YCRC Half Marathon

Loot from the barrel draw plus medal and lucky run number

With Margaret just before the start. Photo by Ewen.

It was so cold early in the morning of the Canberra Running Club's Half Marathon on Sunday. In fact it was minus 4 degrees when I was eating breakfast and wondering how many layers to wear! I selected a singlet and shorts with a long sleeved top and gloves to be removed at the 4km mark.

It felt so cold when I met up with Marg to run our warm up after collecting my race number. Mr B was a volunteer and was put on bag duty. This did mean he could catch my jacket and gloves when we ran past the 4km drinks station. It also meant he could trot out for a 10km run while we were running the half.

I was sorry I didn't retain my gloves for a bit longer as it took at least 10km before my fingers had any feeling. They were numb with cold. The toes on my left foot were also numb but strangely running in singlet and shorts felt fine. 

The sun struggled through a little later and it actually turned into a glorious morning for running with no wind at that time. We ran hospital hill instead of running round the museum as we did in previous years. The aternative route would have been much flatter. We started at 8am and ran a 4km loop round some of Canberra's icons before heading off round the West Basin of the lake on the undulating track. I had forgotten how many hills there are running that loop. I had extra music loaded on my ipod and I listened to it from one ear only so that I could be conscious of my beautiful surroundings and all the people out there. I actually really enjoyed the run although it was a bit of a shuffle at the start. I chatted to quite a few people on the way and I felt good, yes I actually felt good. I am sure I ran the second half quicker than the first. I only consumed one gu and my tummy felt fine which is definitely a plus for me so I'm not quite sure what I did differently. I guess it was just a good day and the cold weather must have suited me. My only problem was that for the entire run my left hamstring hurt and I was a bit worried I would really hurt it if I tried too hard so I decided to just enjoy the day which I did!

After the run I found Marilyn, Margaret, Caroline and heaps of running mates who had all run well. Although I only came 5th in my age group I was happy to have beaten my time by 2 minutes from the Weston Creek Half a couple of months previously. It was also very exciting to score a barrel draw prize and it was a beauty. I won a $25 Runners Shop Voucher (that may have to be a gift for someone else tee hee), a $40 massage voucher and a bottle of white wine. Woo hoo! How lucky am I!

Distance: 21.1km (plus 1km warm up)

Time taken: 2:05:47

Average pace per km: 5:56

Calories burned: 1226

I had some very exciting news on Saturday morning while at work. My youngest daughter rang me from Singapore. She had been flown there as a surprise and taken to one of the world's best restaurants to celebrate her tenth anniversary of going out with her boyfriend. She rang to say they are now engaged! Big excitement and we are delighted.

On Monday I showed up at speedygeese training at Parliament House. As it was the nearest Monday to my birthday I took a bottle of sparkling wine to share after our training so it was important I showed up. The session included pyramids along the straight grassy edge by Parliament House. I just ran gently for 7km but as my hamstring was tight and sore I definitely did not push myself!