Yippeeeeee!

Hi everyone!  Hello, hooroo, g'day, howdy…  Here I am, alive - after the Gold Coast Marathon!  My First Ever Marathon. I did it. I ran the entire way (except for walking through the hydration stops so that the water and Endura went IN to my mouth rather than all over my shirt).  I can NOT believe I have done it. I can't!  Me!  Me….  I ran 42.2kms.  26 miles.  Without stopping.  Without carking it!  Yippeeeeee!  My net time was 4:23:25.

Where shall I start with my recollection of The Big Day?  Maybe I will tell you about the three days of carb loading.  Oh My Heavens.  Never, ever wish that upon yourself.  Never.  I will not look at a jam donut again the same way (ie - with lust).  By the end of Day 3, the thought of another lolly or soft drink was enough to make me bilious.  The funny thing is this:  at the very end of the Marathon, when I was collecting my t-shirt and medal, I burst into tears and the lovely volunteer lady gave me a hug and offered me a … a…. jube!  Luckily I was so busy bawling that I didn't throw up at the thought of another sweetie.  

This amazing sign was made by one of my beginner runners, Shihoko and her daughter Lizzy, and it popped up all over the place during the Marathon.  I spotted in three different locations and it gave me SUCH a boost!  It was FANTASTIC!!  My run buddy James may have something to say about that sign though girls.  He was of the opinion that Chuck Norris invented the marathon!  I have Googled the subject and it looks like there may be a few Chuck fans out there! Speaking of "Runner's World" magazine, I met the editor of Australian Runner's World, Lisa Holmes at the Expo and we had a good chinwag.  Now I need to sit down and belt out a story or two and see if they are good enough for publication.

The Asics "flying shoe" at the Expo

Saturday morning was the 10km event and a few of my beginners were running in that, including Fiona, who has been plagued by injury (and the angst of motherhood) recently and was in dire need of some mind-blowing achievement - which is exactly what she and the girls did that morning, completing their 10km event in flying colours.  Fantastic stuff!  Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of them in their tee-shirts and medals!  Why IS that?

Sunday morning, in the dark, the half marathoners took off and and hour or so later, it was …. our turn.  Honestly, by that time I was desperate to get started.  If I'd been told they'd postponed the race another day,  it is possibly I may have turned to violence.  I so wanted it to start!  Amazingly, Marathon Mal and his wife Dom found us at the start line, in amongst the 5000 others and we all took off south, at a very easy pace, due to congestion.  Despite all our prep, three of the four of us running together needed to make a nervous pit-stop early in the race, which was a bit soul destroying.  Our fourth, Jason, accused us of having a cup of tea at the same time, but how can he ever understand??  Anyway, we quickly hooked back in to the event, joining in to a discussion about Shane Warne's recently (cosmetically?) transformed face with a bunch of girls in fluoro orange from Can Too.  

That's the first fun thing I discovered about a marathon - it's a great way to meet other people.  We're all running along, chatting to eachother and encouraging eachother, even though we have no idea who we are!  I met Marathon Mal that way.  Just by our joint love of running and blogging.  Cool!  The run was so scenie and along the way, people who knew me yelled out to me, which was a major surprise because I had no idea they were there. It was really, really, really, really wonderful to hear words of encouragement along the way and I found myself getting a bit teary about how lucky I am to have made so many wonderful and supportive friends through running.  It sure as HELL beats smoking ciggies and lying on the sofa (not that I did that but, I am just setting the mood).  James, being the Manly Man, kept my feet on the ground, literally, and pulled me out of my emotional meltdown on more than one occasion.  

Unfortunately, there was a bit of medical carnage during the marathon, with more than one runner down and out on the side of the road and I found that hard to see.  Of course, they had people there helping them, otherwise we would have stopped (of course) but it was very, very unnerving and distressing to see fellow runners unconscious or flailing about on the grass.  It was quite a warm day and I guess people either ran too fast or didn't hydrate enough or… I don't know.  James kept me on track, even though I could see it was upsetting him too, but there was nothing at all we could do to help them.  I am so lucky I felt so good throughout.  I had a brilliant time.  I had an absolute blast!  At 32kms, when we ran north past the InTraining tent, everyone cheering and waving pompoms, I actually leaped into the air and waved madly because I felt so great.  James and I used the "get angry" technique in the last 5kms to give us energy to finish but I wasn't very good at it, instead choosing to point out pelicans on light poles or to encourage walking runners to "dig deep".  It's a wonder I didn't get smacked by someone to be honest!  I think I was a bit hypoxic however because I did see Mal at about 39kms and I couldn't work out why he was there (errr, running a marathon) and I did develop a tiny, tiny bit of heart palpitation but I am sure it was nothing (it's gone now).  For those watching me cross the finish line, arms thrown up in the air and a smile that threatened to split my face in two, some scepticism that I pushed myself would not be unreasonable.  I think I could have pushed myself harder - but I wouldn't have had as much fun and I really wanted my first marathon to be enjoyable and memorable.  And it will be.  

There is no way I could have done this without my wonderful, fabulous coach Linda (above) or my run buddy James or all the support and love and friendship of my InTraining friends.  We are such a great running club and I am so happy to be part of it!  xxxx  Thanks everyone for everything!  

The Turtle Club - well, part of it.  Left to right are Anne, Jason (our pacer and Mother Hen), moi, Justine, James & Sarah.  Missing are JJ, John, Peter, Dinesh, Steve, Averil and Justine - probably already on the turps somewhere! 

As for the emotions I have felt, well… I don't really know how to explain how I felt.  There have been so many strange, complicated, inexplicable emotions throughout.  However, the one thing I am very aware of is that the 12 hours following the marathon are a total blur to me. I really do not have much recollection at all.  I wish so much that I could do it all again in slow motion.  I was totally "out of it".  Could it be due to endorphins?  I do remember Steve asking me to marry him and me saying 'YES'.  There's the secret, spinsters of the world.  Run a marathon and you will get a marriage proposal!  

And speaking of hypoxia and mental well being - I am seriously contemplating…..  the Sydney Marathon, on 18 September!!  Linda, bless her, has advised me not to sign up until the end of the week and if I still feel like this after that, then go for it!  I am officially addicted!!!