Money raised: $15 498.00!
Woohoo for my first ever 21km run, my very own half marathon!! Witness below photgraphic evidence of the route taken in yesterday's longest ever long run. And the BEST bit was the excellent behaviour of my knee. Gold stars all round!
The run certainly did not start out looking as though it was going to be such a good one. My shins, which always take a few kilometres to stop hurting, were worse than usual and I almost had a tantrum on the Causeway Bridge when a pedestrian dared to walk faster than I was running. *Sigh*. I KNOW it's not about speed but at that stage I was doing my best with the sore shins and running into such a strong wind that it was almost too much. In fact, I stopped dead in my tracks shortly thereafter and said something that cannot be written down. And whilst I didn't actually stamp my feet and scream, I'm pretty sure I felt a decent-ish sized pout form.
My Assistant Coach came to my rescue at that point and was full of encouraging words, such as the head wind was slowing me down and how he bet that pedestrian couldn't keep that pace up for a full marathon, etc, etc. I'm not sure whether that was actually true or not, the pedestrian seemed to be positively strolling along. But the encouragement worked and stopped me spitting the proverbial dummy. And, most importantly, kept me running and pushing through when it didn't feel easy.
We made it around to the 7km mark where I 'reward walked'. Which funnily enough was FASTER than I had been running. (Maybe he was right about that headwind). Pushing through the bad bits and coming out the other side gave me a huge psychological boost. I felt ready to run again just before the 10km mark and, with the exception of a 1km walk after 15km and a walk over the Narrows Bridge so as not to irritate my temperamental left knee, I just Did. Not. Stop. And I got faster and faster each kilometre. I felt relaxed and strong, truly in the 'zone'. What a grand and wonderful feeling!! And I've gotten over a HUGE psychological barrier.
It took me 3 hours and 25 minutes to complete 21km yesterday which I guess means a marathon time of 6:50:00. Behind the Bus of Shame! Oh no!! But I can live with that. The 'Non-Runners Marathon Trainer' is emphatic that first timers should not set a time goal. The ONLY goal is to complete it. I just have to keep reminding myself of that fact. (Though, I can definitely feel a Personal Best coming on. As long as there's no head wind.)
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