Emma, Craig, Keith, Ness and me thought that a few pre-race drinks would be in order - or actually Keith decided and we joined in! And it was only one, promise; just to help us sleep you understand!
And race morning loomed. We were up at 330am to have breakfast, have tattoos applied, check final nerves and head to transition to get numbered and put food and drink on our bikes. Rookie error number one....I forgot to take my drink bottles and food for my bike! So, back to the apartment and back to transition again. Well at least it gave me less time to hang around!The pro's race started 15 minutes before the meer mortals, and was heralded by a loud canon firing which sent everyone jumping about 3 feet in the air! Like we weren't jumpy enough already!
And then....we were off!!!!!
The melee of arms in the washing machine....I just put my head down and swam. I managed to find reasonably clear water near to the buoys and stuck with it. On occasion I was kicked in the face...bashed from the side....tickled on my toes...and squeezed like a sandwich between 2 bodies...but all in all the swim was wonderful. So clear I was counting golf balls on the bottom! And I managed to spot the buoys, not doing my usual zig zag swim from side to side. And really before I knew it, I was out and running to T1....my day was underway!T1...I found myself on my own trying to get my wetsuit off until finally a helper pulled the last leg out and I was into bike mode. Socks, arm warmers, wind vest, shoes, gloves - check..run to bike, run to exit with bike....and we're off!
The 180km bike leg, 2 x out and back course started well. There was little wind and the first 90km flew by. In hindsight I should have pushed harder in this part because entering the 2nd 90km circuit was just like hell...the wind had steadily grown to become gale force and made the second half of the ride an exercise in survival..I even had to change my nutrition plan because there was no way I was sitting up with hands off the bars to refil my drink bottle with drink powder - I would have ended up off the bike in the gutter!
There was one section of the bike with about 10km to go, where the course turned into a downhill tailwind....OMG it was just bliss! In T2 I was happy to hand my bike over and not see it again for another few hours!! My overall race plan was to get onto the run by 8hours which would leave me with a 4 hours marathon to ensure I finished in 12 hours...so far so good. At the start of the run I was 15 minutes ahead of schedule :-)
In the course of the long long day, I presumed I'd need to get off the bike and pee...but no, I had to make myself go in T2 to ensure that I was flushing something through my body in the day!
And before I knew it, I was onto the run! Before race day the run was very much an unknown to me. 7 weeks of actual run training, 4 months of water running, and never having run a marathon...there was a little aprehension!
But the run...well I just started and carried on going. I got into my running rhythmn and maintained a level of 'comfortableness' that I thought I could keep up. I walked through every aid station to make sure I got some drink into me, and ate a gel every 5km. 10.6km out into the massive headwind, 10.6km back into town with a tailwind. You didn't know that a tailwind was good on the run did you...well let me tell you; after 10.6km odd of the uphill headwind we had...anything else was just great!!
It was only with about 10km to go that I realised how well I'd kept my pace. I was aiming for a 5minute km pace but wasn't sure I'd be able to maintain it. It all felt really good. My legs only really started feeling muscularly tired with 6km to go, and by then I knew I could make it. My quads hurt, my right foot had pain on the outside and I didn't want to see anymore gels or electrolyte drink for a very long time! But I was passing people and getting encouragement, and feeling ok, and only now had 5km to go, then 3, then I was at the 40km mark. The reality was hitting me, that I was almost finished...the 20 weeks of training, tiredness, lack of social life, nerves, anticipation...was all coming down to this one moment as I turned the corner and entered the finishing chute. It was still daylight, there were people lining the chute, Ness had seen me turn the corner and shouted out encouragement...my head was buzzing and my legs were ready to stop.
And I crossed the line in 11hours 17minutes with a 3hour 26minute marathon! 7th in my age group, 38th overall woman, fastest age group marathon, 4th fastest woman's marathon time. Yipeeeeeee!
Everybody was so inspiring, Sarah, Emm, Craig, Sophie, Bec, Jacq, Brad, Penny, Suz, Rod, Keith, Mike, Timmy F, Tim O, Gil....they were all out there and had amazing days.
A good day at the office by all :-)
Off to party!
Faye
x
