❤ MY FIRST HALF MARATHON WITHOUT TRAINING ❤ Hello Fit Friends! Last Sunday 21st September 2014 at 6.15am I was at the start line of my first ever half marathon. I was nervous, excited and extremely scared. I had woken up at 4.30am, got dressed and took the train to Milsons Point wearing my husband’s old jumper to keep me warm. As the crowd in front of me started to cross the start line, I pulled off my husband’s old jumper and tossed it aside. Here goes nothing I thought. Please knees don’t let me down! My heart was pounding hard from the adrenaline and from the pre-workout I took that morning. I started to jog… ❤ THE BEGINNING ❤ I’m the kinda gal you won’t find on a treadmill as I really dislike running. The only times in my life I run is when I‘m late for a gym class (or if I get a last minute free ticket so it seems!) It all started 2 weeks before the event when I received an email from the lovely Brittany Brand New Solutions She contacted me on behalf of IsoWhey® to take part in the #Sydney Running Festival. My first initial thought was awesome, I get a goodie bag, free entry and I don’t even need to bother with all the paperwork of arranging it. All I need to do is turn up. Easy! Brittany asked which race I wanted to participate in. I intended to do the 9km run across Sydney Harbour Bridge which was also happening on the same day as the half marathon. As I responded to Brittany, I suddenly on a mad whim thought:- “Meh! Challenge myself. Let’s try and do a half marathon. It’s only 7km more than the #city2surf .” You can read about my experience in the 14km City 2 Surf here https://facebook/TheBakingMadGymAddict/photos/a.465050386900517.1073741831.418282054910684/722060251199528/?type=1&theater And so the deal was done. I had committed to a half marathon. There was no turning back. I deliberately did not train because I wanted to keep my legs fresh for the race. I only had 2 weeks before the event and doubted I could fit any serious running training in that time frame. I was just foolishly hoping it will all “work out for the best”. The BEST thing about being given the opportunity to take part in the half marathon was raising money for Black Dog Institute to help towards the treatment and prevention of mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder. Essentially I was running for happiness in the hope that I could try and make others feel happy too. For me, that was a huge motivation. In less than 2 weeks I raised $918. The whole team in total raised $69,847. It was an amazing result for Team Black Dog! I ran the half marathon in my black and orange Black Dog Institute t-shirt with pride. The only t-shirt size available to me was “male size small” but I didnt care. I was representing (and I secretly imagined the t-shirt would give me super powers for the race). Delusional me? Never! ❤ CRUNCH TIME! OMG! IM ACTUALLY RUNNING A HALF MARATHON! ❤ To be honest, the first 6km was fairly easy. I purposely paced myself and didn’t go flat out because I wanted to save as much energy in the tank as possible. It was a different experience than #City2Surf because there were less people on the side of the road to cheer you on. In the 14km City2Surf there were bands, cheer squads and entertainment groups at every single kilometre station which really helped to motivate and encourage runners (especially me) along the course. With the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival having less distractions than City2Surf, I soon got bored of listening to my own thoughts and so I chose to turn on my MP3 player. The pumping music helped me to keep jogging and soon another few kilometres passed. I jogged across the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge with around 35,000 other runners. The beautiful Sydney Opera House was on our left hand side. The temperature was cool. There was a small sprinkling of rain but the wet stuff didnt bother me. I was born in Scotland after all where it rains (a lot!). We continued to run through the lush Sydney Botanical Gardens before moving on to the suburb of Pyrmont. Things started to get less easy... My legs started tiring and I was beginning to struggle. My mind started to think about random things to keep me going. I thought about the people that could be helped from the charity. I thought about the first time my husband told me he loved me. I thought about my family back home in Scotland. I thought about a really fat baby photo of me lying on my parents bed. I don’t know why that last thought crept in but I just kept thinking hurrah! That fat baby is now running a half marathon! As I crossed the 15k mark, I started to struggle more. I’d never ran this far in my life. I started to walk for a minute before starting to run again. After another kilometre, I sucked up an energy gel and had a water station pit stop before jogging some more. I continued to walk and jog until I hit the 19 km mark. However, something didnt feel right. I could feel a niggle in my left hamstring and the muscles felt really tight. Soon, that niggle turned into a hot knot of pain and I had to stop. Worse still, my right calve muscle also started to seize up. I stopped by the side of the road to stretch out my legs but I couldnt even get a good stretch because the muscles just seized up. I winced with pain as I felt spasms shoot up my legs. I felt like I had pulled a muscle or a nerve on both legs. (Lucky me!) I supported my weight by the side of the road by leaning on a payphone. A fleeting image of me having to crawl hands and knees over the finishing line crossed my mind. I felt lonely as I watched everyone zooming past me towards the finishing line as I stood by the side of the road trying to decide the best way forward. I only had 2 km to finish the race, I could see the finishing line at the Sydney Opera House. All I had to do was just keep going. I started to walk gingerly for a further 5 minutes. This felt like the slowest 5 minutes of my life as no one else was walking. Both legs started to relax and I believed that the leg cramps and spasms must have disappeared and so I started gently jogging again. As soon as I started jogging however, I had to stop. I flinched from the pulling painful knots in my left hamstring and right calve and I knew that my legs were not running any more that day. And so Fit Friends I walked the final 2 km to the finishing line. No one else was walking and so I felt like a bit of a loser and sad and disappointed with myself that I couldnt run towards the finishing line with my hands up in the air. I believed at the time that this was a big anticlimax considering I had started off great. The event organisers email all participants with official race photos. I have about 12 photos of me walking towards the finishing line in a sea of runners with a somewhat cross, pained but determined look on my face. My right hand is balled up into a tight fist from the pain in my legs. The photos show that I’m not having a great time and that I just want the whole experience to end. At the time I was marching towards the finishing line, I was wishing I had trained, wishing I had stretched properly, wishing I had hydrated myself better, wishing I had eaten more healthily and slept more the day before but in the end wishing can’t change what happens in the future. I just kept thinking Left leg. Right leg. Repeat. Keep walking. Keep going. Almost there Crossing the finishing line was a huge relief. As I felt the cold half marathon medal in my hot hand I started to feel happier. Dagnabbit! I just completed a half marathon! Woohoo! ❤ COUNTING THE BLESSINGS ❤ My next task was to locate Brittany at the IsoWhey Sports tent. After downing some pineapple flavoured electrolytes and chomping down on a fruit skewer I felt heaps better. My husband came and found me inside the recovery village and we walked to our favourite pancake place to have a huge breakfast. You can see from the attached photos that I am still sooo exhausted. Looking back now, I am proud of my performance. I completed 21km in 2 hours and 16 minutes without any running training. I raised money for a good cause. I’ve ticked half marathon off my bucket list. I met Michelle Bridges at the start line. I received an awesome goodie pack filled with gifts from Leahs WaxWorks Natural Raw C Burts Bees Elastoplast Australia Deep Heat UK You By Sia The kind people at BioCeuticals NutraCeuticals also sent me Ease up Ultra Muscleze bath bombs and some Ultra Muscleze magnesium to help with recovery. It has helped a lot! ❤ THE RECOVERY ❤ I remembered from City2Surf being in a world of pain after the 14km run. This time I wanted to speed up recovery time as much as possible. To recover, I stretched as much as I could when I got home. I had a bath with a bucket of Epsom salts thrown in for good measure. I put tight leggings and socks on to compress the muscles in my legs. I drank a heap of water and slept a lot. I was fully recovered 5 days later. I was so happy I didnt sustain any injuries I felt horrible during the run but time heals all wounds no matter what they are. I feel excellent now and I regret nothing. ❤ THE LESSON ❤ For anyone thinking about doing something challenging, just try it. You might surprise yourself and find out what you’re capable of. I never in my life thought I would ever complete a half marathon but it’s amazing what you can achieve if you are not afraid to try. Good goals should scare you a little and excite you a lot. Have an excellent day Fit Friends! Lots of Love Lozza a.k.a Half Marathon Finisher (Whoop!) 21.09 km (13 miles) completed in 2 hours 16 mins #Blackmores #Sydneyrunningfestival 2014 #bsrf #halfmarathon #fitfriends #fitfam #bioceuticals #ultramuscleze #musclerelaxation #relax #unwind #cleanliving #endorphins #isowhey #isowheysports #blackdoginstitute #runningforhappiness #blog Michelle Bridges #michellebridges xXx
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 06:45:02 +0000
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