Kerikeri Half Marathon - Sat 18th November

The day started at 5.01 am when I looked at the clock and heard the alarm go off. Suzie was to ring so no use getting in the shower yet. On cue she calls to make sure I am up. I slept; once I got to sleep. Too much thinking going on making sure everything was ready to go for the morning. I think I was only up a couple of times which is pretty damned good considering the sleep patterns earlier in the week. MAR sent a text to say she was in Kerikeri and we arranged to catch up after the race.

I had laid my gear out the night before so it was just a matter of going through the motions; shower and dress. Being a bigger girl boob wise, chaffing is a constant concern, so is the bounce factor. Nothing worse than stripping off after a run to find beautiful red, bloody welts where the bra has rubbed, so the wonderful ‘red pot’ was on hand, the ‘red pot’ being Luca’s Pawpaw Ointment. Great stuff. I smear the catching lines and dots with the goop then apply sticking plasters…..yes, plasters over the nipples. I could think of nothing worse than to have nipples chaffing all that way!!! I am so pleased I did too. More about that later. Next comes the heart rate monitor. Set the right programme the night bfore; another thing I don’t think I could have coped with, a bleeping monitor all the way. Its probably about now that I realised I had 20mins to eat and get out the door. Another loo stop….. I had been guzzling water for the past couple of days, having read or heard something that its wise to drink lots the last couple of days before a race. Forced myself into normal breakfast, glass of water, cereal and fruit. I so didn’t want to eat; 5 is just an ungodly hour in my books!! Decided against a cuppa, nerves were rampant. The night before I had made my electrolyte drink, Horley’s Replace, and had that in my bag, plus a couple of bananas and oranges. Peeled the oranges the night before too, what a hassle trying to do that on the bus. Finally out the door, until the phone went, Suuzie had run out deodorant and could I bring mine round….

Right, finally out the door off to pick up Suz. She’s all a dither and even managed to hang washing out. Onto the bus with all the other crazies. It was interesting watching people as the prepared themselves for the race. The bus ride was 1 hr 20 I think. I ate my banana at about 7 am, my usual process for long runs and had a couple of swigs of my drink. There was plenty of time to be gagging for the loo again as well.

Oh no the weather!!!! The further north we got the greyer and lower it looked. Spots of rain on the windscreen was something we didn’t really like either. Off the bus, and omg the wind….. straight for the porta loos. Thankfully we were one of the first buses to get to the start so the cues weren’t that horrendous. The rain was blown from the NW and didn’t have the chance to sit long, the wind was just whipping around and cold….man alive, I didn’t think it would be cold. Whatever happened to the sub-tropical north!!

We arrived a good 40 minutes before the start so there was lots of huddling around under the trees to keep warm. There were about 2,200 of us idiots standing out there freezing our butts off. I guess it wasn’t that cold but it sure as hell wasn’t a warm bright start to the day.

Line up time arrived or happened when I was in the loo, again, so I had to rush over and get in place. By now the nerves had eased off and I was just so excited to be there and doing it. All that work was about to be proven and I was a happy camper in all respects….save for the wind and now the rain…. I found a spot at the back of the pack, chatted with a few guys, yes, they were looking at finishing 2 hours ish so I was in the right place. I aimed for 2.15 but was far enough to the back not to be caught up in the ‘race’. My coaches words were going through my head, forget the time and enjoy the day. He was so right. Man was this fun or what!!!

The hooter fired and we all stood there…. It took 2 mins to get to the line and get going. Lots of jokes and giggling was going on about just having a cruisy stroll.

So I finally got across the line and started as I meant to go on. Treat it like a long slow Sunday run then if able to kick in at about 15 km. Weaving in between runners who were already walking was a bit surprising, we had only just started for crying out loud… I knew the course so was prepared for the hills and drink stations. I was working on a 6.30 km. Here’s my splits:

6:16, 6:42, 6:39, 7:10, 7:43, 6:42, 7:28, 6:22, 6:12, 6:28, 6:08, 13:13, 6:29, 6:45, 6:57, 6:48, 6:09, 6:11, 6:11, 6:51

My time was 2:19.45. Official chip time was 2:18.58. I’m going with the official time!!!!

So how did the race go. Pretty damned good actually. At about the 4 k mark I hooked up with another women and we ran together for the next 10 km until she had to slow down because of a knee that was giving her grief. It was brilliant running with her. Made me realise that I need a running partner for training. We yakked away about most everything, kids, work, men…. Every time I clicked my watch we would say, that went quick, and they did. The kilometres just disappeared big time. She kept me slow which was great. I may have been inclined to have gone out faster if she wasn’t there and I don’t know how I would have coped toward the end of the race. Started taking electrolytes at the drink stations from the 10 k mark and water from about 7 k’s. Didn’t ‘need’ water cause the rain was coming down quite nicely. The first 7 km’s are hills and thankfully the wind just blew us up them. Man some of the gusts were nasty as and I thought my number was going to be whipped off me. Around 14 k’s we noticed there was no wind, no sun, and just a light kind of drizzle thing happening. My HRM tells me it was 21 C ave. Nice… Average heart rate was 153 bpm, which means I could have worked harder but towards the end I did and didn’t have much left in me over the last couple of k’s. I notice my belly started to grumble big time at around 18 km. Thankfully we were all spread out and I could fart away to my hearts content….hell, do you put that info in these blogs or not…who knows ;-) This is about the time I felt my second toe. Killed the nail, again. Its throbbing today and is going to look beautiful and black in a couple of days. Not sure what does it, the hills or the distance.

I sped up from 18 k's and just whizzed past some others. Thats great fun. Looking at the back of another runner and overtaking. The last km was hard, my legs were tired but I didnt let anyone pass me that I had already passed. I ran along side an elderly man, he must have been 80 at least. Hell if he can do it I can I was thinking. Loads of encouragement from the crowds at the end on the streets which helped so much. The whole thing was just great stuff.

You read things about not changing anything on race day, and I didn’t really except wearing a cap. The best thing ever. With the rain and wearing glasses it helped no end. It also kept me warm whilst we waited after the race for Suzie to finish. She was walking with her elderly uncle and they got in just on 4 hrs. Pretty major achievement for them both!!. Oh I did splurge and buy some of those wonderful Asics socks. Best thing ever. I had been training in the regular Asics sock, you know the cheapies at only $10 a pair and had been doing fine in them until the last couple of long runs and the damned things starting slipping down on me. The wonderful girls in shoe store tossed in an extra pair of the good socks so now I am the proud owner to two pairs. Hell at $30 bucks a pop its not really feasible to have a drawer full of them!!!

The only downside of the whole day was the weather. It really packed in when we were waiting for prize giving. It got cold and miserable and not thinking it would be cold I didn’t take long pants or jacket. Just an extra pair of shorts and sweet shirt. Oh yes prizes, I won a spot prize just for entering – an umbrella and sports bag. Very fortuitous because of the crap weather.

I caught up with Vicky aka MAR and must apologise to her. I should have invited you to join my family and I so that you weren’t hanging around by yourself but my brain wasn’t working. Sorry. It was wonderful to meet someone from the forum and she did so well. A PB. Maybe I will get to that kinda time at some stage in the future. I see she was third in her age group too. What an achievement!!!

Today, I have sore quads and shoulders plus my butt needs a damned good massage. But not feeling wrecked which is great.

Well, that’s about it. My first half marathon is done and I am very proud of myself. My work has paid off and I am very pleased with my time 2:18.58.

What’s next……..hehehehe……see my coach next week for my marathon training schedule. The Rotorua Marathon 28 April 2006.