I arrived on the Gold Coast late on the Friday night, met the others at the hotel and went straight to bed as we had an early start the next morning - the 10km and 5.7km races were on the Saturday with the Marathon and Half Marathon on the Sunday.
We were up at 4.45am on the Saturday for the 10k (which Mel and Terry were running in) at 6.30am. We caught a taxi to the race precinct in Southport and the atmosphere was just amazing! I started to feel pretty nervous watching all the 10k runners but very excited and couldn't wait to get out there myself the next day.
Run with Life representing at the Gold Coast Marathon
Mel and Terry after the 10k
My calf started to feel worse the more I was walking around that morning so I was starting to get pretty worried! If it was painful to walk for 5 minutes how was I going to run 21km's?
I was very lucky to have a trained massage therapist with us on the trip - I should mention that she actually came along to run the 5.7km, not as my personal masseur! But once we got back to the hotel, she kindly gave my calf a good rub and it started to feel a bit better after that, although not 100%.
I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to relax as much as possible, some time in the hotel pool and at the beach, laid all my clothes and everything I needed for the next day out, I was feeling pretty nervous about the race and anxious at this point about whether my calf would hold up or not. After a dip in the salt water, it started to feel a lot better so things were looking positive.
We then went out for dinner, my first 'carb' meal pre-race was a bowl of fresh pasta, prawns, chilli and rocket. I then had some Chobani yogurt, white rice and blueberries before bed about 8.30pm and then fell straight to sleep.
We woke up at 4.15am the next morning - race was due to start at 6.00am. I had breakfast straight away, a banana, a few mouthfuls of white rice and a protein shake mixed with gatorade. My calf felt good to walk on, thank god, so I was optimistic that I'd be fine. I'd changed my original plan to wear my brand new pink BSC compression pants and ended up going with a colourful pair of New Balance shorts and 2XU compression socks for some extra support for my calf.
After a few hiccups getting to the race precinct (taxi booked the night before didn't turn up), we finally made it. I had my last protein shake mixed with gatorade, last quick trip to the toilet, said goodbye to Mel and Terry and took my place in the start line with the other runners.
I quickly got sucked in to the pre-race atmosphere, there was music playing, other runners discussing their preparation, announcers letting us know how long there was til the race was due to start - and I began to feel excited and ready for it to begin.
The start gun went off and off we all went, my calf felt fine for the first few hundred metres so I forgot all about it and started to focus on my pace. I felt good, fresh, full of energy but held myself back from running under 5:05 pace, as it was my first half marathon, I wasn't sure how long my endurance would last.
The sun started to rise during the first 2-3km's and it really was an amazing place to run - right along the water as the sun was rising.
At 45 mins in, I had my first glucose tablet and a swig of gatorade and continued to have one every 15 mins after that.
I reached the 10km mark at approx 52 minutes, still being conservative with my pace as I was hoping to push a little harder for the second half of the race. I passed the 13, 14, 15km points and apart from feeling abit of a twinge in my left ITB, I felt on top of the world, like I could run forever! Mel had warned me it would start to feel difficult after that point and I was waiting for it and for my mind to start playing tricks on me but I was still feeling good by the time I reached 18kms.
Then came the 19km mark and my legs started to feel heavy, the twinge in my ITB was starting to become really uncomfortable. I pushed myself to the 20km point. That last kilometre was definitely the hardest I've ever run. My legs were so tired and heavy and the pain in my ITB was affecting every stride. I just had to focus as hard as I could and remind myself there was only 1km to go.
With about 400m's to go, I heard Mel and Terry yell out to me and glanced over and saw them waving from the sidelines. It gave me that extra burst of energy I needed and I ran as fast as I could on my tired legs (which actually wasn't that fast at that point!) and finally crossed the finish line at 1 hour 52 mins and 2 seconds.
All I could think of at first was that I was so relieved my legs could relax! Then the excitement and runners high hit me! I'd actually finished my first half marathon! And well under the initial time I'd set for myself of under 2 hours 12 weeks ago. I felt on top of the world!
Me after the race - feeling relieved!
Sister and coach Mel after the race
I was pretty happy with the pace I kept for the entire race, I stayed around the 5-5.20 mark for most of the distance but as you can see in my splits below, my tired legs did contribute to a drop in pace slightly for the last 3km's - but overall pretty happy.
| KILOMETER | TIME | CHANGE | AVG PACE |
|---|---|---|---|
1
| 5:09 | -- | 5'09"/km |
2
| 10:28 | + 0:10 (-4%) | 5'19"/km |
3
| 15:39 | - 0:08 (2%) | 5'11"/km |
4
| 21:01 | + 0:11 (-4%) | 5'22"/km |
5
| 26:18 | - 0:05 (1%) | 5'17"/km |
6
| 31:34 | - 0:01 (0%) | 5'16"/km |
7
*Fastest
| 36:40 | - 0:10 (3%) | 5'06"/km |
8
| 41:57 | + 0:11 (-4%) | 5'17"/km |
9
| 47:13 | - 0:01 (0%) | 5'16"/km |
10
| 52:29 | + 0:00 (0%) | 5'16"/km |
11
| 57:42 | - 0:03 (0%) | 5'13"/km |
12
| 1:02:58 | + 0:03 (-1%) | 5'16"/km |
13
| 1:08:20 | + 0:06 (-2%) | 5'22"/km |
14
| 1:13:33 | - 0:09 (2%) | 5'13"/km |
15
| 1:18:42 | - 0:04 (1%) | 5'09"/km |
16
| 1:23:51 | + 0:00 (0%) | 5'09"/km |
17
| 1:29:07 | + 0:07 (-3%) | 5'16"/km |
18
| 1:34:23 | + 0:00 (0%) | 5'16"/km |
19
| 1:39:46 | + 0:07 (-3%) | 5'23"/km |
20
| 1:45:07 | - 0:02 (0%) | 5'21"/km |
21
| 1:50:31 | + 0:03 (-1%) | 5'24"/km |
After the run, my left hip flexor and ITB were pretty sore but thankfully with stretching, epsom salts, resting the legs and a good massage, I was back into a long run again the following Saturday as normal. Really happy with my recovery and ready to beat my time for my second half in October!
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