OK, so last night I had the worst night’s sleep in my life!!! I just couldn’t stop thinking, couldn’t switch off. Went to bed at 8pm and ended up getting up to watch TV at 10:30 – went back to bed an hour later and finally managed to drift off, only to keep waking up to look at the clock, worried I might sleep through my alarm!
Anyway, my ride arrived at 5:15am and we headed off to see the marathoners and half marathoners get their start – that was inspirational, seeing those guys just fly past and thinking some of them were going to be keeping up that pace for 42km! Wow! I could never do that. In fact, after today I don’t think I could ever do a half either!
Our 10k started at 9am and it was already warm so I knew it was going to be hot. We started out at about 2 thirds of the way at the back of the pack and quickly overtook people in front of us as we settled into a nice pace. At that point I was feeling good, but for me it’s always a mental battle, finding my rhythm in the first 3ks or so. As we came up to the loop of the gardens and about the 5.5k point I was feeling horrible. My legs and my arms felt like dead weights and then I started to feel tingly all over my arms, legs and face. We walked the majority of the gardens loop, and what wasn’t walked was a very slow, very sad shuffle. I was feeling pretty disappointed in myself at this stage, because I was feeling pretty bad and felt like I wasn’t going to make it to the finish by the 1:15 goal we’d set.
The walk around the garden loop allowed me to recover a little and towards the end of the loop I seemed to be able to get back into a reasonable pace and rhythm, used the drinks station to wet my face and head and felt much better for it.
I had wanted to run up the goodwill bridge, I knew I could do it, I’ve done it in my weekly runs, and we started running up it, but I said to Lis that there was no point killing myself getting over the bridge and then wanting to collapse on the other side. So we walked up and ran down. A huge boost on the other side of the bridge was seeing Peter there who ran with us for a few metres – this was totally unexpected, we thought he’d gone home after his HM and seeing us off at the start, so that was really great. A few nice downhill sections through southbank allowed us to get a bit of pace back, but the tingling returned about 1km out from the finish.
That last km was an absolute killer. Lisa really pushed me (for which I’m grateful) but it was hard. Put in a bit of a push down the finishing chute.
It was great to hear the announcer say my name as we came up to the finish line! I felt like a star! A slow, hurting star!!!
Came in at about 1:12 in the end. I don’t know what the official time was, we’ll wait and see. I was happy to just finish given the way I was feeling at half way.
Highlights:
finishing!!!
Watching the HM and Marathon runners – amazing.
Cheering on fellow CRers in the Marathon and HM
Seeing my family waving from the top of the victoria bridge at the start of the race, and then seeing them again about 1km from home.
Seeing Peter at the other side of the Goodwill Bridge – a much needed lift!
Getting a huge cheer by Clairie & Tesso as we headed out through the tunnel out to west end
I’m glad I did it – it was hard, but worth doing. Now I have something to aim for at the GCM. About 9 weeks to try and train for that. I’ll be seeking some advice on CR about how to go about that, so anyone who has any tips, please let me know what you think I should be doing. I have no idea how to get faster ... I don’t even know if it’s possible.
I’m debating now if I should enter the MDC in May – it’s only 8km, but I’m just feeling a little too tired and sore this evening to contemplate it properly.
There were several points in the race that I thought I never wanted to run ever again!! Don’t worry, I will run again, probably on Tuesday.
After the race I was thinking what a great place to run an event from. After I finished we took the kids for a play in the new water park recently opened at southbank and the cool water on my legs was like manna from heaven!! When I finished the race my legs and arms were covered in little red dots, looked like a shaving rash or something - took about an hour for that to disappear.
I don't know why today was so hard for me. I think a combination of me being tired from lack of sleep, nerves (even though I felt quite calm), and the heat.
I learnt today too that you should take a pair of thongs or something to put on after the race - putting my runners back on after cooling my feet in the water for a while was not fun. I was hobbling a bit by the time we made it back to the car.
I was also happy to discover that my t-shirt they handed me at the finish line actually fits!!!! Wooo Hoooo!!! So I have the t-shirt, now I need the GCM one, then the B2B one and I'll have the whole set!
Wow, this post is way too long - thanks for sticking it out to the end!!!
I am quite proud of myself - overall a great experience, and an accomplishment no one can ever take away from me.
13 comments:
Congratulations- what a fantastic run. How good to have someone with you to keep you going and help you when it gets hard. You should be so proud of yourself.
Sarah, you did it! Congratulations. And you made your goal time, which is terrific.
It's great that you were able to be pushed at the end by Lisa. It means you had strength and determination at the end, even though you struggled in the middle. It takes guts to see it through to the end.
I loved reading your race report. I felt like I was there. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Hey Sarah - what a great achievement! Especially as your weren't even planning to run it not so long ago. Now you know categorically that you can do it (and believe me that half marathon won't be too far away!!) you will be able to relax more for the next one. You can also experiment with different nutrition strategies and you will get better at pacing yourself early on in a race.
It is ALL good! I hope that you are very proud!
Well done. The time is very respectable for a beginner. And you should feel a greater sense of accomplishment on the basis that it cost you a bit to achieve it.
Enjoy your sense of accomplishment. Won't take long for things to keep improving.
Go Sarah!!!! You girls looked fab out there!
Great result, you must be so happy with that. It was stinking hot, an earlier race start on a cooler day and you would have been several minutes faster easily. Just wait until you start doing more races and you will see what I mean, the heat really does make such a difference.
And if you ever harbour those thoughts of not being a runner think again. The pre race nerves - normal. The not be able to sleep and worry about the alarm - normal. The mental battle - normal. I could go on and on!
Take care and recover well. See you out there soon.
PS Wonder if the tingling was caused by the heat???
Tesso always beats me at everything! What she said, I was going to say... :-)
Just think. When you do your first half, you'll be starting (and finishing) when it's still nice and cool! Anyhow, savor the moment; you've put in the work and got the result. If anyone ever doubted you before, you've got the proof now - you *are* a runner. :-)
Gnome
1:12 was my time too for my first (and so far only) 10k. I was sooooo proud of myself.
Isn't it a fantastic feeling???
Well Done Sarah. Loved the race review. Good luck with your training for the Gold Coast. Do you run with a heart rate monitor? To finish the race strong after feeling so bad just proves that you are a runner.
I am glad you included highlights and not lowlights, you have to stay positive!
Now congrats for getting through it, the first one is the hardest, I threw up twice in my first 10km.
I am sure you will able to do the MDC, you really should, the atmosphere is fantastic.
Excellent result Sarah!
Always good to get the first one out of the way. A 9 o'clock start sounds horrible.
To reduce your time I would suggest just consistent training and race pacing.
Bravo!
Way to go, Sarah!
Three minutes under your rough target. That's a great result. It sounds like you had a really tough day out there. They happen, but not all races are a huge ordeal.Hopefully your next one will be less of an ordeal.
I would think that you are well on your way to taking a chunk out of that time just by building up the distance in your training - just do it sensibly (10% a week).
Don't think about a half marathon yet, but I don't think any of us beleive that you can't run one. In time it will happen.
Cheers,
Ben
Congrats Sarah - fantastic achievement, and well deserved after all your hard work. Glad you enjoyed the waterpark too - I just love spending time at southbank with the kids :)
Congratulations Sarah - belated I know, but I really feel like I was there with you - I sooo know how that feels.
For some reason races are always harder than training runs (for me anyway) I think its the anxiety - gotta learn how to get over that one.
but well done - its an achievement you'll carry for ever!
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