D-Day

So the day has finally come and gone.  And here's the story.
I saw the physio the day before and he told me that I was not, under any circumstances, to run more then 5km. After 3km I needed to stop and see how i felt, but definately not to run more then 5km.  I would do permenant damage and regret it.  I was still keen as a bean to do the half-marathon, but the thought of having to walk 16km after running 5km was soooooooooooo not appealing, it would just take waaaay to long.  So instead I opted to just do the 10km, coz walking 5km was doable.  So on the day I made a goal for myself to try and run the first 5km.  Well, the race started, it was carnage, 1000 people all pushing and shoving trying to get through all the walkers and pram pushers, and find their pace.  But off I went (starting on HILLS of course - I have never run hills!!), running, running, running, singing, running, and I wasn't really sure how far I'd run, coz there weren't any km markers that I could see, not that I was really paying attention (actually I was way too busy singing, I felt bad for the people running next to me, coz singing Adele while running up a hill makes for some terrible sounds).  And then when I finally did see a marker it was 6km - I'd already passed my goal!  So I stopped and walked for about 100m, and realised I was totally fine, my ankle was ok, so I ran to the 7km marker, walked again for 50m, I was fine, and so I ran the rest.  Finished in 52.54min, a time I am very proud of.  I'm so glad I did it, even though it wasn't what I'd planned on, or trained for, it was awesome.  I got a blister the size of my thumb on my foot so I won't be running for a while, but I'm signing up to do the Rotorua Half Marathon in April next year.  Hopefully my SIL will be fully recovered (she had a stress fracture that meant she had to pull out completely this weekend, couldn't even walk the 5km, poor thing) and we can do it together.  My goal now is to do 1 race a year.  If I'm pregnant it will obviously not be a half marathon, maybe more a brisk 5k-er.  But something.  They had Sarah Olmer (sp?), a NZ Olympic gold medalist there and she basicly said that at the end of the day, your health is the greatest thing you'll ever have, without it, you can't enjoy any other part of your life.  And it's so true.  I wanna make exercise and keeping fit a family tradition.  I want my sons to wanna go for a bike ride instead of playing x-box afterschool.  I want them to be excited to hike, and not dread it.  And in order to have that I need to set an example to them, that running is fun,that exercise is awesome, and that it's important.  Coz it was fun, and it was awesome.  Here's to many, many more to come.
Yay me!



All of us that ran, right before we left. As you can see, we're wearing matching airforce shirts that my dad got for us, all the supporters were too.....oh yea, except for Richard!!! What a dork!



Waiting to start.



Stupid hills.







Malachi ran the last 100m with me to the finish. He was so excited. He ran the last bit with my brother too.



The finishers.



My support team.



The whole support team.