Who needs a sleep in anyway? Not when I get the chance to go running with one of my children. I had entered for the Asics Run for Gold today, and MGirl agreed to come with me. She has never run that far before, though very fit most of her runs have been a maximum of 6km. When we got to the Marathon Club it was a whole 8 degrees! It was cold, but sunny, and a big turnout of runners who all headed out at 8am! I kept with MGirl for about, oh, 400m!! Too many people and going too fast for me to attempt to keep up with her. I knew I was running faster than my normal pace, but when I got overtaken by a lady with the name handwritten on her hat “Turtle Runner”...I though surely I run faster that a turtle!! I was hoping I would catch up with her but that was never to happen. I tried to take my mind off my own struggle by making sure I said “thank you” to all the volunteers on the course. That’s the least I could for them allowing me to suffer!!
At first I thought I was near the back of the pack until we turned a corner and I could see quite a few people behind me, so that made me feel a little better. What I couldn’t understand was that even at the 6-7km mark, there were still people running past me! I wasn’t running backwards for god sake...yet still I was being reeled in by people that should’ve been tired at that point. This lady came up behind me breathing like a fog horn and it made me really aware of my own breathing. I wasn’t struggling aerobically, I just didn’t feel like my legs could roll over any quicker. And so Fog Horn ran on by. At the 8km mark I decided to try to reel in a few people, and managed about 4! Then I just wanted to cross the finish line. Which I did in 58.27 minutes.
In reality, I should be happy with this effort. On my way around I was pondering on my previous 3 half-marathon efforts ranging between 1h59mins and about 2h5mins. The best was when I was super fit and part of a half ironman, the other two were straight half-marathons, when I was somewhat fitter than I am now. So I think I’m going well, based on me! If I compared myself to the others on the course I would be setting myself up for disappointment! The winners came in on 32mins...I can’t begin to fathom how people can run that fast! And why I can’t!
I consoled myself with the fact that it was a gorgeous sunny morning, I got a 10km training run in at an average HR of 174bpm (which is about 97%!!) and I got to do it all with MGirl...well about half a km behind her! The 97% did mean that I’d worked really hard, and that I’ve got a long way to go with my fitness! But I’m happy, I’ve got a starting point to measure from!
The rest of the day included some more housework...and a fantastic ride out on Pepe with MGirl to watch the State League netball final! Which Morgan’s club won, in a hard fought game. One day MGirl might be there too! All in all, Sunday was a Funday. Sorry for CBoy, he spent most of the day at work!!!
See, I read your blog!
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