Medal Winning Performance

Ha! Always wanted to write that! MWP....

After a very restless sleep I got up at 4:30am. Could not stay in bed any more. Had a sandwich, water and got dressed. Woke my hubby up and said to him "I'm going to bring home a medal today". He was very supportive but also encouraging that I had nothing to prove to anyone.

Arrived at Southbank SSOOOO early and just walked around trying to calm myself. I was so nervous. I had convinced myself that if I did not do well today it would reflect on Saturdays race. So basically I was nervous for BOTH races today.

My stomach was churning and I just wanted to get going. Kept saying to Tess "lets go" but she was following the rules and waiting for everyone to arrive before we headed off. Jess (Lil Kirloo) turned up and that was great. First time he has come down to one of Pat's sessions. In the excitement I almost forgot I was about to do a timetrial.

Just after 6am we headed out for our warm up. I was so nervous I had to get Tess to detour with me so I could use the ladies (not safe to go alone). That done the guys were just catching up with us. I was trying to see how I felt and I kept thinking Man I feel like crap. My legs were not turning over and it was taking forever to warmup. Dammit I was going to have a bad run.

Tess was great as usual. Chatty and taking my mind off things. Got to the start and tried to relax but I just felt like being sick. This was a BAD case of nerves. Kept pacing and breathing to relax and wanted to be anywhere but there. Even my arms were shaking...
After a few strides and a really great pep talk from Verity I was ready to go. We weren't even at the start line and Pat said "GO".

Out I went and started to chase Pat. Hang on noone else in between us...mmm. Then I heard Langy say "Ease off Clairie" so I did. That was the start of my big day.
For the next 3km I proceeded to do exactly as Langy said. "breathe easy, relax" "lean forward into the road" "turn quick, make up a few sec". It was okay going (inside I was dying) until the 2km mark. Then that is when I started to feel it. I wasn't using my watch but when I looked at it after that turn it said 8:16 damn, I wasn't going to beat my PB of 12:22. I was still going to try my hardest. Then the 500m mark loomed and Langy said to "kick in" so I did. Then every 20m he proceeded to tell me how much further "300m to go, 200m to go, 100m to go" as well as "give me 20 really good steps" wow that sounded easy. So I did. Before I knew it we had finished and Pat yelled out 11:59. What The ... sub 12... Oh My Gosh. Too much. I was very overwhelmed and after 10sec to get my breath walked up to Pat and tapped him on the shoulder and said
"I believe you owe me a medal" He just grinned. Then I saw Tess coming in - she was doing her 4km at Marathon race pace today, and I went up to her and screamed SUB 12!!! and just grabbed her and we were cheering and getting all happy.

Poor Langy, he got lots of hugs and kisses from me. I was so thankful for what he helped me achieve today. It was very special for me and helped give me some confidence for Saturdays run. Seeing Tess so happy for me was a big boost as well. I feel on a high this morning and don't want to come down. Guess I had better do some work seeing as I am off to CANBERRA tomorrow morning.......