And I won!
Nah, not really. Are you kidding? If people like me started winning races, I’d be worried.
Major thoughts? I’ve got to find some way to sunscreen the top of my head. I know I’ve thought about this before. I certainly wasn’t thinking about it the day of the race. The first time it even popped into my head was the morning after the race when I simultaneously stepped under the shower, and into a world of pain. I’m not sure if it’s just a line where the part in my hair was exposed to the treacherous Tasmanian sun (hey, it was raining to begin with. Why do you mock me, sun?) or whether my entire head was burned.. But I’m still feeling it now. As someone who liberally douses themselves in 30+ before even leaving the house, I can’t stand missing a spot. I don’t know how I’m supposed to sunscreen myself on the top of the head. Maybe I should wear a hat that isn’t just a visor. Maybe I should only participate in races that take place in the dark.
The swag from this race was pretty goddamn awesome. They gave me a medal (as seen above, backwards). They gave me chocolate (of the standard Dairy Milk variety) and more chocolate (also Dairy Milk. I’m sensing a theme here). They gave me a shirt. And they gave me a magazine subscription. I tried to queue for a sausage sandwich but failed. I didn’t really mind as I was previously queuing for a free leg massage, and I succeeded in that. And I’d take massages over sausages any day of the week. Except maybe Thursday.
I guess I should say something about the race as well, shouldn’t I? Well, I maybe enjoyed about two thirds of the race. The rest was painful and unpleasant. One minute I’d be thinking about how miserable I was, how I hated everything, how the world was a sucky place. Two minutes later, I’d love everything, I’d love the world and the pain wouldn’t even be there. Endorphins like to mess with my brain chemistry.
In the end I came in at 2 hours, 5 minutes, 44 seconds. About ten and a half minutes (give or take) faster than my half marathon personal best. I only count official results as personal bests, mind you. I know I’ve run faster than my last PB in training. But that doesn’t count. I actually ran this one faster (about 20 seconds, maybe), but they didn’t have a mat at the start, just the end. The result was from gun time. But I don’t mind. The field was small, and it didn’t add much to my time.
I still haven’t registered for the Canberra Mara in April. I know I should, but I’m a little scared. As soon as I register, it’s real. I have to start training. I should have already started training. Yes, I know, I’m up to 20-something kilometres in my long run, but I know I’m going to have to do better than one training run a week to get through this one.
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