It's over and I do feel a bit of a sense of "what now" since it has been my focus for a few months!
My official net time was 2.23.53 - reasonably happy. I was hoping for under 2.20, but still OK. It is a PB anyway as I have never run a half marathon before. It gives me something to strive towards for my next one. Hopefully that one will be injury free!
We hydrated and carb-loaded the day/night before with sandwiches, pasta, garlic bread, couple of sports drinks and lots of water. I didn't sleep well the night before, probably got about 5 hours in the end. I think I may have been nervous. When I put my son to bed I reminded him I would not be there when he woke in the morning, he would have the morning with his uncle and cousins. He was fine, he said to me "you are not going to win, are you mum". I told him there was no chance of me winning and we agreed it was all about taking part and having fun!
Up at 5:30am, coffee, toast with honey and off we went in a taxi. The race wasn't until 8am, but we wanted to allow time for bag drop, toilet stop etc.
The day itself was great. Well organised given the insane amount of people. I saw members of my running group from Tasmania before the race which was unexpected and nice.
We had a group hug and went to find the start line. At the start line, my middle sister wanted to move closer to the front, so we set her free. My other sister and I ran togther for the first 5km or so when I met up with one of my Tassie running buddies and my sister set me free to run with my running buddy as we are a similar pace. We ended up running the rest of the way together. She was such a great support. I was ready to walk at the 17km mark thinking there was no way I could possibly run for another 4.1km. My knees and hips were aching. She kept me going to the end - thanks Susie! That last 4.1km felt like 10km.
We had a great photo taken, got a medal each, ate some fruit, had a drink and then I went off to locate my sisters (and my backpack). I found them, we has a group hug and caught the train home.
Very sore at the end, but today I actually feel really good, tired, but good. No sore achilles, no sore knee, no sore top of foot! My shoulders are a bit sore, I must have tensed up and hunched when I was running.
Back to cross training tomorrow, to loosen up. I have a physio appointment Wednesday to get the achilles thing sorted once and for all. I will be able to run still, but shorted distances for a while (under 10km!). Fine by me for now.
Mons X
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