We hunted in a pack........

*** VERY LONG POST ALERT***

Where to begin.......

We arrived in Canberra on Saturday lunch time and checked into our accommodation, which was really nice and very close to the start- so far so good. I did not think about the set of internal stairs at the time... haha I certainly did later on. After a big lunch of pancakes we headed to the 10km race to cheer all the other CR's and Striders doing the 5km and 10km run. We had heaps of fun and I have never felt so nervous in my life. Not bad nerves, just pure heart beating fast, butterflies in the tummy, bring it on nerves!

Now the next little hiccup I have no idea what happened??? As we were walking home I felt a funny twinge in my left lower leg. By the time I got home it was quite painful and there was a big lump on the front of my shin. Walking up the stairs was quite painful and needless to say I was " what the hell is this???". I have had minimal problems in the lead up so had no idea why suddenly my leg was painful. Anyway we went to the MTG pasta party dinner... still sore. I had a hot a shower and Ray gave it a massage, put me to bed and said it would be fine in the morning. Nothing else I could do, so said a little prayer and went to sleep.

The alarm went off and I got up out of bed. Excitment and nerves now in overdrive!!! Left leg still felt a bit weird but a million times better than last night and there was NO way that was getting in the way. So I ate, dressed, body glided, wired up the i-pod and headed off to the start. Now as soon as the music started I felt calm and ready to go. Very nervous and excited... but ok! I kept my music on and talked to a few people but I wanted to keep as calm as possible. Suddenly it was 6:55 and we were lining up. HOLY SHIT.... this is it!!!
Myself, Allison, Gil and Kulinda had a goal of 3:55. We had written down splits for 3:52 and had an agreement we would run together for as long as we could and then whatever happened happend. Running with the girls was an unbelievable experience. We hardly spoke, but worked together as a team. I can only describe it as we hunted in a pack. We stuck together right up until the 36km mark. I will not forget this experience with them for a long time.

So the gun went off and I let out an obligatory "WOO HOO here we go" and we were off. Now it took me about 5km to get the butterflies and excitment to settle down and then we were in a great rhythm. We ran side by side for most of the way and in the first 10km I was soaking up the atmosphere. The hot air balloons were amazing and running around parliment was a real buzz. Now by about 10km two things were happening. Firstly we were ahead of out times by about 3 mins- Allison and I had a quick chat and decided we felt very relaxed and it was worth the risk. So we decided to just try and maintian our pace. Secondly I had pain in my left foot and glute. Now I was prepared for pain in the marathon and had worked out a mental strategy.... I just did not think I would need it at 10km. I did not panic just reminded myself that I have worked really hard to hurt this much so suck it up. It was not interfering with my running style so decided I would make friends with it and then just keep an eye on it. I crosse my fingers and hoped it would not get any worse.

At about the 10km mark we were turning around at Bowen Park and were getting heaps of cheers from the cheer squad and my family! It was sooo nice knowing they were there... something to look forward to. We headed out over the bridge and out towards Black Mountain. Now this is the section I was told was sooo awful and horrible and I can't tell you what I was expecting to find. Instead it was a nice stretch of road with heaps of support cheering us along. The best bit was we got to see evry one coming back the other way. So I was waving and calling out... having a ball. At about 15 km I had a really painful stab in my left knee and glute... then it just stayed at a constant bearable pain for the rest of the run... which became really easy to ignore as all the rest of me got sorer :-)

We crossed the half marathon point at 1:52, still 3 mins ahead of schedule and we were all running strongly and feeling relaxed. My music was great, although a bit loud- the girls could hear it just as clearly as I could!! I made sure I drank at every opportunity and was having my gu's as planned. As we were heading over the brindge back towards Bowen Park I thought "shit thats a long way and we have to do it again". It was a real buzz running past Mum, Bec and Ray.... who were sreaming like Crazy people!!! The CR cheer squad gave us a cheer and we were heading back out again!

Now I had written down a few things for me to read when things got tough.... but I did not need to get it out once. I felt really realxed the whole way and found it hard to stop smiling. I had a brief "oh my god the winners are finished and we are still going" moment but pushed it out of my mind quickly. We got to 30km and we were still together and still running strongly side by side. We all took turns going out in front a little to make sure we were keeping to the pace.... Sean would have been proud ("work together girls").

Now as we passed the 32km mark I got quite excited. This is it.... this is where the race begins. Call me a sadist, but I was looking forward to seeing what I was made of. How would I handle the distance, when would the gremlins get me, was the training enough, would we hit the wall, did we go out too fast???? I was just excited to see how this would unfold. I gave my self a little talking to .... along the lines of "This is what all that training was for, no crap, just keep running, you can't do this again next week, be the best you can be (thanks 2P)". I also thought about what Mark had said to me that it was at this point Seans training would kick in and as people started to fade and fall apart we would be ok. It was a strange feeling to be running and feeling good, when others were falling apart around you. We reeled in sooo many people in the last 10kms! Once again patience pays off!!!

It was such a good feeling to be running with three great woman, feeling really strong and enjoying the run. I just kept smiling and waiting in anticiapation. 33km, 34km, 35km, 36km, 37km...... still feeling good and maintinaing our pace. It was at this point Gil made her move and I though "ok try and stick with her". She slowly pulled away and I picked up my pace slightly and aimed to keep her just in front. We popped back up onto the bridge and then I started to get excited. At 39km I was thinking.... this is nearly over, I am going to make this. I also realised I just had to maintain my pace and 3:48 was a doable target. It was also comforting to know I could slow down and still come in under 4 hours. With 2 km to go I had a brief tug of war with myself about whether a walk break was a good idea..... "MOVE YOUR ASS.... you have just run 40kms you will NOT stop now". At the 41km mark I was grabing a another drink and the volunteers were egging me on... "looking good Katie" and I spent the next few hundred meters trying to work out how they knew my name haha I was a bit tired by now and forgot they had the little book with out names in it!

Suddenly it was the corner to turn into the Telopia Park and I started to get a bit overwhelmed....1 km to go!!! Then I saw Ray and my mum and sister going crazy. Ray started to run with me, but he was making me cry so I told him to bugger off ( lucky he loves me) and kept going. At this point Green Days "Good Riddance" came on the i-pod and I almost cried again.... I love that song!

It was quite sureal running the final few hundred meters. I felt so overwhelmed, so bloody happy to see the finish line, shocked I had done it and not quite sure what do to do.... laugh, cry. I spied the CR cheer squad gave them a smile and tried to put in a bit of a surge. Felt like a sprint but I do not think it looked that way :-)
Once over the line I just felt so suddenly happy and tired I just stood there. All I could here was someone asking me if I was ok.... I was thinking thats a stupid question to ask me. I just looked at her and she smiled and gave me a little shove in the right direction. Then I saw Gnome and we had a big hug and blabbed on about how great we were....haha like no one else has ever done this!!! Then I saw Ray and My mum and just stood there and cried. I don't think they knew what to do.... Ray god love him just kept telling me how great I was and how proud he was.

Then we waited for Alison and Kulinda to finish and we stood around hugging and taking photos and lapping it all up! We were all ecastatic with our time and just stood around smiling!!! (Still am smiling). The rest of the day was a bit of a blur.... hot shower, food, lots of marathon talk! We met up with striders and CR's at the Rydges and most people seemed really happy with there time. I collapsed into bed that night and slept like a log!!! Now I have never had so much trouble with stairs in my life and needed a lot of help up and down..... mental note steps are not a good idea after a marathon.

Monday I woke up and felt like a train had hit me! I had sore abs, quads, calfs, feet and shoulders!!! I went for a walk to try and loosen up and just managed to hobble really slowly! I am still quite sore today, but at least I look like I can walk like a normal person. I am currently on a high and planning a million things.... need time for the dust to settle.

I am still processing this acheivement! I am in disbelief that I did it! What a rush!!! I loved every minute of that and will definately be back for more!!! That was a fantastic atmosphere and it was great to meet so many bloggers... CJ, Clairie, Speedy Geoff, Ewan, LL, Strewth, Wobbly!

Splits:

5:41
5:09
5:08
5:21
5:28 (26:50 5km)
5:26
5:17
4:46
5:14
5:09 (52:45 10km)
5:14
5:20
5:19
5:29
5:16 (1:19:25 15km)
5:24
5:19
5:22
5:14
5:21 (1:46:08 20km)
5:18
5:17
5:13
4:58
5:18 (2:12:14 25km)
5:18
5:31
5:20
5:23
5:17 (2:39:07 30km)
5:26
5:21
5:19
5:23
5:16 (3:05:54 35km)
5:20
5:23
5:24
5:25
5:25 (3:32:53 40km)
5:22
5:34 (3:43:50 42km)
4:32 (3:48:23 42.8km)


I will post some photos later. Thats all from me for today.... I feel like I need another rest :-)

Thanks a million times for all the support and good thoughts and good humour! I have LOVED this expereince and am looking forward to the next challenge. The next few weeks are all about recovery and easy runs and I will ease slowly back into it. I feel like I will need to give the old blog a make over!

Hmmmm.... what next???????