My First Half-Marathon (+2km) !

After months of anticipation, the Great Ocean Road Marathon weekend came and went... just like that!

In the 4 weeks leading up to the big event, James and I faithfully trained every Saturday morning with a long run (with of course shorter runs in the days between each session). By the event day the furthest we'd run was 18km.

5:45am ~ pre-race preparations:

6:15am on Sunday 20 May found Daniela, Rehana, James and I standing at a petrol station in Apollo Bay, near the race finish line, with over 100 other competitors, waiting to catch a bus to the start line, a mere 23km away. Brett had already gone on ahead ~ he had further to travel to get to his start line 45km away.

When asked if I was nervous, I said I wasn't. Perhaps I was feeling too cold to be nervous. But as we boarded the bus and it drove us further and further away from the finish line, the butterflies in my stomach were awakened. 15 minutes later, we were still driving, and I began to wonder if we would ever stop ~ given that the bus was driving along the exact route we were about to run, I knew that the further the bus drove, the further we had to run.

"James... why on earth did you agree to do this with me, and why didn't you talk me out of it?"
He just laughed.

The starting area was filled with hundreds of people, all waiting to do the same thing as us. The pre-race lines to the toilets were devastatingly long... I was about to give up and head to the start line, but decided to give it one last try, and made it in with a mere 2-3 minutes to spare! Mind you, I did end up going in the mens' toilet, as the ladies' line was still at least double the mens'... you gotta do what you gotta do!

Despite fears of possible showers during the race, the weather was lovely - except for the odd strong, bitey "breeze" threatening to freeze my fingers off and blow me back up the hill that I'd just run down.

In the end, I completed the 23km in 2:21:36.2, placing me 672 overall. James placed in at 600 with a race time of 2:13:38.6 - good on you, James!

I am not sure how many people competed overall, but on the results page I am about halfway down page 4 out of 5, so I shall make it my goal to advance a page by next year, or something like that. :)

Immediately after the race, my legs were aching all over. You name it, it was hurting! My feet were complaining about being pounded against the road for so long. I have never felt that sort of pain in my quads before. My glutes were rejoicing because I had finally stopped working them into the ground.

James lovingly offered to stretch the hammies for me ~ what a wonderful guy!

One thing is for sure - if you have a certain base level of endurance fitness, the main thing you need to build is your mental strength, because for most of us average Aussie citizens, a race of this proportion is truly a case of mind over matter.

The victorious runners brandishing their "completion" medals: