half marathon ...check :)
i did it! i didn't get sub 2 hours but i crossed the line in 2.03.49 according to my watch (might go up).
even though i didn't get under the magic number i am still VERY VERY happy with my time!! for one thing - i finished!! secondly i only walked the drink stations, and thirdly - I finished!!!!
the 2 hour figure was really just plucked out of the air for no good reason so i was not that attached to it. and now i have a time i know what it is that i want to beat next time!
anyway - so the day started a bit anxiously... i finally got through the toilet queue and katie and helen told me that i didn't look so good. a bit of company perked me up and i was raring to go. I had my 2 running mates blkbox and will with me and felt very comfortable that they would look after me. And they sure did! We started with Gnome and the 2 hour pace group and i think that i kept up with them until around 10k when they gradually moved further and further away from me. still that first 10k was done in just over 56 mins which is pretty darn close to my 10k pb... we were averaging 5.36's for those first 10. the next 6 were pretty tough and that was when I was really really glad to have andy and will there for moral support.
to be honest i thought that the longer slower hills hurt me more than observatory hill. that was over before i knew it and we were on that nice downhill... the cahill expressway was great as there were coolrunner cheers (thanks guys!!) and then it was the lovely downhill on macquarie st which i really really enjoyed :) in fact we picked up the pace a lot hooning down there. blkbox set me a target of a dude to overtake and we did it! v cool. unfortunately i didn't have the garmin on autolaps so i'm not sure what my splits were - would have been very interesting...
in case i didn't mention it enough - thanks will and blkbox- you guys made all the difference - i would have slowed heaps more without you :)
then got up on the expressway to watch and cheer the marathoners!! massive congrats to uncle dave who finished 5th with a gigantic pb. very cool to watch!! also belinda who nailed that 2 hour mark in emphatic fashion!! stuck around cheering for quite a while and got to see the girls i work with who were doing the marathon running in together. that was cool.
actually it was all great. i am a very happy camper, especially after a steak sandwich at the orient. who knew that you could eat there???
so many excellent runs and good friends who i am very grateful for. you guys rock (you know who you are...)
me and horrie at the bag drop (i made him have a photo with me so i had a photo of me at the half marathon but i felt like a dork in a photo by myself!!!!)
beer & lunch for a bunch of coolrunners...
EDIT - looks like I started and finished my watch just about perfectly - my official time is 2.03.48 (that is a one second pb from what i had yesterday!!). i can 2,373rd, 755th woman and 249th woman aged 18-29 :)
posted by Ellie80 @ 2:28 pm
23 Comments:
Woohoo!!!!!!
I am sooooo happy for you Ellie. You've come a long way baby in a short space of time & you should be mighty proud of yourself (as I am of you).
Congrats again,
J xx
Ellie that medal looks great around you neck, and you desearve it. Great run.
Well done Ellie, that is a great result and well deserved.
An awesome split at the 10k mark aswell you should be very happy with how the race went. Congrats again :)
Fantastic run Ellie. You will feel better now that first one is out of the way and have the confidence knowing you can do it. Sub 2 hours will go soon enough. Keep training as well as you are and you will reap the rewards.
You've done us proud! A well deserved victory and I can see you beating 2 hours on the next one easily.
Congratulations Ellie!
Nice work!
You'll feel proud every time you look at that medal!
Congratulations on your first half marathon. Fantastic effort. Hopefully more great races to come.
Congratulations on your first half marathon. It has been a pleasure to watch your running progess.
Finally a photo woohoo!
Well done on your debut half, mate. Great to see the progress you've made throughout the year, and am looking foward to seeing what you can do at the Central Coast Half!
Onya Ellie. Great debut on a tough course.
Yayayayayaya Ellie - not so long ago you were just watching the big boys and girls at SMH and now YOU are a half marathoner yourself - I'm not saying you're big though ;-)
Fantastic effort and a great debut time - you are going to fly at the CC Half if you give it a crack.
Congratulations Ellie.
Great to hear that you had such a fun day Ellie - and you're right. 2 hours just sounds like a very round and arbitrary number. So does 1:50 ;)
Congratulations Ellie on finishing your first half. A great run on a really hard course.
Love the photo, hope your wearing the medal proudly at work !!
Becky O...
well done Ellie...now that you've had a taste you'll be back for more...
A huge Woo Hoo for you!!! Such a great first half marathon!! You should feel so proud :-) Now you know you can do it.... nothing holding you back!!
Thanks for the cheers yesterday!!!
Well done!!! You've inspired me to look into half-marathons. I met someone on the weekend who was also convinced that I can do it now... so who knows?!
It's such a wonderful achievement, you should be so proud!
Woohoo! Congratulations!
Gosh, who've thought all those months ago when you started blogging that you'd be writing about running your first half marathon! And in such a great time too. I train with several people who would kill to run that close to 2 hours.
Well done Ellie. No doubt its the first of many. Looking forward to catching up soon to celebrate in person :-)
That's an excellent time for a first half Ellie. Well done. Exciting times are ahead.
Sean was pretty much spot-on. Good coaching ;)
Great work mate!
Thats some good running...you might have to change the name of your blog though...cause its def not slow :)
T
It's hard to believe that it's only such a short time ago that we met a girl at the Mother's day run who (if my memory serves me correctly) hadn't run that distance before, and didn't really think of herself as a runner... Boy, did you whack that image on the head!!
You've already lost the 'slow', but don't ever lose the 'enthusiastic' :-)
Gnome
Ellie,
Well done on an awesome result. It's a tough course, and you will nail two hours on a flat one.
It was a privelege to cross the line with yourself and your support crew, and I'd like to thank you guys for dragging me along for the last couple of Ks, where I would've bludged had you not been steaming home.
Cheers,
Ben
Ahh is that what you look like!
Fantastic effort, you should be really proud of yourself with all the hard work you have put in over the past number of months. I’m sure it was that anonymous person who kept posting SOFT on your blog that kept you motivated :)
Well done you!
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