Part #2

I made it!!!!
Friday

- Arrived in Brisvegas and got in our little hired Hyundai Getz, so cute those cars are! We were Victorian for the weekend according to the number plates.
- It took 2 and a half flipping hours to get from Brisbane airport to Helensvale. All we needed was a shopping centre before they closed, and got to Helensvale Westfield at 5.00pm.
- Surprise visited my aunty and uncle who I used to live with down there at the same time :)
- Weather was crap. Rainy and windy. We had an apartment right in Surfers on the beach. The wind was howling all night though, it was hard to sleep.

Saturday

- Weather was a nightmare - we went straight to buy umbrellas and rain poncho thingys.
- Collected my race gear from the precint which was part of the Asics Sport & Leisure Expo. Oh I love expos!!
- I met Pat Carroll :) Legend he is ;)

- Spent some dosh - bought some 2xu compression tights - my OHs opinion was that they made my legs look leaner than the skins, so there was no way I wasn't going to buy them!! ;) I was due for more anyway, one pair to run in, one for recovery.

- Caught up with Kristy briefly at the Expo.

- Did lots more shopping that day at Harbourtown :) Shoes... need I say more! I found them in size 5!!! YAY!

- Nice big carb-up meal on Saturday night, and into bed as early as possible, but had a very interrupted sleep with the howling wind.

Sunday - THE BIG RUN :)

4.30am wake-up, shower, breakfast and off to the bus. Crammed in at the start-line as close as possible to the sub 1:50 pace runner - which was a fair way from him.

For 3kms I overtook people - obviously the majority of runners didn't read the etiquette part of the entry form - to align yourself with the pace runners equivalent to the time you expect to run. And yes people there is a huge difference between sub 1:50 and sub 2:00 hours!!! I finally caught the red balloons I had to follow at about the 3km mark. I felt awesome, the legs were turning nicely, I promised to have pasta more often the night before :)

About 6-7kms the pacer got a bit slow. I didn't want to change rhythm, so continued with my same pace, and went past him, and ended up catching the other red balloons - on track to do a lower 1:49ish run. As soon as I felt I was going maybe a touch too fast, I slowed it, I wasn't planning on going nuts or letting ego get in my way! I couldn't believe how great I felt, I was ON TRACK!! It was surreal - bod was feeling good, my lungs were hardly being challenged :) I only just started getting pins & needles and numb feet - mainly in my right foot which I'd strapped.

Went through the 10km mark in 50:40. Whoa! I was shocked, and still felt good :) Felt a mammoth blister, but sucked it up. By now both feet were numb. Probably a good thing!

Had my gel at 11km mark. Made the mistake of not having enough water with it. About 14kms my mouth was dry, I couldn't swallow properly and I started losing form. And my legs were starting to feel it. Hence the pace slowed a bit.

I damn well missed the next drink station, so had dry mouth syndrome for another 2kms when I had a short little walk as I was drinking. It's a fine line between quenching the thirst and dry mouth and drinking too much and getting one of my infamous crippling stitches...

It was while I was re-hydrating that the first set of red balloons went past. No worries I thought, just keep the legs turning. But after having a walk, they didn't want to move. The couldn't. That's when the swearing started...

Then the 2nd lot of red balloons went past! OMG!! Then I felt the self-inflicted pressure... "C'MON". Everything went kaput after that. My legs just couldn't move how I wanted them too. I couldn't work out how I went from feeling awesome to crumpling so quick... that's never happened before. It's either a bad run from the start, or a good run from the start with usual exertion pain at the end. ;)

I didn't bother to look at my watch or pacing chart after that, I didn't want to create any extra pressure, I just had to make it to the end in one piece.

At 18kms I felt a 'lift'. There was one girl walking, and another ran past her at the same time as I did and yelled encouragement "c'mon, just keep your legs going for another 15mins", so I took on the advice too. The encouragement from everyone was fantastic.

The last 3kms were absolute pain. I felt like I was crawling, but I snuck a look at the watch and maybe just maybe I could do a low 1:50ish time. Didn't dare pressure me though as passing out was a more likely outcome.

It was so exciting to see people lining the streets and cheering! I saw the finish line so put the big sprinter legs in. The clock was at 1:52:40 (gun time) something so I knew I must have been fairly close, but knew I didn't do it. I had to sit as soon as I finished, but was quickly made to stand and ushered through to the 'recovery area'. Good thing too, considering thousands more were to come through and if we all sat down... Remembered to stop clock as I was collapsing and it read 1:50:16. Damn I thought and took off 6 seconds for my delay in stopping it.

Found a tree in recovery area and sat beside it, almost comatose. So of course the Gold Coast Bulletin thought that would be a good picture to take.......... so I'm a star in yesterday's paper. Pic and a mini interview. Which they totally concocted. I so did not say half that stuff! And apparently I'd run the marathon too!

Mosey-ed around trying to find OH which didn't take toooo long. Hung around a bit then home for shower and relax :)

This was the view from our motel.

Saw the official results on-line yesterday and was almost devastated to see I only missed the magic mark I'de set, by five seconds! See if I didn't walk that drink-stop.... ;)

Here's me yesterday on the balony yesterday morning with the sun-rise, before we drove back to the airport. In my Finisher's T-Shirt, which I've hardly taken off ;) lol

What I gained:

- 2 mammoth blisters on each foot. Size of a distorted 50c piece.

- a blood blister on one toe, just to add some more colour

- a bruise 5cms below my belly button. I think it's from the compression tights - they have a skinny drawstring which must have been compressed into me!

- I've got chafing in a lovely place. Again bloody compression tights. Compressed my butt very well - keeping it all in place and together, so guess where the chafing is!! Didn't find that one till I hit the shower and got the stinging feeling!

- Sore abs!!! And ribs!

- Dead legs - only quads though.

What I learnt

- To not strap my foot (with a different type of strapping being used for the first time) in a big event!! The pain of the blisters was way worse than the maybe-pain from the right foot which still isn't 100%.

- To stick with the pace runners, even if they are going a little too slow. They still got over the line before me, which is the whole point :)

- That pasta is GOOOOOD the nite before. I'm not a pasta eater usually, but I felt full of beans, for the most part, anyway :)

I'm so stoked that I smashed by last PB from a month ago by 3 and a bit minutes!! And I know I could have gone under 1:50 if I really knew I was that close. Always next one!!

Over and out...