Pride and Glory

Hi readers

It's 5:56am Monday morning and I am here blogging because I've been lying in bed, thinking about what I want to blog and all the great descriptions I am going to give you and now that I've jumped out of my lovely warm cot, I can't remember the exact words.  I wonder if Harper Lee or John Steinbeck have experienced the same problem?

I am in a whole world of pain this morning.  "And why is that?", I hear you ask.  Because yesterday I ran the Gold Coast Asics Half Marathon and I SMASHED IT!!!  When I say I smashed it, I mean I blitzed it and blew my previous PB away by almost ten minutes.  I am so happy! :o)  My official time was 1hr 53mins 37secs.  Yipppeeeee!  Once across the line, I couldn't stop crying.  I was SO PROUD of myself.  I couldn't believe I'd run that time.  It averages out at about 5mins 22secs per kilometer and I still can't believe I did it.  I really learned a lot about myself too.  I ran with Doc and Tracy, two of my running buddies, who had made it their aim this year to get ME over the line in under two hours.  They were my bookends (almost literally at the end!).  What I learned, and have been learning this year with my running, is that I am capable of truly great feats of endurance and have a pain barrier much higher than I realised.  I really pushed myself yesterday.  The last few kilometres were very difficult, but there was no way Doc was going to accept ANY of my complaints!  Running is so much in your head too.  I mean, once you open that door in your mind with a negative thought, you have to shut it straight away to stop more negative thoughts coming out!  Tracy and I chanted, "I can, I will, I can I will, I can, I will" and made that our mantra.  It really helped you know! I dread to see my finisher's photo, because I REALLY wanted to try and get one good one (in three years) but I fear it will be another tortured, gasping body crossing the line! 

This is an example of Saturday's carb loading diet.  It was hard work trying to eat this stuff for a whole day beforehand.  Oh, the four blocks of chocolate aren't in the picture!  Hmmmm, or the potatoes, garlic bread and lasagne....  No, I certainly did not eat this all by myself!!  This was a combined effort between five of us girls who were staying in a unit right near the start line.  It made a great spot to cheer on the marathoners as they came by on the 32km mark.  They were so exhausted by that point that many, many of them thanked us for our yells of encouragement and pompom waving.  

 The runners did say that there weren't very many people cheering them on, which is unfortunate because, from a runners perspective, you have No Idea how helpful it is when people yell supportive comments from the sidelines.  It really gives you a boost.   Anyway, it was a brilliant weekend.  

This is us yesterday morning, about to head off to the start.  Elaine, Tracy, moi and Mo.  The start line was absolutely PACKED like sardines in a can but the vibe was so great and once we were jammed in amongst the 7500 other bodies, we were nice and cosy.  Who knows what we might do next year?  Now Spud & I are on holidays for a week so that's why I'm awake at 5.30am - derrrrr.  I need to get used to the concept of "sleeping in".  Currently, I am working out my strategy to get the cat into his cage so we can take him to his "motel".  The dog is no trouble but Tim the Cat goes MENTAL!  Then it's off north to the Sunshine Coast for a few days, then south to the rainforest.  I will take my little computer but I'm not sure if I am going to have coverage so may not be able to blog.  Booohissssss.....

Cheerio then, until next time!  I need Nurofen....