Yes, I did it - I ran the City Bay Fun Run and survived! It was a fantastic day, and I have to say I am so proud of myself. My time was 83 mins, but that's really secondary to everything else. The photo is of me after the race in the hotel room, with a view of the city.
Here's my race run down:
( I wasn't going to do one, but I figure I might appreciate the details later on, so skip it if the length is overwhelming!)
Prep - I had to deal with a lot of pre-race anxiety - but mainly in the days leading up to Sunday. I calmed myself with the knowledge that I knew I could make the distance (had run it 4 times in training) and lowered my time targets, focussing on completing the race as the main achievement. I also made sure I was very prepared, right down to packing a separate bag for all my running gear so that I could easily double check that I had everything and would be able to find it easily (we had to travel to Adelaide the day before as we live in the country).
On the day- got me and everyone else up early (5.30 am - my family loved me for that!) so that we could leave at 6.30am without feeling rushed. Arrived at the race at 7.30 - perfect timing for the 8.00 am race. Had about a 10 minute walk to the start line, so used this as my warmup.
Positioned myself at the 75 min mark - Andrew chose the 60 min one and the kids stood at 70 mins (did I mention that all 5 of us were running it? Of course I was the only one who had done any training - lol)
Had to wait a while for the race to start but it was a beautiful day (29 degrees), and I put my music on, and just kicked back and enjoyed the ambience - just focussed on knowing that I had done everything I possibly could, and I should now just enjoy the experience. And I did.
When we eventually took off, I didn't even notice running up hill for the first 100 metres, which a few months back had worried me. I quickly fell into a comfortable pace although I had lots of technical hitches! My heart rate monitor didn't start when I crossed the start line, and it took me about a minute I think to notice this. Bugger - never mind - I ignored this. Then my MP3 player bounced aound too much in my waist belt and kept changing stations so I couldn't hear anything (I had set it to radio because I decided I would enjoy hearing race updates as I went along). So I tried to fix this whilst running (difficult) and eventually achieved this, only for it to stop working completely 1 km later. Seemed to have turned itself off - so turned it back on, ok for a while - and then off again. It seemed to suggest it was on low battery- but I had put a new one in that morning - grrh. Around the 5 km mark I gave up on it completely.
Back to the 1 km mark - with the delayed start on my HR monitor I hit the 1 km mark still running - my game plan has always been to run for 5 mins/walk for 2 mins - which usually means I'm walking at teh first km and ready to start running again, but not having an accurate start time meant that I must have run for 6 mins (my running pace is about 10km/hr= 6 min km's). Still not to worry I felt reasonably good - I always find the first 1 - 2 kms hard until my legs really warm up . Stuck to my game plan from then on - and it seemed to work fairly well. My heart rate sat somewhere in teh 160's - 170's - but this is very normaly - and I concentrated on trying to get it back into training zone (ie under 155) during my walk breaks.
I was very grateful for having trained with a waist belt and carried a bottle of iced water, as it was very hot - much warmer than I had ever run in before, and I was glad to be able to take a drink whenever I wanted. -Poured it over my head a few times too!
Running along - it was hard though, and I did ask myself a few times - why was I doing this? I had been rading Hal Higdon's Marathon Running book the day before as I have been considering what my next goals might be, and came to the conclusion that I really don't want to push myself that hard - I really don't enjoy running that much! At the 5 kms mark thinking I still had 7 to go was scary enough - without thinking that I had 37 to go for the marathon!
At the 6 km mark - my 16 y.o. daughter ran up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. It was nice to see her - asked how she was going. She said she was doing terribly, but I have to admit I didn't believe her - after all, she was at the same place/time as me - so she was doing ok. I was walking at this stage, but soon after she arrived my two minutes were up, so I started running again. I fully expected her to run with me, and I had mixed feelings about this. My competitive nature wanted me to pull ahead and run faster, in the back of my mind I wanted to prove that I am fitter than my kids, but I also knew that this was silly, and I shouldn't try and take anything away from her. No, I needed to run my own race, as planned, and if she beat me - good for her. But to my surprise she didn't start running - and I didn't see her again for a couple of kms.
After the 6 km mark I knew it was count down time, and whilst feeling reasonable ok, let myself run a few extra minutes every now and then . Eg I would be running my 5 minutes, looking forward to walking again, but when teh 5 minute mark came around, would convince myself that I could run one more minute - I was coping ok wasn't I? Ran a 6 minute block and a 7 minute block this way - and then let myself walk for 3 minutes instead of 3. Say Kaelia again around the 8 km mark - but not close enough to talk. She was on my left, and I watched her run around the same speed as me (maybe a littel faster), but with far more leg lift, and then stop and walk after about 30 secs. She told me afterwards that this was how she tends to run, can't work out how to run slower, and then gets puffed out and has to stop/start all the time. I felt that in comparison my pace was slow, steady and sustainable.
Around the 9km I was feeling tired, and my game plan started to become a litttle unsteady. In retrospect this may have been as a result of me adding a few extra minutes of running - I'm not sure. But I started to plan for my run down Jetty Rd to the finish line, and I wanted to make sure that I finished strongly. So I gave myself an extra break - thinking I would then run the last 1.5 kms without stopping. But in trying to do this, it was too much and at the 11km mark I had to stop again, mainly to make sure that I would be ready for the last leg through the crowd. This did work though. I had picked up the pace with 2 kms to go, and once I turned down Jetty Rd I picked it up again, and thoroughly enjoyed a strong pace, passing many other runners. About 200 meters from the end, I heard a voice cheer me on, and I turned to see my husband on the sidelines, saying "keep going, you've done a great time". That was fantastic to hear, and I was so proud to show him what I had now achieved. One last corner turn, and about 100m to the finish line, I did what I had dreamt of, and sprinted to the finish line. To my delight the race announcer picked up on it, and called out "there you go ladies, how about a sprint to the finish line!" It was a fantastic feeling as I picked up the speed and passed so many - I don't think I even knew I could run that fast! I DID IT.
Post race, my HR was back to normal within a few minutes, I was elated and feeling fine. Kaelia came in about 3 minutes after me, and Tara (19) who had offered to run with my youngest, Tess, (10) came in at about another 20 mins later. Andrew had completed the race in about 66 mins despite no training (he's so naturally athletic). But the true test of my fitness was yet to come. Post race, all the family wanted to do was sit down - so they headed back to the hotel and crashed. Me, I just wanted to soak up the day -so I wandered about the festivities for a while, and then went shopping, walking up and down Jetty Rd for a few hours!
PS - the 48 hours that followed, I suffered from mild stiffness - no more that after any other workout - wasked 6 kms the next morningto stretch my legs, and back to running today - the rest of the family are still having difficulties walking!
Things I have learnt:/observations/achievements:
- Never in a million years would I have thought this possible. Three years ago I contemplated walking the race, and that it would take me 3 hours. I trained for many months, and walked it in 2:20. I couldn't walk for days afterwards. 2 years ago, I dropped 10 kgs and trained for 6 months and walked it in 1:57. I walked at 100% max HR for the full two hours. It took over an hour afterwards for my heart rate to return to normal (and I was lying down to recover). I had blisters and was reasonably sore for a few days. This year, another 30 kgs lighter, I ran it, trimmed another 35 mins off my time, stayed well under max HR and recovered almost instantly, with no blisters, no chaffing, no real stiffness. An absolute miracle.
- I am very proud of the fact that my whole family ran the race, that this is a good health focus for us all, and great to achieve together. The kids have always been active, but now I'm a part of it, and I hope they will pass on the same enthusiasm to their children.
- I had no idea that the majority of "runners" did not plan to run the entire race. I positioned myself to the side, as I didnt want to inconvenience everyone when I stopped every 5 mins to walk, however people were walking within the first 200m, and it seemed that I ran more than most, and faster than most when I was running. I overtook many runners, weaving in and out of the crowds, and continued to do so right to the end. There I was previously thinking how incredibly fit all these people were to be able to run it, but they weren't that fit after all! It was like thinking that I wasn't fit enought to go the gym!
- Training and pacing make a huge difference. Having trained so well, I didn't suffer from a slower second half of the race, like so many people. In the second half so many runners were walking, or running very slowly, but I was able to run a good steady pace right to the end.
- Researching running tips/training programmes also really helps. My husband runs purely on instinct and base fitness (remember he didn't do any running before the race, but plays sport regularly). His game plan was to go out as hard as he could, set the standard for himself, and then push himself to maintain it to the end. He ran the first 5 kms quite well, then had to walk for a while, then ran 2kms, then walked, then run /walk to the end. Yes he was faster than me (he's also a fair bit taller), but was disapppointed with a 66 min result. And to a certain degree I think he should be. Because I think he is quite capable of a sub 60 mins - if he had paced himself at the beginning - I think he could have run the whole thing and done it quicker.
- I think I could have run it faster. Yes it was hot, and that probably affected my time, and I had an injury two weeks prior, and that could have affected it. And my husband felt that if you have enough in you to sprint to the end, then you probably could have pushed yourself harder in the race. All true, but I guess the final time wasn't teh only important thing to me. Being my first real race, finishing was foremost in my mind, and finishing comfortably was also important. The joy of sprinting to the finish line, have done something I never thought I could do, was more important to me, than hobbling to the end with a time recorded a few minutes faster. Next year it may be different - we'll see.
- Despite my thinking about running whilst the race was on, I am still thinking of a marathon ,but I just want to learn to really enjoy running first. I've pushed myself really hard to get here, and I would benefit from taking a step back and building up my mileage without pressure.
- There were other achievements on the day. I loved the fact that I could wear real running gear with out embarassment. I wore real runners shorts (you know baggy with the undies sewn in), and a skimpy top to keep me cool. If had been heavier, I would have had to wear long pants to hide my legs/prevent chaffing, and a tshirt with sleeves to hide the rest of me. The result would have been much hotter than my counterparts, just adding to the weight disadvantage I already had. I loved the fact that I felt like a I looked athletic, "fit the part", so to speak, and was then comfortable wandering through the crowd afterwards, and shopping, still in my running gear. That would have NEVER happened a year ago. It doesn't matter that I am still "chunky", I don't think I look overweight, I fit into size 10 clothing and feel very "normal".
Well that's it from me. A long post I know, but I think I will appreciate having it all recorded when I look back on it. I started low HR running training this morning - but I think I 'll save that for another post!
