The Curtain Call

Okay, GiddyUp Jen is making a curtain call.  I am reprising this blog in the name of motivation.  After vowing never to run another marathon, I've decided to pull just one more tiny one out of the bag.  That said, I've signed up for the Blackmore's Sydney Marathon on Sunday 22 September - which happens to coincide with my 50th birthday.  Yes, yes, yes.... If it hadn't been for that, I could easily justify not doing a marathon ever again but really, ON my actual birthday?  I can't really say "no" can I?  And I have the thought of a fabulous post-run lunch to help drive me on!  

This time I will be running on my own and pretty well training "on my own", or at least, off the InTraining Running Centre program as they are all targeting the Gold Coast Airport Marathon, which is on in four weeks.  However, a few of my run buds are targeting the Brisbane Running Festival which is in early August while others are doing the Melbourne Marathon, so if I can slot in somewhere between to do my long runs with them, that will help a whole lot.  Like this morning for instance, when I ran with Natalie who is doing her first marathon at Brisbane....  Running with her and Tiffany really helped me get those 23kms done.  I've never struggled with my head but this year, my head is doing its own thing and I am trying to reign it in! 

In the meantime, I am feeling very motivated by Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1967, where she was kind of attacked by a race official, trying to remove her from the course.  Here's her story: http://kathrineswitzer.com/about-kathrine/1967-boston-marathon-the-real-story/

So, of course, with girls like THAT to inspire me, I should be set!  I think writing my blog and writing how I feel about my training will also help me, which is why I've reprised it.  I've added some new photos, changed the template a bit and am ready to log the "trials and tribulations" of the next four months of training.  At the same time, I have my other blog, Life As Inzy AND Twitter AND my master's thesis AND work...  In fact, speaking of marathons, last year I documented the Gold Coast Airport Marathon weekend for ABC News and, if you wish, you can read about it here.  It was my first ever published "news" article and I learned a Whole Lot that weekend.  It was also the weekend I ran my fastest ever 10km (48:37) and won the Nu Pure Media Challenge!!!!!!  My first ever trophy - a coffee cup, which I've never used because it is Too Precious! Okay, enough for now.  Time to do some uni work.  Cheerio!

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!!! 

Just one more wafer thin morsel...

The famous line from Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" (I think?)is pretty well summing up how I am feeling just about now. The thought of any food at all is making me feel sick. All I have eaten for the past 2.5 days is carbs, carbs, carbs & I NEVER want to eat another jelly snake or slice of bread with Nutella again. Carb loading in fact, strikes me as the perfect solution to kicking a bad eating habit. All I want right now is a crunchy apple or a passionfruit or slice of pawpaw. Even chocolate is making my toes curl. I also have a constant dull headache, I feel really, really tired and best of all.... I have a sore throat! As you can imagine, I am in a particularly "special" place right now. However, I have distracted myself very well this morning, watching my beginner runners doing their 10km event. Fiona actually completed her Very First Ever 10km run, full stop. Shihoko, Michelle & Lauren all ran really well, getting PBs all over the place! I am so proud of them all! So, now I am exhausted & am just spending some quiet time, blogging & reading. I have just about worn myself out with all my anxiety & excitement and I really need to preserve myself. This time in 24 hours, I will have finished. JUST finished. Can you believe it has finally arrived? Eeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkk!!!! :o).

The countdown...

Hi fellow runners....  Tick, tock, tick, tock.  It's Wednesday lunchtime and I have been Googling healthy carbs, in preparation for my carb load saga, starting tomorrow. I really do not want to eat processed carbs.  Really!  I want to be HEALTHY.  That seems to mean sweet potato, corn, cauliflower, beans, pickles (!), low-fat yoghurt, rice, oats, spinach... Basically, all the sort of food that I really don't want to have in my system within 24 hours of my run, if you know what I mean.  I guess Saturday will be Donut Day.  I am packing my jar of Nutella.  Speaking of packing, I am writing a list (another list!) and will put everything out this evening, to be sure I have everything.  Ohhh, anyone would think I was going on some sensational overseas holiday, rather than slogging my guts out for four hours plus!  We've been advised to pack two pairs of shoes, socks, shorts and not to forget our "lucky undies", sunglasses, hat, shirt blah, blah, blah. I am taking a sleeping bag, not being entirely sure of my sleeping arrangements whilst on the Gold Coast!  Am I just blathering on?  Yesssss, well, it's because I AM a blithering, excited mess!  This morning it was off for another massage with The Mistress of Pain, who has reminded me I am a bit tight in the hammies. 

As for my Everyday Hero fundraising, I am up to $1955.  So close!!  My beloved has not coughed up so I am pretty well assured I will hit my target amount before Sunday.  Hooray!  I have loved reading all the messages of encouragement people have left. It really makes me feel happy and I feel in a Really Great Place right now. I can only hope all my fellow runners are feeling as fantastic as I am.  More later, no doubt!

PS:  I can't believe the entire world can see what size t-shirt I have ordered AND what my birthday is, as it is emblazoned across my race number for everyone to see.  So much for privacy and dignity!

Happy Monday morning everyone!  Just think, this time in TWO WEEKS we will all be champs!  The Marathon will be over!  I can't believe it's only 13 days really.  With that in mind, I have stumbled upon this inspirational little video that I thought you would enjoy too.
Yesterday, we did a 10km "predictor" event. I ran 52:56 which is my third best ever time so I am pretty chuffed.  I think it means I will come in at about 4hrs 10mins.  Hmmm….. Now THAT would be nice!  Imagine!!  I will tell you for sure in two weeks if all these predictors have been correct!   Following our run, InTraining put on a Marathon School breakfast at 16th on Park and it was delicious - and a fun way to catch up with everyone.  

My wonderful, lovely coach, Linda, with Steve & Sean (who are pretty lovely too! Ha!)

Two of my Marathon Pre-Schoolers, John & Larissa, who are running REALLY well!

These two men, Simon & Doc, are responsible for my two best ever 1/2 marathon times.  Thanks boys!  Next time, I should try to get a good time all by myself….  Shame is that I am totally undisciplined!

Speaking of InTraining, somehow I have ended up on the committee and even more amazingly, I have been unanimously elected head of the "promotions and PR" sub-committee!  Ha, ha, ha!  Gulp.  Okay, so first job was to arrange for more black, red & white pompoms for the cheer squad.  These are coming from the delightful team at PomPom Promotions in Sydney.  We will be quite a force of action and encouragement at the InTraining tent, just near the finish line, and from what I hear, last year the sight of those pompoms was enough to give our runners just a tiny burst of juice to get them home.  We only had six then, so we will be much more "obnoxious" (!!) this year!!  Time to get ready for work.  Bye!

Vexation!

I read somewhere that people who are disgruntled usually write their letters to the Editor in green ink, so here goes.  OUTRAGED!  PEEVED!  Okay, okay so possibly I am just being sensitive but perhaps I should just tell you what has driven me to this rant.  It's my issue of Run4YL magazine, which I received yesterday and immediately perused.  In the centre pages is their article about their "Gold Coast Five", in which they introduce us to five runners all doing their first Gold Coast Marathon in July.  Great idea.  However, my gripe is that despite them being categorised under headings like, "The Accomplished Fun Runner", "A Work in Progress", "The Casual Flinger" and "The Learner",  every one of them has already clocked a 10km run in 50 mins or under!  Do you know how DIFFICULT` it is to run a 10km in under 50 minutes?  I have been running for four years and the closest I have gotten is 51mins and that's with three training sessions per week.  How can these people truly represent the vast cross-section of runners who will be doing their first marathon?  My immediate reaction was that I am obviously a completely crap runner compared to these five.  I don't know…. I just feel it would have been prudent to possibly feature at least one runner who is not so outstanding, just so the rest of us feel we can relate to this article.  What percentage of marathoners in July will be in the same speed/ability level as these five runners?  Probably about 50% sure, but there are still another 50% of us who are not so fast or capable.  What about us?  One of my run buds this week complained that she felt Run4YL magazine was too elite for her and I argued against this, but this article pretty well screams it out.  I love R4YL because they have published three of my articles but I am compelled to write a letter to the Editor!  In green.   Oh, his name is Daniel GREEN!  

Now, back to black ink and some fashion chat.  This is the latest winter accessory for runners - PJ pants over your Skins at 5am.  Shame we can't really run in them…. can we?  This is my very fast coach, Linda at training yesterday morning (with the sign-on sheet and the car key box).  And as for gruesome, how's this, courtesy of Sporting Images, from Sunday.  One day I WILL not only finish a Marathon but I will get One Good Photo of me running - and sadly, I don't think it will be at the Gold Coast because I am quite sure I will be grimacing.

Kia Kaha

KIA KAHA - I heard this expression last night from my Kiwi friend Peter.  It is a Maori expression, much used in New Zealand by Maori and pakeha alike meaning, "forever strong" and I am now considering writing it in BIG letters and keeping it in my sight every day.  I like it!  And I am a tiny bit Kiwi so maybe that justifies my using it?  It pretty well sums up my current running life.  This week I have felt a little bit "not strong" and in fact, spent yesterday having shiatsu massage by one of my fellow runners, Greg at his practice called, "Access Natural Health".  It was an amazing experience and I do feel better for it.  I spent the afternoon at the physio, learning some stretches and just double-checking I am not making my back worse with all this running.  The physio, a lovely young man called Simon, actually ran the Marathon last year and his only advice was a promise from  me that this would be my ONLY marathon…?  Currently, I felt pretty happy and confident to give him a resounding YES, YES, YES!!  As of now, Saturday evening, I have clocked up 56kms of running this week plus 2km of swimming.  I have pulled my bike out and dusted it off and will try to find some time to do some cycling too, to give myself some variety.  

These are some photos I took this morning while running with my beginner group.  We ran from the shop, over the Go Between Bridge, through South Bank and back over the Goodwill Bridge and home - a total of about 7.5kms.  I had my core group of five regular runners and it gives me such a buzz to see them improving every week.  I can't explain the sensational feeling I have knowing that they are enjoying themselves and feeling so positive about their running.  It was a gorgeous morning too, finished off with coffee and some chat across the road at the coffee shop, surrounded by lycra-clad cyclists.   Speaking of beginners, my partner Spud went in to InTraining today and bought himself some running shoes and then, in a fit of cerebral hypoxia, joined InTraining!!!  So, he will hopefully be joining us on Saturday mornings some time soon.  He is aiming to do the 10km Mullumbimby to Brunswick Heads run this year - not sure yet when it will be though! 

Okay, time to go hydrate and carb load etc etc as tomorrow's training run is 28kms. I am not so apprehensive this week as now I know I can do it (& I WILL do it!) so will write more soon!  Happy training!

The realisation..

Last night I counted the days until the Gold Coast Airport Marathon.  The number of days until I am going to run further than I ever have even ever walked in one day.  It is fourteen weeks.  To be more precise, it is 98 days, 16 hours and 10 minutes from Right Now.  I wonder if there is a widget for that?  A countdown widget…  Anyway, I decided that "fourteen weeks" sounded like a good name for a new blog.  I think I need to keep my writing about my running separate from my writing about other stuff.  It is a metaphor for my life really.  Otherwise, running will completely consume me and I will possibly Lose the Plot in my Quest to finish my first marathon.  So, a new blog.  Besides, it seems that ever since I decided to follow my dream and start my journalism degree, I can't seem to stop writing!  I have written seven letters to friends this week, I have a journal I keep in my handbag and I now have two blogs.  It's like the floodgates have opened and I am making up for the past 30 years or so.

So, in an attempt to keep me disciplined and to share my feelings about training for this event (in case anyone is interested) I am going to try to blog a couple of times a week.  I will try to photograph something from my sessions each time too, to make it more interesting.  Like, today I am going to start with a photo of my watch, which I still am not yet sure how to use, despite having owned it for about two months.  This morning, for example, I forgot to press the "start" button.  Other times I press the wrong button in the wrong mode.  It was my present to myself for running last year's Gold Coast 1/2 Marathon in under two hours (1:53!!).