Canberra Half on Mothers' Day and food galore!!

Sunday was a lovely day. I do hope all the mothers out there enjoyed their day as much as I did! Admittedly no sleep-in was permitted as the Canberra Half Marathon was held today. Mr B and I both competed and there were heaps of friends to socialise with after the event. It started quite cold but we soon warmed up and in fact the conditions were ideal. I wore my ipod shuffle and felt comfortable and good for most of the run although I started to struggle towards the end. However there were definitely times during the run when I felt absolutely fantastic. I kept thinking how lucky we are in Canberra to have so many beautiful places to run, how stunning the Autumn colours were and what a fantastic running community we have. Yes, I think I was on quite a high and although I ran a bit slower than the Weston Creek Half (that was 1hr53mins) five weeks before the marathon I did enjoy myself. I always find I run this half (five weeks after the marathon) slower than the Weston Creek, probably because I'm not training as hard. I did however beat last year's time for this run by 4 minutes! I also won a lucky barrel draw at the end and what a beaut prize - a commemorative coffee mug, a bottle of wine, a finishers' medal (which was every bit as good as a winner's medal) AND a $30 voucher from the Runners' Shop! Wow - how about that - I was pretty happy! Mr B ran a PB by 50secs running in a time of 1hr41:50. His goal is to go under 100minutes.

Distance: 21.1km
Time taken: 1hr 56mins (to be confirmed)
Average pace per km: 5:33 (TBC)
Calories burned: 1243
Fastest km: 5:11

Splits:
1km - 5:22
5km: 27:55
10km: 55:50
15km: 1hr:23
21.1km: 1hr:56:34

Later Marg, Barb, Mark, speedygeoff and I had a very pleasant lunch, chat and coffee at Hudsons. Then it was home to shower, change and go to afternoon tea with my daughters - yummy cake and more coffee. Later still my son and grandchildren came over and we ordered in pizzas. With all this food it's a very good thing I run!!

Monday I did not run. Training was cancelled and instead speedygeoff's group went out for an absolutely beautiful meal at The Banana Leaf (a Sri Lankan restaurant in the city). The food, company and service was fantastic and I would strongly recommend this venue to anybody. I have eaten there when it was previously an Italian restaurant but not since it changed ownership. I was definitely impressed. It was a great night indeed - excellent decision speedygeoff!

Tuesday - today - I went to the gym in the early hours of the morning and participated in a Bodypump class - ouch - but I'm sure it does me good doesn't it?