The Night Before
So much happened this weekend, it's difficult to know what to blog and what not to! I arrived on the coast on saturday morning and found my hotel. Very swanky place and made a nice change from the type of place I'm used to staying in (ie. grotty backpackers or camping LOL) Met up with my running and room buddies, Tracey and Sam, found our room and then went out to do a bit of shopping in Cavill Mall. Mostly because the hotel had a spa which was very appealing but neither Sam nor I had remembered our swimmers!
In the evening, we had dinner with CR people. Tracey and Sam were a bit fascinated by all the online names and hugging that was going on! (They don't read the message boards - yet!) Got to meet some of my fellow bloggers, including The Owl, Jen and Plu. It was soooo nice to put faces to names. Funny how familiar people seem and how you feel as if you really do know people, all from online contact. Anyway, lots of interesting conversations going on, including the possibility of changing my CR name (currently with no imagination) to 'Dammit' - particularly relevant considering I wasn't very happy with my half time, but we'll get to that ;)
(Me and the Owl)
(dinner table)
We decided to have an early night and were in bed by about 9.30pm - a record for me, being a bit of a night owl. Of course, none of us could sleep properly... woke up every half an hour to see if it was time yet.
Crunch Time
We got up at 5am, got dressed, got on the shuttle bus and were at the race by about 5.30 - wandered around, faced the toilet queues, put our bags in and before we knew it, we were at the start line. It was a huge crowd and took about two minutes to cross the actual start line. The atmosphere was just electric; there was such a buzz!
Soon enough we spread out enough to be able to start running and off we went. Tracey, Sam and I had thought we'd try and follow the two hour pacer, but because of the number of people around us, those balloons disappeared off into the distance pretty quickly. The next pacer after that was 2.10, so we kept up with him for the first 5km. I found it really hard to get into my stride with the run and felt, after the first 3km that I wasn't going to be able to go quick enough to break 2.10, let alone 2.00 - I started to walk through the drink stops (admittedly, so that I could have a drink without it going up my nose, but also to conserve energy) and Tracey and Sam went ahead.
It was a bit strange running alone, particularly since I'd forgotten my watch (*slaps head*) and couldn't see how I was going in terms of splits, which I think would have made a difference. I also think I may need new shoes as my left foot started to hurt, below the ankle bone on the side and it felt like the shock was greater in that foot or something. Will get them checked. Anyway, by 7km I finally started to get into a rhythym and kept a slow but steady pace until about 15km when I started to feel tired.
My breathing was really comfortable the whole way through, but the thing that got me was heavy legs... psychologically when I run alone, I think I always feel more tired, so I'd started adding a couple of walk breaks every ten minutes or so. The last couple of kms seemed to go on forever, but I amused myself by passing a huge, 6ft4 muscle bound famous footballer who I'd been playing tag with during the entire race. Then I saw the CR cheer squad and felt a burst of energy - they were sooo fantastic, I can't express how much of a difference it made having people cheering you on so enthusiastically right when you feel your worst... almost made me teary! Anyway, I took my new found juice and adopted my usual 'glory dash' for the last 500m, passing a few people on the way *grins*
I came in at 2:18 (clock time) which I was not very happy with - during my last half, I felt like we were going so incredibly slow and we had so many long walk breaks, toilet stops and the like, that I thought I would take at least 20 minutes off, just in the fact that we werent doing those things. I know it's still a ten minute PB, but it doesnt really feel like it because I feel that I could've done so much better.
On a positive note, Tracey went on to do a huge PB from memory, coming in at 2:09, and Sam did sub 2 which was just fantastic.
Me looking unamused ;)
Me, Tracey and Sam :)
The Afterparty
After the presentations and some horrific children's entertainers, I bumped into Clairie and Mr Clairie and they gave me a lift to the afterparty (thanks, C! Was so good not to have to walk it!), arrived, collapsed onto a bar stool with a drink and before long the entire place was absolutely full of CR people *grins* It was like a CR convention and a sea of blue and yellow!
Tess arrived after lunch, after having a nasty fall on her PB marathon effort! She couldn't stop grinning though which was lovely. After a couple of hours I needed to have a sleep and recover, so the lovely Cirque dropped me back to my hotel (again, big thanks for the lift and not having to walk, cirque! xxx) and I got my car and drove back to Brisbane.
What Did I Learn?
I learnt that I need to increase my distances so I have better endurance for longer runs and that just because I'm getting better at 10 and 5km, those sorts of times don't necessarily translate accross to a half marathon. I don't think my long runs have been long enough, so I'm going to start increasing distances again. At the moment, I'm doing about 30km a week which just isnt enough.
It's probably good that I feel I buggered up, because it's definitely fired me up for the next one - which I'm planning to do at the end of the month (31 July - Ipswich Half Marathon). I am now a woman on a sub 2 mission (dammit!). The good thing is that there's quite a few races coming up in the next couple of months (want to do the Noosa Half as well) so I've got some goals to work towards. General Resolutions to achieve this include:
a. Drop 5kgs (without obsessing about it!)
b. Give up diet coke (which I drink far too much of and it is bad, bad, bad for me)
c. Go back to Track sessions and speedwork once a week
d. Finally Make it to the Brisbane Running Buddies Saturday Runs and do so regularly!
e. Check if I need new shoes
f. Increase my mileage sensibly
Big Thankyou to everyone who made the weekend so enjoyable!
4 comments:
Well done Hannah, it sounds like it was tough but you've taken 10mins off your half marathon time which is an achievement and your sub 2 hr will soon come around.. I'm hoping to get there too one day soon. Sounds like great fun was had with all the CRs and the cheersquad is fantastic, they got me through the SMH half.
Don't beat up on yourself! You DID A PB, and had a great time meeting up with Cool Runners! You should be proud of yourself!
Remember you monthly mileage? January 10
February 21
You just ran 21 kilometres in a day. By the way, the photos of you shows that you are looking really dynamic now! Absolutely stunning!
Make sure that you don't over do it either ~ get some advice from someone who knows you and you trust about Ipswich. It's very soon. Maybe giving that a miss and doing Noosa instead?
Whatever you think, I feel that you're a CR Star!
Your resolutions are great. I am sure you will go sub 2 hours some time.
Endurance is built slowly over time and that's what you need for a Half. Just keep up the long slow runs and it will all come together.
You certainly have the determination.
Thanks Hannah. Good story, Dammit.
I like the photo with the sun, although it looks like there's some lens flare on the sand which could be cleaned up.
Post a Comment