Race report - 45km: Sunday 16 May 2010

5:00am - Alarm goes off, and by 5.15am I'm up and getting myself some porridge, packing my fuel belt and making sure I've got everything...hat, watch, number, gatorade, lollies, fuel belt, jumper, gloves etc.  Say a quick goodbye to Kerri & Jesse, and Chris who were the only one's awake at that our of the morning :) 


6.00am - Leave Skeens Creek - Josh takes me in the car instead of getting on the bus and Sherryn comes too.


7.00am - Arrive Lorne, go to toilet, stretch, drink water, walk around nervously and eventually make our way to the start line.  There was people everywhere all different shapes and sizes, some obviously a lot more experienced than me.  There was no official start line like in other event's, just a large gathering outside the Lorne Hotel so we went up there, the officials were saying that the start was six minutes away so I hurried along and all of a sudden the nerves hit!  Spotted two CoolRunner's in the crowd and went and introduced myself, it was good to see them and stand with them at the start.  Finally I took off my jumper, handed that and my gatorade to Josh and gave him a big hug goodbye, and Sherryn too.  I could tell they were nervous for me hehe, and I just said don't worry I'll see you at the finish.


8.00am - We're off!  I ran with Ayesha (CR Turtle-Runner) for about the first 10k I think, going nice and comfortably at about 6min k's. I was still pretty congested and coughing along as I went and I thought this is going to be a tough morning.  
I walked through every drink stop and having a couple of cups of water or gatorade at each one.  The volunteer's were lovely and had jelly beans there too which was nice.  I started having little nibbles of jelly babies from about 10k onwards.
There were 3 major hills in this race and I knew where they were before I even started - 10km, 23km & 34km. The first one was ok and I ran up that one, was buggered at the top but LOVED the downhill!  I think around that time I got a good kick from the jelly babies and flew down the hill feeling great.
Taking shade along the way as much as I could, I had to keep reminding myself to slow down, take it easy and just relax.  I chatted and joked around with a range of people along the way, it was such a friendly group.  Between the three big hills it was just constant undulations, and can't remember many flat bits at all until the last 3km or so!

Hill no. 2 at 23k was when I started to walk, I couldn't see a person in sight that was running so I gave in and thought that I may as well too.  It was so much easier to take big strides and walk up the hill instead of really wasting energy running up it when my legs were just really heavy and weren't going much quicker anyway.  The 23k mark hill was split up into two bits.  You get to the first part of it and have a big climb then it goes down (I was expecting this) so many people think that's it, but no you're only half way up the damn hill hehe!! I ran the downhill then again just really strided it out to the top of the second point.  At this stage we'd passed where the half marathoner's started and I knew we were over half way! That was a great feeling.  There was also a drink station at this point and I was actually the last person that actually got any water, they ran out after that and I felt terrible for the many people behind me who would have missed out on water!
Ok along I went, slowing considerably but still running.  I knew that the worst hill was over with and felt great!  I was chatting to some guys saying how we're over half way and we had a few laughs along the way.
Then as I was running along with another lady for about 5k or so, a gentleman joined us and started to talk to us.  He was amazing, he was 62 years old from Taiwan and told us he was running his 207th marathon!  Absolutely amazing!! I told him it was my first and he just seemed so happy for me and gave me some words of wisdom ("You're doing great, just keep breathing deeply, pace yourself and have fun!", of which I replied "I'll have fun when I finish!!") we ran along then til about the 33k mark with him chatting away and I was really in awe of him.  He said he was in Aus for 4 months and this was his first of 14 marathon's he'd planned in that time so nearly 1 every weekend!! WOW!!  He said that he was so pleased to see me starting to run when I'm so young, and was praising my efforts for choosing this as my first marathon.
Last big hill 34km mark, again I walked up this one.  Ran down the downhills and from then on I walked up most of the uphills from there on in.
I didn't "Hit the wall" at all, I just felt heavy legs especially the quads and my feet were burning by this stage.  When I got to 35k I was over the moon to think that only 10k to go!  Then it was a pretty slow effort to the finish then, the garmin watch had ran out of battery and I was in unknown territory having never run this far in training before.  I thought about why I was running, all the training run's I had, my family waiting at the end and then I thought oh no they are going to be worrying so much that I'm not there yet!  It was even more worrying when I saw an ambulance go past me, I think straight away that mum and dad would straight away worry that it was me that it was going to pick up!
I figured at this point that I would walk up the up hills and run the flats and down hills to the end so that I still finish feeling good - instead of to keep running and not make it past 40k or something.
It went pretty quick from here on cos I could see Apollo Bay in the distance which was just great!  Ran over the 42.2k timing mat which is the official marathon distance in 4hrs47min.  I think walked/jogged the last 2.8k til the end.  With about 1km to go I could see Josh standing on the side of the road and that was an AMAZING feeling!! I was so happy to see him there, even though at that stage I was walking I just wanted him to know I was ok and I was nearly there.  I smiled and yelled out and waved to say I'm ok, just taking a little break to catch my breath for the run to the finish (cos there was no way I was going to walk over the finish line!)

1.00pm - He ran along with me for the last 500m or so until the people started lining the streets.  I said thank you and I'll see him at the end.  I heard Dad yelling from about 200m to go, and spotted all these white t-shirts which I knew was all of my family cheering me on!  I was so happy and couldn't believe that this was it, I was there and I'd just been running for 5hours!! WOW.  They were all cheering, I had the whole crowd of about 300people or so cheering me on and clapping at the finish, when I got to my family I gave them all a hi-five then my two nephews Cody (7) and Ryan (5) held my hands and we ran over the finish line together!! It was wonderful.  Ryan just took off and nearly pulled me over the line, I had to tell him to not go too fast, 1. I couldn't move much faster, and 2. I wanted to soak it up as much as I could.


1.11pm - I put my hands up and ran over the finish WOO HOO I had done it and I am now an ultra-marathoner!  
The lady at the end took my timing chip off, I gave Cody and Ryan the biggest hugs and they were so happy, then I turned around and had my entire family cheering behind me.  I had big hugs for all of them, I didn't want to let them go it was the best feeling!  Tears, happiness, relief and a massive sense of achievement to have just finished that.

So...
42.2k in 4hr47min
45km in 5hr11min

TO Josh, Mum, Dad, Kerri, Andrew, Cody, Ryan, Jesse, Sherryn, Chris, Ken, Shirl, Dale & Joy THANK YOU! for cheering me over the line (and waiting for ages for me to come along), it was so great to have all of your support and THE BEST feeling being able to run over that line knowing you were all there waiting for a big fat sweaty hug from me hehe.  And CR Bennie, it was great to have you at the finish taking photos and waiting around for me to finish too...my family really enjoyed meeting you and thanks again!  I look forward to seeing you finish your first marathon too :)

I'll gradually get photo's up during the week.  For those who're still reading this thank you, and if you're ever thinking about getting into running DO IT! It's an amazing feeling and to achieve something I've been aiming towards for several months is just FANTASTIC.  Just keep going, believe in yourself and have fun!!