well well well
Another beautiful day in paradise. Only blur on the horizon as I arrived at Bribie was knowing Tesso wasn't going to be able to join me. This is one of her favourite races. :(
I arrived 1min (yes!) before the gun went off. It was so embarressing. I was putting on my shoes, signing a disclaimer as Allan was clipping up my camelpak. I didn't get the chance to put on extra sunscreen (big mistake) or any sportsshield (ouch) but I was glad to get to the start with 20secs to spare. Talk about wired.
I ran out onto the beach and found myself talking and laughing with Gavin Bell and CR Beagle. Run67 and Parso were just up in front with Ian sprinting off into the distance. We got to 10km just like that before I pulled back a bit. We had been running 4:50's up until then and I was fairly comfortable and definitely confident of doing 2:30hrs for the race. However when I reached the turnaround I realised what those grimaces had been on everyone's faces. I even understood Ian's reluctance to high-5 me as he went past.... The cool breeze on the way out was a massive headwind on the way back. It was terrible.
I struggled bad and instead of enjoying the view was forced to keep my head down to avoid the salt spray and sand. Despite that I enjoyed the challenge. I never gave up and I never walked. I plodded on and focussed on going from one song to the next on my ipod. When it was really bad I ran hard on the verse's and relaxed a bit on the chorus's. Before I knew it I had only 6km to go. It was then that I saw all the 15km runners coming toward me. It gave me an inner glow to see all my friends out there. I got to high five them all and smile and encourage them knowing what they didn't - they were still running with the wind at their back! LOL
The last few km were tough and the finishing beacon was a glorious sight to behold.
I raced up to the finish line in 2:39hrs - over my goal but elated with the result given the circumstances. I promptly declared I had no more energy left. Somehow i found some as we stayed around until 2pm surfing and having a BBQ and generally enjoying being with the family and some friends. A great day out!
GO THE BRONCOS!
11 comments:
Sounds like a great event Clairie. Don't worry about Tesso - we have been taking very good care of her!
A tough day Clairie but you done very well. It sounded like it was a great day spending time with Family and friends. A shame we missed it this year but it was for the best I suppose. It was also our 1st Wedding Anniversary today, by the sounds of the conditions it would have been bad if I was exhausted for the rest of the day :)
A day for winners Clairie! The Broncos have won and you won out against the elments.
Great work Clairie.
Wooohooo Clairie what a great result given the tough start!
Well done! Sounds like it was a tough run so good on you for toughing it out. I use the music on my ipod to keep me going - i try to run with the beat (I generally have fast songs on the ipod!).
And Broncos won!!!!!
ps I bought new runners today!!!
Good effort Clairie. Sounds like a tough 'back' part.
OK, now you can stop talking about the Broncos ;) (until next year)
I always feel like I am running wioth someone on my back when there is a head wind!! Great effort :-)
I was cheering for the Broncos :-)
One problem with starting this blog is that I'm envious at times when I hear about all the great races people are participating in. I'd like do that "Bribie Island Bash" sounds wonderful. I heard one of the most famous distance runners in American say, (forget his name, he is now living in Hawaii) That the wind is your dead realives pushing you to help build your character, or something like that. I remember his name "Crazy" Gerry Lingrad, I think. Good on you Clairie.
Sorry That's dead "relatives"
See - I knew I was training you up for something with that late start at GC ;)
Good jaaarb!
That head wind doesn't sound like a barrel of fun, but it's always a good feeling to tough out something like that.
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