Weight of The World: Sunday 7th May

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Sunday 7th May

Exercise: 13.2km Run - Puffing Billy Train Race Anybody that reads my blog regularly probably knows how much I hate running if it's cold, raining or both!! Well today it was doing everything it could possibly think of to make me not want to run this race!! I'd had a pretty crap night's sleep last night due to the really strong winds outside, my daughter wanting to sleep in my bed due to her being scared, and generally just worrying about the race, so I wasn't in the best frame of mind when I got up at 6am to hear the rain still pounding on the roof. TigerBoy picked me up at 6.50am and we headed over to Beki's place to pick her up. I'd looked at the weather map just before leaving and it did look as if the rain band was going to pass over before the race started (should have known better than to trust Melbourne weather!!). We got to Belgrave with plenty of time to go and keep nice and warm in a cafe, have a lovely cup of Coffee and generally watch everyone arrive. We ventured out into the cold about 1/2 an hour before the race started. It had even stopped raining by then....see I toldy you all it was going to stop raining!! Beki and I then stood around freezing our bits off until about 10 minutes before the race started, when we headed down to the start line. The heavens then proceeded to open up and we were all absolutely soaking wet....not a good start to the day!! We ran up the first hill and for some reason it seemed alot easier than previously. Was it because of the new Skins we were wearing? Was it just because it was the start of the race, or was it because we just wanted to get to the finish line and get back to the pub?? Did really well until we got to the second hill. As Beki and I had already run this hill on Anzac Day we knew what was coming, so we tried to keep at an even pace, but did have to walk a couple of times just to catch our breath. Once at the top of the hill it was onwards and upwards to the next hill. I think the downhill bits were a great relief to both of us, giving us the opportunity to catch our breath and actually have a quick chat before concentrating on the next uphill bit. (know how to keep Beki quiet now...take her on a few hill runs!!) Saw the train coming when we got to the 10km mark and we both made a mad dash to get across the train tracks before the train, otherwise we would have had to stop and wait for it to cross. The last 2km's was a mud bath, luckily it was a downhill mud bath and we couldn't not get absolutely covered in it. It was so slippery rounding the last bend before the final dash to the finish line. My trainers now weigh about 2kg more with all the mud attached to them!! Of course it had stopped raining when we reached the finish line, but we really felt the cold once we'd stopped and cooled down. Our time....77min 16seconds, missed beating the train by just over 1 minute....what a bummer!! I'm so glad that I wore my skins. They were a great investment and kept my legs so warm while we were waiting for transport back to Belgrave (which is a totally different story and I'm mightily pissed off about it, but don't want to think about it any more!!). We eventually made it to the Micawber Pub, where we met up with some other Cool Runners and Aus Runners. Enjoyed the warmth of the Coonara and the few glasses of Champers!! I would like to do this race again, but next year I think we'll organise to have a car waiting at Emerald Lake with our clothes in it. Don't want to wait around in the cold for 2 hours like we did today!