Weight of The World: Lap of The Lake

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Lap of The Lake

I was up at 6.30 this morning getting ready to enter the Lap of The Lake. I had a pretty crap night's sleep too due to my lack of ability to breathe through my nose, so instead I had to breathe through my mouth, which in turn makes my throat sore!! (can't win really!). So anyway I jump in the shower to wake myself up, stuff a bit of porridge and a banana into me just so as I've got a bit of energy to run and down a few more flu tablets to boot!! I got there in record time. Couldn't believe how quiet it was on the roads. Wish it was like that all the time! I would have liked Nick & Alana to come too, but Nick was just not well enough to get out of bed. The weather was very cool and overcast, with the odd speck of rain. It was a little bit windy, but not too bad once the wind died down. I was just cold all over, no matter how much clothing I had on. Met up with Michelle, Eat Em and Rob (AstroBoy) but unfortunately we didn't know what LJ looked like so we didn't manage to find her at all. A bit of a flurry when Shane Crawford showed up (yummy yummy). I think that Diadora sponsor him so he must have been the draw card today. I think he ended up only running one lap of the lake as he certainly still looked fresh when the medals were being handed out, compared to me anyway. We hear the gun for the people who are running one lap of the race, watch the crowd of people who are getting into the aerobic workout (mainly the walkers I think judging by the fact that they had their numbers pinned to their fleeces!), and make our way over to the start line. There was a good turnout considering how cold it was and it certainly was a bit warmer huddled amongst a big group waiting for the gun. The gun goes off and we all move forward slowly. Then we are into some open space. Because I haven't done any training at all this week, I have no idea how I'll go and I was just hoping that I didn't slow Michelle or Rob down too much. We see the 1km marker ahead and I felt pretty good. Carry on running and we're through the first lap without any problems. It's when we get to the 7km marker that I start to feel a bit yuk. My legs are starting to feel a bit of pain and I'm starting to have trouble breathing properly too. The 8km marker shows up and I can't even talk anymore as I'm just trying to keep breathing without throwing up. I've gone all cold and my face feels very white. I'm sure that some of you have had that awful feeling where you know that you're either going to faint or throw up. That was me! 9km marker goes by and we can now see the finish line. I try and find that last bit of energy in me to get over that line. Had to literally put my head between my legs once we'd stopped so that I got some blood back into my head. I did get introduced to Journeyman and Old Miler but all they could probably see of me was the back of my head (nice!!). Found the water, had a couple of glasses and felt much better after that. Not sure of the actual time but I think it was about 54 or 55 minutes. If I'd been totally well, I reckon we could have done a much faster time as I had to slow down a bit over the last 2km's. We go and get our showbags...not bad either. A free pair of Diadora socks, some mints, a fruit bar, some heel balm and a sachet of Milo, along with all the normal paper advertising upcoming races that they shove in the bags. Could have had a free coffe and a sausage sandwich, but the stomach wasn't having any of it. I just wanted to get home to a nice hot shower and a sit down. I'm glad that I went even though I probably should have given it a miss. I do feel much better now for havng done some exercise albeit that it was a bit extreme after doing nothing for a week! Roll on the 1/2 Marathon on 17th July!!