For probably the first time ever I slept the night before this half marathon. My alarm even managed to wake me up rather than me laying there waiting for it to go off. 4;15 on a Sunday morning is a mighty earlier start but I wanted to go back to Wellington and I really wanted to better that time I had got the previous year. A quick shower, then a banana and blueberry smoothie and we were ready to hit the road. By the time we got to Otaki, I was ready for my latte. 6.15 in the morning, coffee in hand and a smile on my face. I was ready for this day!
And while I am at it - check out those nails! They were painted to match my running outfit for the day - green, black and silver. Here's my outfit all laid out and ready the night before:
From Otaki, we continued the drive into Wellington and arrived with plenty of time to spare. I went and collected my race number, and started to get myself all ready for the race. While waiting, I received a text wishing me all the best and encouraging me to relax in the last hour leading up to the race. The time went quite quickly and before I knew it, it was time to line up and head off. I had thought about heading out with a pace group this time to see if I could meet that 2hr goal but decided I was going to give it one last shot on my own. I started off with planning on running slower than my last half marathon at the beginning and this was the case. Looking back at my splits, I kept a fairly consistent pace over those first 9km. My husband had walked ahead to around the 3.5km mark to try and get some photos for me. I'm so glad he did as he was unable to get finishing photos of me this year. Decided I had better give him the thumbs up as I was feeling great at this stage and heading along well.
Even the wind had been fairly nice to me so far along, but coming up to that 10km mark and then the turn around point, the head wind came in, I slowed and it felt tough. At the turn around point, I was still running strong and still on a good target to be back at the stadium in time to reach my goal. I headed past the point where I remembered the pace group passing me this year and thinking they must be coming up behind me again soon but they weren't. Heading back along the bays, I got patches of calm and patches of wind. I had taken my beanie off long before now due to over heating but my hair was really annoying me. I need to look into something else to sort my hair out for races like this one. From the 14km mark I did start to slow. With 5km to go I was still on target of my goal but then got past by the pace group. In my head I couldn't get down as I still had a way to go so kept the positive thoughts and I was still running and I could better that time from last year! I even managed to push through everything and up my pace again for a couple of km but then I feel apart a little. My legs stopped, I walk, I ran again, I kept positive talking. Then my goal of beating last year disappeared from in front of me too. That last km of this race is really hard. You feel like you should be at the end but you aren't. And then there is the ramp back into the stadium to contend with. I had been determined to run up that ramp this year but I had used everything out of me. I walked it, then ran with everything left in me to that finish line. I crossed it 2hr, 4min and 27sec after I crossed it the first time. The race was over. To say I wasn't guttered would be lying. I had wanted to run better than I did today but I still needed to be proud of what I had achieved. And I think the smile does show that pride (along with the pain!).
For the sixth time since December 2013 I had run a half marathon. I think that as a mother of two that should be something to be proud of. But I also know that I still have some work to do. I know that I can make myself a stronger and more confident runner. And that now, is my goal for the coming while. No more races for now. No running for this week. And then I will look at building myself back up again.
