Weight of The World: Half on The Park

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Half on The Park

Such a crappy night's sleep...woke up with huge bags under my eyes. Hubby came to bed late, daughter came in during the night, and then kept me awake because of her coughing. If it hadn't been for the fact that I'd paid my entry fee, I may have just rolled over and gone back to sleep. Even the birds were making tons of noise!! I'd allowed about 50 minutes to get ready (including a shower) and made it out the front door right on time. Drove over to Michelles place and we ambled on over to Princes Park (home of Carlton Football Club). The wind was bitterly cold.....but at least it wasn't raining. Met up with some of the other AusRunners...getting to be a nice little group now. Got our race numbers, put our bags in the holding area, found the loos, and then wandered back to the group. There was an area where people were getting massages and I ummed and ahhed about doing it, but because I was so cold, thought that it might warm the legs up. And what a great idea it was. Instantly much warmer! Michelle was starting to herd us over to the start area as there was only a couple of minutes before start time, As none of us had any idea where it was We just followed the crowd. Only a couple of minutes wait before we all headed off. The course is a 5km one, so it was 4 times around the course, followed by another 1.1km around the outside of the football ground. I thought that we were running faster than we normally do, but felt quite good running at this speed. There were markers for every km, and the 1st one came up quickly. The course is quite flat, some bitueman, some track, so it wasn't too hard on the knees! We came up to a section where there was a down incline followed by a small steep hill. First couple of times around the circuit and it wasn't too bad...third and fourth times around it and it was a killer!! At least there was a flat section after the hill to get the breath back. After the third circuit I was really starting to feel it in my legs. I had plenty of breath but my legs were starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. Michelle always knows when I'm starting to hurt as I stop talking. She kept chatting to me, willing me to talk so that I wasn't thinking of my legs....she's great like that! Finally we hit the home turn and we could hear Mark and Tony cheering us at the finish line....unfortunately we had to go past it and round the football field and then back into the home turn again...with Mark and Tony cheering us on again. We crossed the finish line in 2hrs and 2 minutes. That's an 8 minute improvement on last time. Grabbed a banana and a gel drink for some energy. They were also giving away Mother Day Classic T-shirts, singlets and caps, so I grabbed one of each. No showbag though, but the freebies more than made up for it. We missed the rain thankfully. Michelle wouldn't have heard the end of it if it'd been raining as well as being cold. I would have winghed and complained for the whole 21km!! Suppose that would've kept me talking and not thinking about the legs! Next 1/2 Marathon is on the 4th September. There's also a 10km event before that, so plenty more running to come!