhere.  Grape vines, red/white check table cloths, all the buys got these mafia style hats to wear.  Sheryl had gone to such detail.  Her water feature was entitled Fountain of Shezzi instead of Fountain of Trevi.  She had a fellow wandering around playing the piano accordian.  Oh my he had the cheesiest Italian accent ever!  (although just quietly he sounded as Aussie as you or me, Mike was talking to him during one of his breaks).    She had family pizzas delivered by the dozen, a big bain marie of lasagne and pastas.  And best ever, there was a gelato cart where we could sample eight different flavours of gelato in these tiny sized waver cones, which made you feel a little less guilty going back for seconds as they were small servings.

Birthday girl in the middle and my dear friend Kerri on the left.

And at the end of the night when the guests were leaving WE all got a gift.  There was a lucky dip in which Sheryl had put together all Italian inspired gifts, to thank us for coming.  I got a china mug with a Tuscan scene on it.  Mike got a watch with an vesper on the watch face.  Fun fun.  Good friends, good times.

Another week over

Well for me anyway, a work week that is.  I have tomorrow off where I'll be doing a run in the morning, some housework, a bit of scrapbooking and then off to CWA in the afternoon.  Need to bake some Anzac cookies as that is our mini comp this month.  I may even talk Mike into going to the pub for tea.  Hmmmm.

A perfect day off ahead if you ask me.

I did spend the first few days of this week in recuperation mode.  Nothing drastic, just a sore spot under my right knee, mainly when going down stairs.  All great now.  Last Sunday I did my ...

LONGEST ... RUN ... EVER !!!  

I set my goal to achieve 18km last Sunday and by heck I did.  I've been told if I can run 18km then I'll be able to run a half marathon with the energy and excitement and adrenalin on the day.  I'm counting on that anyway.  I'll back track a bit, as it wasn't ideal circumstances in which I ran the 18km on Sunday morning.  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 for the end of day light saving so okay lets call it 11.30pm when we got to bed.  Knackered!

So the alarm went off Sunday morning 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 and agony I would put myself through NOT doing a run and beating myself up about it, would be worse than the pain of the run itself.  So I dragged myself out of bed, splashed water on my face, 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 against the traffic and the handful of cars and trucks that came the other way were very courteous,a few toots of encouragement, and 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.  No, not just great, but FLIPPING FANTASTIC.

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!  Blows my mind.

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.  He said he couldn't live with my moaning if I had only done 17.99! ha.

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 recovery 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 apart from a little twingy knee which has completely gone now.  I was surprised.

I am still yet to tell you about the fun party we went to on the Saturday night, I'll leave that till tomorrow's post.  Fun fun fun.