After the Event

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind since the marathon!

I was back at work two days after, and had to prepare my presentation for the Utopia Women's Wellness Expo the following weekend.  Utopia was a blast - I had a great time hanging out at the parkrun stand and really enjoyed presenting too.  It was a great vibe and just a fun day all round!

I've also been so humbled and encouraged by all the amazing feedback to my marathon story.  I'm sure most of you wonderful blog readers have already come across my video on Facebook, but here it is again.

I'm so glad I took a video of the run - it's great to have captured the raw emotion.  I laugh at how fresh & chirpy I am at the start, compared to how drained and exhausted I am at the end!  I guess that's what you get after 4.5 hours of running!

Before the marathon, and for a few days afterwards, I said NEVER AGAIN.  But so many of the comments I've gotten have inspired me and planted the seed that maybe I will do another one.  Not in the near future, but never say never.

Recovery-wise, my muscles took almost a week to get back to normal.  I was hobbling and in a lot of pain in my legs for a few days.  Once that eased, the shin pain returned (I kind of expected that, but aaargh!!!  So annoying!!!), so I haven't run yet.

We are heading off on a bit of a family road trip holiday tomorrow, and the plan is to run Newy parkrun on Saturday morning, and the 10km at the Hunter Valley Running Festival on Sunday.  I'm not sure yet if my shins will hold up, but fingers crossed.  I'm itching to get back out there.

I think I'll have to find another form of exercise to focus on in the short-term, to give my shins a break, and a chance to recover properly.  I still really want to get under 1:50 for a half marathon this year, and even possibly run a half marathon event with the pram.  But if that's not realistic with getting my injury sorted, I'm happy to put that off until next year.

I feel like I have a lot of toning and trimming to do, so I'll aim for that for now, and slowly get back into running.  Hopefully that will allow me to get back to running at Sandgate parkrun every fortnight - while I'm always there, I haven't actually run there in ages now, and I can't wait to do it again.

I'll keep you posted!  In the meantime, keep running :-)

The Marathon

Pre-marathon: looking fresh & excited!

Marathon day arrived on Sunday 7^th July, six months after setting that crazy goal to run 42.2 kilometres.  The shin splint injury meant I was going into it with no expectations, just hoping to make the distance without walking.  I did some pretty full-on carb-loading in the three days prior, I had my race nutrition planned out, my mind was in the right place – so it was just a matter of my body holding up.

I was pretty nervous on Saturday, but felt much more relaxed when we arrived on the Gold Coast.  I had a pretty good sleep on Saturday night and woke a bit before 5am to have some porridge and a coffee.  I got ready and Dean & I walked down to the race precinct, just in time to see the half marathon start at 6am.  The atmosphere was great, and I wasn’t too nervous – just excited to get the run underway.  The next hour or so flew by and I saw several people I know, which definitely helped me feel relaxed.

7:20am rolled around and I met up with my friend Rachel at the start line.  Everyone was buzzing, the crowd was loud and there was so much anticipation in the air.  The weather was cool and fine and pretty much perfect!  Rachel & I found ourselves with the 4:15 pace runner and felt comfortable sticking to that pace.  He was great – giving out lots of tips and encouragement, as well as just general banter, to keep our minds off the run.

The first 16km flew by and felt really easy.  I had no shin pain, my body was feeling great and confidence was high.  This was about the point where we had our first turnaround, and that’s where Dean, along with my friend Danielle, had planned to meet me, and give me some more power bars.  It was a real boost to see them there and the encouragement along that stretch was fantastic!

16km: Danielle handing me my supplies; Rachel next to me in green.

So, then it was a matter of heading back to the start line for another 16km.  At the halfway point, I was still feeling great & sticking right with Rachel and the pace runner.  I had a bit of tightness in my thighs, but no pain.  I was glad I’d done a double layer of bandaids/blister strips on my usual blister spots, because they didn’t give me any trouble at all.

I was looking forward to getting to 31km and seeing Dean & Danielle again, and there they were, cheering along from the sideline – I loved having a support crew!  It was around this point that I found myself slipping behind the yellow balloons of the 4:15 pacer, after slowing down at a drink station.  He was not too far ahead, but I just didn’t have it in me to go faster and catch up.

31km: the hard part was about to hit

It felt good to get to 32km and know that all I had to do now was 5km out and back and the marathon was over.  But it was from this point that I felt my body start screaming out for a break.  My feet were tired, my legs were sore and I really wanted a break.  People all around me were starting to walk – and all I wanted to do was walk too!  But I remembered some advice I’d been given – ignore the walkers and keep on running!  I knew that if I started to walk, it would be so much harder to run again.  The stretch to 37km was a real challenge, but I just said my mantra to myself over and over: “I am strong, I am tough, I believe in myself”.  My pace had dropped drastically, but I didn’t walk a step.

Finally, I reached the turnaround and there was just 5km to go.  From here, I just had to break it down and do 1km at a time.  They seemed to stretch on forever, but I used all my mental strength to keep on running and not walk.  And as if the last 5km of a marathon aren’t hard enough, there was a head wind.  A head wind!!!  How inconsiderate!!!  But I have to say, the people lining the street at this point were amazing.  We were being cheered along the whole way, people even reading my name on my race number and encouraging me by name.  It really helped to get me through.

I couldn’t wait to get to 40km, because then it would be only 2km to go, and 2km is doable.  I just had to keep perspective in mind and think about all of that training, the number of kilometres I’d run to get here, as well as the 35km+ I’d done in the run, giving up was NOT an option.  I was so close and just had to keep going.

At 41km, the finishing area was in sight and the crowd really picked up.  I reached the finishing chute and knew that Dean & Danielle were just around the corner, along with several other friends and supporters, as well as the massive crowd of cheerers.  It was so loud and buzzing, and the best feeling to turn that corner and see the finish line.  I crossed it and was overwhelmed with relief, happiness, soreness & emotion – what a feeling!

There were tears – I was just so happy it was over and so glad I had done it.  I had some fruit, Endura and water in the finishing area, before collecting my finisher’s t-shirt and medal.  I was so proud to hang that around my neck.

Finished!

I headed back to where Dean and Danielle were, and finally had a chance to sit down, debrief and stretch.  I was unbelievably sore in my thighs, but the feeling of finishing was so exhilarating.

I completed the Gold Coast Marathon in 4:30:08 (you can see my 5km splits below, and how my pace dropped so much in the final quarter of the run!).  I am so happy with that time, especially considering my injury and lack of training over the last 6 weeks.  This was definitely one of the craziest, hardest, most rewarding achievements ever.

Was it harder than drug-free childbirth?  I think it was more difficult than my second labour/birth, which only lasted 3 hours (WAY less than the marathon!) – but I think my first labour (which lasted 9 hours) was harder J.  And like with childbirth, I am saying it’s something I NEVER want to do EVER again.  However, I’m sure when the pain goes away (wow, I am SOOO unbelievably sore!!!), I may change my mind.  Certainly not while the kids are still young though – it’s just such a big commitment to fit in to family life.

So, here we are.  It’s been one amazing, rollercoaster journey and I am so happy that it’s now ticked off the list.  I would not have made it here without so much support and encouragement.  I cannot thank my husband Dean and kids, Hope & Jed enough – they are the reason for it all.

There are too many others to list, but to the rest of my family, to all my friends from all areas of life, to my loyal Sandgate parkrunners, to the people who’ve looked after the kids while I’ve gone running, to my amazingly supportive workmates, to all my listeners on 96five, to everyone who’s read my blog – THANKYOU!  You’re the best!!!

Stay tuned on the blog for my race video and for what this running mum has her sights set on next J.  I love you all! xo

Official time (the top time is from when the starting gun went,                                                                                                   the bottom time is from when I actually crossed the start line)

Prepped & Ready

The countdown is on & marathon day is just 3 days away!

I attended a seminar last night called "Race Day Planning & Tactics", which was great for getting in the headspace & hearing very experienced marathoners share their tips. Excitement is building!

Today is day 1 of carb-loading and it's been quite full on! We're talking big quantities & lots of the food I usually try to avoid or cut down on - breakfast was a double serving of cereal with milk, plus an English muffin with honey & banana. Lunch was 3 pieces of white bread, baked beans and an apple. Afternoon tea: a glass of juice, a crumpet and fruit & yoghurt. You get the picture - it's a lot! But the experts say it makes a huge difference on race day to have big glycogen stores ready to go.

I'm also thinking of my checklist if things to take down the coast - you can see above what I've got so far: jellybeans, power bars, recovery drink, oats, blister shields, sunscreen, muscle cream & Epsom salts. It's so much more involved than doing a half marathon - it really is a step up to the next level! 

My shins are feeling completely pain-free & I'm still pretty nervous, but also really looking forward to it! Dean has also arranged a Go-Pro camera from his work, so I'm planning to do little video updates along the way.

Stay tuned - we're nearly there!