The ups and downs of the C2S
Pre-race preparations started the night before with a few drinks and a bowl of Pasta in Bondi with CRs Sparkie, The Owl, Wobbly Man, Minersrun, Caro, and Mr Lulu. Good to see everyone and make our plans for race day.Race day started at 6am with some sports drink, cup of tea and a small bowl of muesli and then back to bed for an hour. We left the house at 8am with Mr Lulu fulfilling his support duties again. We picked up the Owl and Caro from Bondi road and Mr Lulu dropped us about 100 yrds from the registration centre in the Grammar School where Caro picked up her bib and we met Jen-Runs and Wobbly Man.
Then it was the queue for the loo, which I had hoped to avoid but felt the need once we got to the end of the queue. Then into the crush. Plenty of chat at the start and some amusement with a very tall gentleman who was designated chief clothes chucker as everyone passed their clothes to him to throw as we assumed his height would be an advantage. It didn't stop him landing some clothes on a girl's head a couple of times though!
The first gun went off and then after what seemed like half an hour we were off. We walked along to William St and then turned the corner, which is where I started Garth. Then it was the endless dodging of walkers and traffic islands and into the tunnel. Once out the other side we were able to pick up the pace a little and we were all sticking together as much as possible.
I found it hard to get going and getting into any sort of rhythm was impossible due to the constant changing of pace and dodging around people. Caro and I were a little ahead of the others coming to the bottom of HBH, but Caro just left me for dead as she took off up the hill, so I was in the middle of Caro and Owl Jen and WM behind me.
I plodded up HBH, thinking that I would feel better at the top, but in fact I just felt very hot and my breathing felt very tight. The rest of the run was made up of telling myself just to keep pushing until the downhills and then to try and make up some time. This wasn't really possible though due to the amount of people, and I really started to flag over the Dover Heights hills. At the top of the main downhill section I could hear WM, Owl and Jen calling out to me so I gave them a wave and then kept going.
At the bottom of the hill I got a boost from the CR Cheersquad but I was really struggling by now, legs tired and my chest was burning. Thankfully at this point the others caught up with me and I tried to hang on to them to the finish which we hit at the same time. Thanks guys for dragging me over the finish line!
It was great to run with the others, and to meet lots of CRs at the finish including CJ who came and found us by the Striders hang-out. Some great runs by CRs with the SfGnome and Tiger Angel having fantastic runs as did CJ and RoyWorlds.
Jen_runs put in a great performance after all her injury problems, must have been the special talking to we gave her shins at the start! The Owl looked very composed throughout and was still calling out to everyone and waving as entered the finishing area.. I only had breath to keep going, not to socialise as well!
On the downside I was a bit disappointed with my run. I found it harder than the Half Marathon in some ways and really struggled at the end. My breathing was really tight and it took me a few hours to recover, for my chest not to feel sore and to stop coughing. Out of interest I measured my breathing when I got home and lung capacity was normal for me so I think it was just a case of reaching my maximum. In fact, if I had run the half at the average pace of this race I would have been 3 mins slower than my half time, which is very disappointing considering the amount of training I have done. Mr Lulu says I expect too much of myself and you can't compare the two races anyway as they are totally different.
I'm not sure that I would do the C2S again as I really don't like dealing with all the people and certainly wouldn't have handled it as well if I had not had the company of the others. However, a year is a long time and if I make the 100 min cut-off and get into the next group up I might consider it...we'll see.
So here are the stats as provided by my trusty companion Garth!
Total time 91.52
Km splits
8.56
7.10
6.02
6.39
5.58
6.26
7.44 (drink stop I think)
6.51
5.37
6.42
6.30
5.43
5.38
6.15
Official time on card was 106.41 and Mr Lulu thinks our gun went off 8 mins after the initial one so I might scrape under 100.
Not feeling too bad today with a few sore bits but nothing serious and I'll try a bit of a run tomorrow. Off to Pilates today for some stretching and to work some other muscles other than my legs!
Thanks again to Owl, Caro, Jen_runs and the lovely WM for getting me home!
posted by Lulu @ 10:32 AM
5 Comments:
You're being way too hard on yourself Lulu. You've done some great training, but you haven't been 100% in the lead-up either - and if ever a course is going to test you then this is it. Have a look at how it affected Vat_Man after his illness.
In the world of fun runs, this is a super tough course, so I'm afraid I have to back up Mr.Lulu and remind you it's totally different to SMH. You should be really proud of doing that race, and with the time you recorded, I'm sure you'll be in the different bib next year. There may have even been over 10 minutes difference between the first gun and yours.
btw - thanks for the great company Saturday night :)
Well done Lulu on a great run under very difficult conditions. I don't think I found any sort of rhythm until the turnaround at the finish (must have been the wave from Mr Lulu!). Thank you for all your support and encouragement. Crossing the line together was by far the highlight of the day. J
It is a hard course, because of the number of people and the course itself, so you did well - don't let it get you down. You got out there and you did it - that's the really important thing - lots of people don't, won't or didn't do it. So glad to finally meet you - I had a great time meeting everyone so thank you! Have a great holiday and hope to see you in a month's time. :)
Lulu, your happiness at the end hid your doubts well. Let time takes its course and concentrate on the great time you had with friends. You've got a year to decide what to do and there's heaps of running to enjoy before then.
TA
Hi Lulu! It was impossible to get any sort of rythm going all day so don't doubt yourself. ... and I thought it was special the way you hung back at the end waiting for us to catch you up!
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