hey ladies, i can go half the distance...

Yesterday I did it. I ran a half marathon. Only walked a tiny little bit, but I'll get to that when I get to that.

So my preparation was totally messed up. I had a cold for the whole week before the race, was unable to train. Just rest, load up on cold and flu meds and hope that I would be better by race day. Taking twice the dosage apparently wasn't going to help, so I didn't do that.

My feet hadn't quite adapted to my new rigid insoles (they still really hurt during a run), so I went out to the shop on Thursday night to pick up a pair of semi rigid ones. By Friday I was still snotty and sore throated, but I figured it was now or never to go for one final run and at least try the new insoles before the race. Did a short run, about 4km, and I was buggered. Not a good sign. Insoles didn't feel perfect, but they were better. They'll do anyway.

Started the carbo loading on Friday night - lots of pasta. Heaps of sleep too. By the time I woke up on Saturday near lunchtime, it was pouring rain outside. So that arvo I went out to buy a top I could wear under my race singlet to keep me warm if it was still raining.

I couldn't sleep the night before, as you can tell from the previous blog post. One of the trainers warned me of this, which is why I slept so much on Friday night. Problem is, I couldn't really wake up either. Two alarms didn't really do it. I woke up and it was 6am. Race start was at 6:30-6:40ish... dammit! Skipped breakfast, got dressed as fast as I could (I actually considered sleeping in my race gear the night before... shame I didn't), sped there as fast as I could, and as I ran towards the start line the gun went off... double dammit! No time to drop my bag off, I ran back to the car, threw my bag and my jumper and spray pants into the car, knocked back the first of my energy gels and threw a couple more into my pocket for the race, made sure I had the car keys and my iPod, and sprinted to the start.

Found myself at the very back of the pack, and as I passed the start line I heard the commentator announce a last call for any more half marathon runners, 30 seconds to cross the start line if we wanted to get timed. So I was 30 seconds early then... Anyway I was off. At the very back of the pack. With all the walkers from the looks of it.

Armed with my trusty iPod I set off, trying not to go too fast and really slow myself down so that I could keep the heart rate down and be able to jog the whole way. The annoying thing was that I have short legs, and at this slow jog, some people were powerwalking quicker than me. Damn them and their big strides.

Along the way:
- It rained a bit, which was refreshing;
- I tried to make sure my iPod didn't get wet;
- I saw a great sunrise over the broadwater;
- I tried to photograph it but realised my iPod wasn't my phone;
- I applauded people passing me on the way back towards the finish;
- One of the wheelchair guys was in a full gorilla suit;
- I passed one of my old uni lecturers who was on his way back;
- I tried to hi-5 him but reacted a little too late;
- I hi-5ed a little girlholding up a bowl of jellybeans for the runners;
- I overtook a dude four times as big as me (sadly at the 14km mark);
- I jogged pretty much the whole way, except for drink stops;
- Also stopped to go to the bathroom once;
- I hit "the wall" at 19km, where I thought I couldn't run any more;
- I also realised here how much my left knee actually hurt;
- I ran the last kilometre hard;
- I realised how much of a stupid idea that was with 500m to go;
- I ran the rest of the way trying to shift some weight off my left knee;
- The awesome crowd pushed me on the rest of the way;
- I squeezed in under the 3 hour mark
- That was by my time anyway, it was 3:03 from the start gun;
- I must've looked quite distressed, the paramedics approached me;
- I scored "free" water, oranges and bananas;
- I picked up my grey finisher's shirt and medal;
- I went to cheer on my mates doing the 10km;
- Cheered on randoms as well;
- I got some food (was it breakfast or lunch?);
- I went home and showered, played PS2 and slept;
- Maybe it wasn't in that order; and
- I realise that this is a really crap bullet point summary.

Well that's all I can really remember. Today was painful. My legs are incredibly sore, especially the knees... it's ok when I'm not moving, but when I start to move it isn't cool at all. I kinda hobble around the place. Wore my other compression tights to bed and to work, which I think helped a bit. Even my arms were sore afterwards, but I think that was because I had my arms in a bent jogging position for three hours.

Need sleep now. Next race I've got is in September, but its only 10km, which is hardly anything... right? Better get training...