Melbourne Marathon. I am not writing this as a pity party, just merely recapping my race :) Where to start? Well... We got to the start line with plenty of time and immediately found the loo line, fast forward 30 minutes and I was finally in a portaloo and they started the count down! This panicked me and I didnt get to go (tmi - sorry) I quickly lined up and then realised I was in the wrong pace area (3hr40 ha ha) so apologised to those around me and then the gun went. Loved the start, felt a-Mazing being amongst soooo many runners. Seeing A friendly face in Mike was a great boost too :) stuck to my race pace and plan and was feeling really good. First drink station came along quickly and unexpectedly but I grabbed a drink (wanting to save the water in my fuel belt for as long as possible) and had to stop in huge process. Hit Albert Park right on pace target and started along the track. All of a sudden the need for the loo stop I missed came back and made running quite difficult indeed! Asked the volunteer at the drink station where the loo was and he pointed out a toilet block in the park. Realised I had to go or it would be disastrous. Unfortunately, others obviously felt the same and the queue was quite long, took me almost 15 minutes :( Even more unfortunately I checked my watch and I dont know what happened, but IT TURNED OFF! It saved the first 8.9km of the run, but that meant every time I looked at my watch I didnt really know where I was without doing some math... And ok sure it was pretty basic math (+ 9) but it just really disheartened me. What else disheartened me was knowing that there was no way I could make up 15min and I was definitely going to have to do the slow course. All of this made me firstly have a little cry, and secondly meant I struggled to get back into the rhythm. Although, looking at my strava link I can see that my first 4km were still pretty much to race plan. I cheered myself up by watching the half marathoners and giving them a clap as they ran in the opposite direction. Coming out of Albert Park, and down fitzroy rd was great with the crowd lining the foot path, and then down and onto st Kilda road which was awesome being able to watch all the runners going in the opposite direction. Then I saw Robyn on the sidelines! I burst into tears and gave her a massive hug! She ran with me for a bit and then crossed over to wait for me when I turned around. I turned around and headed towards the halfway mark. Instead of relief for halfway, I was kind of bummed that I had to do that whole distance again. Coming up I could see the road was blocked, even though I knew it was coming, it was still a bit disheartening being handed the pink wrist band that signalled I was not fast enough to do the proper course. We merged back in with the runners, which was kind of cool as it gave me something to watch again. Heading back up fitzroy rd was tough, but it just kept getting tougher. The heat was getting more and more intense, and with the roads being more crowded it was tougher to get to the water stations. Again, the course doubled back on itself a bit and you could see all the elite and superfast runners leaving the Tan. Dont really have much to report for the next few KMs, other than the heat was awful, and I felt like crap. The Tan was tough, there was an incline that felt like it went for ever and then coming out of the Tan everyone was celebrating the fact that there was not much left to go, but I knew I had to do 8km more than everyone else at the end of the race. Running along near flinders st station I saw more friendly faces, Jenna, Leanne and Leigh. This spurred me on for a bit more of a run (and another cry) I made sure to keep running for the cameras (and threw my hands in the air, Anne-Marie will be proud) and then I walked. The crowd was huge and encouraging, but it didnt help cause instead of 1km I knew I had 9. To add insult to injury, the tracking app had said I had already finished! I started getting congratulations messages and it made me feel like I was letting people down almost? Soon we were on the home straight (for the faster runners) and I saw Tracey, I cried AGAIN, and she walked/ran with me until where my pink wrist banded people had to turn off for the gruelling 4 laps of a 1.95km circuit in the blaring sun. They had run out of water at the last few stations and I was running out on my belt too. The one water station on this loop also had no water :( Part way through my second lap I felt a tap on my back and a lovely man asked my who auntie Sandra was. This took me by surprise and once again I started crying. He asked if I could walk with him to finish the race and we spoke and laughed (and I cried) and finally we finished our fourth lap. Coming out of Brenton avenue I saw the wonderful beaments and Lorraine who gave me a massive cheer (which surprise surprise made me cry) and we ran to the finish line. So. I finished the marathon. I finished it, even though I hated a lot of it, I loved that last 200m. I am disappointed that my race was so different to my training runs. In the back of my head I had this vision of me finishing just under 5hrs. I feel like I let myself down by being so far away my goal time. Even though my main goal was completion, somehow achieving that doesnt quite feel as good as I had hoped.... I think because I knew I would finish. I was not coming this far to not finish! It was sooooo much harder than I thought it would be. It is also hard to not compare myself to other people. But three things I have to remember: 1. Less than 2 years ago I couldnt run more than 200m, and was morbidly obese 2. I raised over $1,600 for NBCF and do feel like I have honoured my auntie well because of this. 3. I finished a marathon, I have the medal and I am now a marathoner. Recovery: I actually dont feel too bad. My back is a bit achey at times (thanks to my first pregnancy) and my quads are a little sore if I sit for too long, but at this stage I am planning to try 5km tomorrow, and am still aiming to do Burnie 10 on Sunday. Sorry for the long rant :) congrats if you read it all!
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 10:34:59 +0000
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