For starters - I have been forced to the new blogger so please resubscribe if you want updates. I'll be hunting down anyone who doesn't........ :)
What a night!
Right now I have a very sore toe and my walking reminds me of my grandmother and her cane...I don't have a cane. My stomach is aching from cramping all night (not during the run thank goodness) and I have been drinking copious amounts of water to flush my body.
Despite all that I had a great night. It really was a dream run. If you go to www.coolrunning.com.au you will see all the experiences of the night there from other runners as well.
As for myself, well it all started when Tesso picked me up and we spent several hours mischieviously laughing at our lack of preparation for this event compared to last year oh and the fact that Tess had been asked by our mutual buddy to load music on her ipod. Little did Lizzle know that Tess had put on all a total playlist of hilarious songs and we went through them laughing the whole way up to the race site.
It was good when Matt and Toasty arrived. I felt like the Running Buddies were there in full support. Toasty had no ambition to run this race other than to do what I was doing and be supportive in my build up to Canberra. He really was looking forward to running (NOT!!) and during the freak lightening storm decided we both had to pull out and not run tonight. Well rain or not we lined up to tap the hands of Geoff (Toasties partner) and Glenno (my partner) at the 3 hr mark and head off for our 3 hrs of fun.
I raced off in the first lap, primarily to get out of the crowd that had all turned around at the hour change (directions of the loop changed every hour). As I finished the first lap,Mark was just starting his first lap so I then had the impetus to run hard for another lap to go past him. Soon after 5km was up and I was telling myself to calm down and slow it up. I had been averaging 4:40's and the goal was to A. achieve 35km in 3 hrs. First and foremost this is what I really wanted.
After the first 20 laps (10km) I had a gu. The next lap was quite slow as I allowed the gu to digest - a race strategy that works for me. Then I told myself I would never get through this run if I focused on the time. Each lap the clock only moved 2:30minutes - so it would have been like watching a pot boil.
I told myself to get through the next 15 laps and my family would then be there (they had all been out go-karting all day until the storms hit). Sure enough..there they were. Then I told myself to go hunt some buffalo to get me through the next 10 laps. Here I told my lapscorer to yell out and do a dance when i hit 60 laps. I had decided I would be able to keep it steady until then and perhaps then be able to do a hard 10laps to finish it off.
At some stage she yelled out to me about 60 laps so I started running hard. After I did 10 laps I stopped and went up to her table...it was only 66 laps. Obviously she had been yelling "nearly 60" when I thought she said 60. *groan* So I had a tough mental decision to make. Run hard to finish the 70 laps I wanted or just run easy (I had time). I decided I was hurting badly and the best thing was to finish strong and I wanted to finish ASAP. So I umped the ipod and Choirboys saw me pump out some fast (for me) finishing kms. I was really happy. At this stage I again finished and went up to the scoring table and was told I had completed 71 laps...aarrrgh.
I walked along and told my scorer and others who were encouraging me to run that I had done what I had set out to do - 35.5 km in 2:55. Then the Bufflo (aka toastie) came up and pushed me along telling me to run the time out with him. It was really good for me and a very emotional lap as we jogged along and I realised I had achieved my goal and then some. All up in 3hrs we did 36.2km but tonight they included the last lap as they required you to run to the finish instead of staying on the course so the scoresheet says 36.5km.
I just loved all the support I got during the event and especially before the event from all the blog comments. I have a mobile device so i get my email on my phone. Even when we were travelling up to the race I was able to read inspiring comments from you all that you posted on my blog. It was all just great. I can't thank you all enough.
Thanks also to CJ I hope to be able to put up some fancy photos for you to see. Unfortunately the one with the camera never has shots of herself....or should I say fortunately :)
16 comments:
Ooops no titles on the photos:
THE START AT 6PM
TESSO IN FIRST HOUR (Matt and Toastie in chairs in background)
THE TROPHY - Glenno and I came first in the Mixed Team Relay
You Little Beauty, Clairie. A great effort. You always give to the max. You deserve to feel very good about your achievement.
Congratulations Clairie, fantastic result which easily surpassed your expectations, not ours but we all knew what your capable of :-)
Thanks for helping Cass and I out for that stint at the begining of the night, it would have been frustrating trying to keep Sam amused and keep count aswell. She knows I really appreciate it.
We dont mind at all when you take Sam and Im sure he loves all the attention aswell.
Thanks for the comments out on the course aswell as the cheering it does help alot. Well done on the trophy, Glenno was looking strong out there as well.
36.5km in 3hrs is terrific Clairie
and this was basically a training run. Say you can do 6km in around 25mins then you have a sub 3:30 marathon time right there.
With the type of build up your having and what is to come before Canberra you must really be starting to believe a PB for your 2nd full marathon is on the cards.
By the way I'd keep that trophy in the cellar.It looks like the perfect magnifying glass and combined with direct sunlight and the sofa in your lounge room it could spell trouble!
Awesome result Clairie!
Thanks for looking out for me on Thursday CBRG is fantastic!
Don't hunt me down - I'm here :-)
Congrats Clairie on a fantastic run!
Ha ha, my stomach is aching from laughing so much :-)
What an absolutely fantastic night. Wish we could have that much fun every weekend.
I am in total awe of your performance. You ran the perfect race, every time you whizzed by me you had such good form and seemed to be running the same steady pace. I knew then that you had done everything right and had this one in the bag. And I'm pretty sure you ran more kms than any other 3 hour person except for Chris. Not bad for somebody who was underprepared :-)
Thanks so much for your support and help before you started your leg, especially rescuing all my stuff from the storm - you should have been resting up!
Take care, celebrate your achievement and recover well - from both the run and the celebration :-)
Congratulations on such a great race clairie!
You were setting such a constant pace lap after lap, I could have set my watch by it.
Congratulations Clairie. Great race and a great night by the sounds of it.
What a great run. Sound like you certainly enjoyed it.
Cool Clairie - luv the photos! Great run, as usual. You are such a gutsy runer and give it your all every time. Someone described me a tough little nut (!) the other day when talking about running but actually I think that's you! Well done! ....and gee, that photo layout looks good!!!
As someone great once said, what a beautiful set of numbers!
Sorry, I think I took my eye off the ball and forgot to join the chorus of pre-race well-wishers. Please forgive me. You have been so good to me with your motivational comments lately.
But what can I say except an awesome result...prizes, personal goal achieved, laughed till your guts bust...what more could you ask for?
Your the best - thank god you now have a trohy.
You made a mistake. Wasn't it 36.5km Dusk Til Midnight (or something).
Thanks for the story Clairie - it was great. You had a fantastic run. I think you can definitely hang with Eddie and the 3:15 bus in Canberra.
That was a weird message - not an insulting or wierd one ;)
Well done Clairie. Sounded like a great night. Hope you recover quickly. Looks like Ewen has bought you a ticket on the 3:15 bus.
Congrats on another super effort Clairie. Looks like you've made your way past that little speed bump of a couple of weeks ago, and Canberra is looking GOOD :)
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