I did it!

So yesterday morning after a shithouse night's sleep I got up at ridiculous o'clock - 6am and got ready for the HBF Run for a Reason. 2 of our friends met at our place at 6.30am, then we drove down to the train station to catch the train to the city. The event organisers had put on shuttles from the train station to the WACA where the run was starting which was great. What wasn't great was that it was about 7C and most people where in running gear! I wore trackpants, a light longsleeve thirt under a normal tshirt and a lightweight jacket and I was freezing to death! GB was wearing running shorts and a muscle shirt!!! Luckily the torrential rain from Saturday managed to hold off with just a few sprinklings of water.

So we got to the WACA with 10,500 other people and split up. My and GB's mate's girlfriend were doing the 4.5km and the boys doing the 14km so we started in different areas and ran in different directions. The girl I was doing it with has been training for the past few weeks so I told her that I would be unlikely to run all of it (frankly any distance further than 1km I would have been stoked with) and she should just keep running without me. At the 1km mark we hit the first hill. She suffers from shin splints so didn't want to run up but I thought I'd keep going... and that was the last I saw of her! I kept going, even though I was coughing quite a bit. I got to the 2km marker and my knee was hurting and I started to get a stitch but I thought, I've made it this far, at least try to make the halfway point. So I kept going and made the 3km marker. By then I could see the lights of the WACA and thought "I'm almost there keep going!". My stitch was ok by then, but knee still aching. Then I saw another hill and thought "Oh fuck no". I contemplated walking up it and then running the rest but I knew if I stopped, the likelyhood of me running again would be slim. So I kept going. Mind you, I'm pretty sure I've moved faster on hands and knees than I did "running" this hill but never mind! So puffing and panting I made it up and then back down the hill (down hill also a killer on the knees!). I could see where we'd started and assumed that was the finish line but then saw a sign saying "You're nearly there". Bugger! So I kept going! Then there was another sign "Finish line around the corner". Bugger! Where the hell was the finish? Finally caught sight of it and motored through in a time around 33mins.

I ran the whole farking thing! With next to no training! YEAH! So my weight may be up the shitter but my fitness is still ok at least! I was really proud of myself. GB did the 14k (which was more like 14.5k) in about 1hr 8mins. He said he could have gone quicker but stayed with his mate for the first 4k to encourage him along. The girl I started with crossed over about 5mins after me - she said she ran all except the hills which is a great achievement too.

I celebrated by eating a ridiculous amount of dessert at the pub for GB's friend's birthday!

Today my calves, hip flexors and knee are all fairly sore but still proud of myself!

It's amazing what we can do when we set our minds to something!