My Run !

Today I am linking in with Dorothy from Singular Insanity for Things I Know - about things I now know that I didn't know yesterday morning !  (And I am going to cheat and link this in with Team Friday at bbeingcool because I cannot get a post written that is going to be worth reading)

Anyone who has been reading this blog will know that I have been training for the C 10km race for the past couple of months.  (After talking to my Dad I learned that he used to train for 2 months for an 89km race - I trained for 2 months for a 10km race - maybe the difference in our ages when we ran said races had something to do with it !!!!  Or maybe our level of fitness before we started training - I don't know !!!)  Anyway, a back injury last week played havoc with my head as I had planned another 25-30km of training which I didn't get done and eventually I had to accept that the training I had done would have to be enough.  Everyone said that it was enough.  My brain said maybe not !!!

The weather on the Gold Coast last week left a lot to be desired - rain poured down for hours at a time, the wind blew at a million miles an hour and the cold that was felt in our home chilled me to the bone.  If this was the weather that I was going to have to run in, I wasn't sure that I was even going to bother.  So, on top of the weather issue, was the early morning issue.  I don't do early mornings.  And I definitely don't do early morning runs.  I knew this when I entered but I thought it would be OK.  It wasn't that OK - I hated going to sleep at 11pm knowing that I would be up in 4.5hrs time.  Then waking up and wondering, even though I had set two alarms, if they would work.  It messed with my mind big time !!!!

On Friday afternoon I had popped into the Salvos store to buy a throw away jumper for the morning - picked one up for $4 which I was very happy with.  Got home and we went to Charlie's to carbo load - not sure that it was totally necessary, or even whether it makes a difference or not - but we did.  And I finished my meal with a chocolate pizza - so good !!!!

At 4.30am when the alarms both went off I lay there and wondered what on earth I was thinking about ?  Who was I kidding ?  I am not a runner - why did I think I could run 10km.  I wondered whether I should just curl up under the doona and just sleep the day away ?  No such luck - Al got me up and I got dresssed, had my protein bar and half a glass of OJ to take my tablets and we set off at about 5.15am.  Got there waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to early but it did mean we got a good parking !!  Walked through and found where the start was and then did some stretching and went and waited in the starting area.  A stayed with me until about 3 mins before the start of the race so I gave him my throw away jacket with the thought that I would be able to use it for the next time I ran (holy cr*p - at that point I was already thinking about the next race I was going to run !!!!).  The starter gun went off and we started shuffling forward.  I got near the start line only to find that I couldn't switch Runkeeper on on my phone so had to step aside to sort that out.  No panic - yet !

We headed south over Sunningdale Bridge - not a lot of running happening as we were still quite close together.  A fair bit of pushing and shoving which annoyed the cr*p out of me - we are all here to run the race people - just hold on for everyone ahead of you to move !!!!   I did manage to go the whole race without getting tripped up or tripping anyone up so I thought that was a good win !

One guy pushed past me and at that point I had had enough of the pushing and shoving and so said "Really" quite loudly - he turned and I just held my hands up as if to say "What - you think it is OK to push people out the way" and off he went.  We turned at the end of the bridge and headed north.  The leaders had passed me when I was less than 1km from the start !!!  I went up and over the little hillock in front of CQU (where I used to work) and then saw A just in front of the chemist opposite the swimming pool.  I struggled a little from 3-4km and then before I knew it I saw my first sign - 8km - holy moley - how did I get to 8km without seeing a sign !!!!!!  I could feel my legs were tiring but I knew that I had less than 2kms to go to the end and I seemed to get some strength from somewhere and keep going.  I had said to myself that I would like to run the whole 10km without walking BUT if I had to walk I would.

I didn't - I ran the whole 10kms in a PB time of 1:03:21 (was aiming for 1:10-1:20) - and, I never thought I would say this, but I really enjoyed the run.  I don't know if it was because it seemed to go so fast, whether it was because I just got into the zone and ran, whether it was because my legs felt good for most of the race - I don't know what it was but I wish I could bottle it up to use for future races.  Yes, there are going to be future races - and, despite me saying I would never do a half marathon, I think that might be the next goal AFTER I have been to someone to get my knees checked out (as requested by A who is worried I may be doing more damage than can be fixed if I carry on running without getting them looked at).  My right knee twinged at about 7km and I told it to suck it up and hang on until I had finished before it decided to do anything horrible on me - and it did (Thank you right knee !!).  Both knees were sore once I had stopped running but after icing them yesterday afternoon they pulled up fine today.  I have also got a big blister near the ball of my right foot - very strange as I have never got a blister there before on any of my training runs. 

If only I had the confidence in myself that everyone else seems to have in me I would save myself a lot of angst !!!!  I hope I haven't put the hoodoo on myself with this first run being so good and that runs will only go downhill from here !!!  Maybe because I didn't over think it, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Hopefully I will be able to under think all future races.

To my family who have been amazing in helping me train - either by riding with me or not nagging for meals when I have been out training and couldn't be arsed bothered to cook dinner or entering the MDC to keep me company and then running ahead because I told her to or just telling me that of course I am going to finish it even if I have to walk, to my virtual cheering squad who cheered me on during my training runs when I felt like I had no more to give and who were there with me yesterday cheering me on finish and to finish strongly, A HUGE BIG THANK YOU because, for sure, without your support and encouragement, I don't think I could have accomplished what I did.  So, while it may have been me out there running, it wasn't without help from all of you !

My legs were a little tired last night and a little tight this morning.  But they felt good - they feel good provided I don't sit for too long in one position !!!!!  I am thinking of having a rest week this week - except for the normal 2 x PT sessions - but no running - and then starting again next week.  I think I am going to enter the 5km Bridge to Brisbane - we get back from NZ the week before the race so if I can get enough kms done before we leave, I will be happy to enter that race.  The following week we have The Stampede so I will have to look for which races there are after that is over provided my knees are OK !!!!

Have the best week ever - for anyone involved in financial year end - good luck !!!!

TFTD : Without pain there would be no change.  But pain, just like everything in life, is meant to be learned from and then released.