Lara Fun Run

In an effort to catch up my fun runs before the year is over, going back to November here and I took part in the Lara Fun Run - run by the people from PB Events, I always enjoy their events.

I've done this run once before, it starts and finishes at the beautiful Pirra Mansion.  Such easy parking across the road in a mown paddock so a mere five minutes walk away, easy bib pick up, bag drop off, a few display tents from various vendors.

Was great to meet up with Carmel, which incidentally this is where I first met her way back when the first time I did this event.  Was also good that a couple of local girls came down for it - Floss and Debbie.  Fantastic to see them.   Look at Floss and I in our Runners Connect shirts!

There was a children's run first off, then a 5km and 10km event (the 10 just being two laps of the five).  I think they said there was about 700 people taking part all up.

The sun got very bitey when it came out and it was quite blowy in parts too.  You'll see from these pics the type of terrain we were on, easy gravel paths, apart from the grassy area to and from the mansion.  I just plodded along, quite tired after a big day the day before.

A wee little out/back as part of the course.  No we didn't have to run all the way to the You Yangs.

Saw Debbie and Floss as I was coming back down the finish line, some hot guys were yelling out "Go Carol" - well they were only human after all!!  Then I realised they were reading my name on my bib.  A high five to the announcer as I went across the finish line and I was done.   Good on the organisers for having finisher medals too, adds a nice incentive to the PB Events.

Melbourne Marathon Festival weekend

Forgive me blogger for I have sinned, I have fallen off the blogging band-wagon and I have a few races and events to catch you up on, so thank goodness for the race recaps we post in our online running group, so I can refer to.

So back in October, four weeks after Sydney (ouch!) I ran the Melbourne Half Marathon.  What an event, a fun madcapped weekend with many of the crew from the 12wbt Runners Connect group.    

I got up to Melbourne on the Saturday morning and dropped my bags off at the motel and then straight up to the 'G' (the MCG for those not in the know) to pick up my bib ... because stupid me realised only two weeks prior that despite training for this event for so long, despite the build up all year, despite even booking my accommodation way back the January before when they announced the dates ... I had actually forgotten to enter!  

* I'M NOT KIDDING *

Imagine the panic stations when I realised that little tidbit.  Luckily there were still spots two weeks prior and I got in (OMG the devastation if it were full!!) but that meant that I had to pick up my race bib on the morning.

I also did a bit (read .. a lot) of shopping at the race expo.  I went nuts!  I bought a new running cap (light purple, what's not to love about that), some glow in the dark flouro Glimmer gear armbands  for Mike and I for our early morning or evening running, a pair of Ryders sunglasses which I will go on record and say they're the best glasses I've worn, I hardly know I have them on, and I'm sure there were a few other items but my memory is not serving me well tonight!

So lunch was at Federation Square where we were all meeting up and what a hoot it was.  There were ladies that I had met a number of times, a lot of the crew from Victoria, some ladies from NSW that I'd never met and gorgeous Amy came from Queensland and Mel from Tassie and Catherine from WA.  What an Australia-wide group we were.  

And well, any excuse for a photo right?

We went a bit nuts taking photos.

These ladies all mean the world to me from our 12wbt Runners Connect Group.

After a long afternoon of eating and chatting and reminiscing and catching up and making new (in real life) friendships ;-) it was time that everyone started filtering away.  I took my leave, checked into the motel properly (as I'd just left my bag there earlier on in the day) and then wandered to Myer to do some shopping.  I had some pasta in a little sidewalk cafe in one of the street arcades that I tend to go to and then back to the motel for an early night.

Getting my gear ready before I hit the sack and was quite chuffed at my nails.

Ha!  When I bought the green bottle the woman at the chemist said

"didn't think anyone would have bought that colour" !!

Well I don't mind telling you I was tired heading into this weekend and I didn't sleep well, it was a very light sleep and I was up early but I had no idea what the weather was like outside as the motel room had a frosted window that wouldn't open.  So relying on my weather app I was hopeful it wasn't too cold.

Headed down to the MCG and soon joined a throng of runners heading the same way.  I not long got there and ran slap bang into the gorgeous Cat who we read each other's blogs and meet up at races from time to time.  You can read her account of Melbourne HERE.   And anyway, what's with that, tens of thousands of runners and we run into each other in one of the busiest areas where people were going in for the bag drop.  Crazy stuff.  Thanks Universe!   And look at me will you, wearing a very old to be donated/thrown away Contiki windcheater ... really how old do I think I am!!!???

I then headed over to the tennis steps to meet the others at the pre-arranged 7.30am.  The 10km runners were heading over to the start and quick hugs to Katherine, Sarah and Lynne as we spotted their shirts.   Then photos with our half marathon group on the steps and silly hijinks at the start line taking photos.  We heard Mona talk over the loudspeaker and the girls were yelling "Carol's here Steve, over here" ha!  National Athen was sung and then we started.   Mind you they had worked out the microphone system very well, as far back as we were from the start we could hear it all crystal clear.

Full of anticipation for the 21.1km about to face us

with the lovely lady "MCG" in the background, our final destination.

Beth looks about in tears at the thought of her first half marathon on the left

And then just being silly on the right.

I think delirium had overtaken her.

Any excuse for the camera right!

Waiting waiting and then we start!

Kept with Melissa for the first however many k’s, but she got a shot of adrenaline when seeing her family on St Kilda Road . Loved that Kellie's son yelled out, as did Mel’s hubby as I ran past, it's so good to see a familiar face on route.  Beth and Karen were close by and there's a sense of calm, running our own races, but within sight of each other.

When the lead runners came through in a flurry of police motor bikes and helicopter it was quite thrilling. By then I seemed to be on my own, no one around that I knew until I heard a voice and it was the lovely Kim at my shoulder yelling “selfie” and out came the camera. Fun times.

That slog around Albert Park does my head in, and the wind had picked up. I hear some woman chatting up a fellow running behind me and realise it’s Karen and Beth again. Yay they were there again. We ran with the man in pink for a little bit and rounded the end of Albert Park and thankfully the wind was at our backs again. I lost Karen and Beth again around here somewhere, probably because I had my handheld water and didn’t need to stop through water stops. Not saying I didn’t walk at times, because I surely did. But I knew in my head I was running longer sections between walks than I had for many weeks.

The out and back section in Albert Park I kept a look out for anyone I knew and saw Jen, it was like a shot in the arm seeing a familiar face, she was running strong and smiling a big smile. It made me smile and kick it up again. I saw Mel she yelled out to keep running strong, rounded the end and on the way back saw Beth and Karen, Karen did a little dance as only Karen can. Then shortly after I saw Judy and hubby and I tried to yell out and all I could get out was “Ju, Ju, Ju” my mouth wasn’t forming any words, thankfully her hubby nudged her and we wove.

Back to St. Kilda Road where we met up with the marathoners and I was feeling tired, the wind was in our faces again and I hear a friend from Hamilton come up behind me, Narelle is a strong marathon runner and she grabbed my hand and said “keep it going Carol” and I swear she pumped magic into me, it was like a shot of adrenaline. As she sped away I just powered on. Every time the wind picked up I just put my head down and looked direct at the road in front of me and kept running slowly, but when it abated I would try to speed up a bit to make up for time.

Back into the city around the loopy tunnel bit and I find out later that Mel was caught down here with a downed runner, I didn’t even see her, I’m so sorry. That woman will never forget you Mel. Back up through the gardens and saw some race signs, one which I’d never seen before “Blisters are braille for awesome”. Well my toe was feeling quite awesome at that stage as I felt a blister forming!

Oh my goodness seeing Floss in her cow suit up ahead was incredible, I stopped to give her a sweaty hug and that red frog tasted better than anything at that stage. Just up ahead from her was another of our ladies Jacqui also in cow attire who had been running alongside someone to get them going, she saw me, another hug and she ran with me a bit. You girls were incredible, I know you didn’t just help us but helped so many out there. You were like an oasis out there for us you gorgeous things.

Back to St. Kilda Road then along that path heading to the G. The darn photographers on the bridge so I smiled my best smile, but it’s a bit hard when you’re exhausted and going uphill. Did the loopy bit then that road to the G entrance. Right on the corner there I see Beth’s David holding a cow sign. What a shot in the arm that was, I held my head high and proud and ran that road and then I hear another “Go Carol” and Char who I have never met but love love love her blog and her fantastic Run Amok tights, sees me and she’s calling out.

Then the best part of all, running through that tunnel and you can just hear the cheers of people echoing, then out onto the hallowed turf. As I make my lap I’m almost at the first photographer and he puts his camera down, whaaaaat !!! No not now. Come on. I ran on the grass with Shev and Sue's voices in my ear to run on the hallowed turf, then the next photographer, don’t you dare put that camera down mate or I’ll throttle you. Good. Then to the finish line and arms in the air I finish.

I loved that they didn’t rush us off the G, we hung about taking photos and celebrating with friends.We celebrated Beth coming over the line. We got to do silly photos and just have the best time winding down from the run. Kellie had found a photographer in the stands so we asked her to take our photos, yay! Then we went to the café in the G to meet up with the others. It was great being able to sit and enjoy and just relive moments.

My gorgeous friend Mel from Warrnie.

The newest to the Half Marathon Club, Beth.

Kellie, fresh off her Sydney Marathon triumph.

We just kept snapping photos, and why not?

When else do you get to recover on the MCG.

And there it is.

And it's soooooo beautiful.

Melbourne Marathon Festival really do gorgeous medals.

On my way back to the motel, I had to stop on the iconic Flinders Street station corner.

And if you're not sick of seeing my face, haha (hey it's my blog right)

then these are some of the race photographs that I really really like.

Must have looked so good, the lady behind me is copying!

Hey trend setter that I am!!

Spot a photographer, ask her to take my photo, that's how it works!

And we needed a Warrnambool shot too.

Happy girls.

Celebrating with some of the girls.  

Notice our "loose legs" haha

Never wear anything new on race day right?

Whoops.

Rocking my new sunnies I bought the day before.

So there you have it, race recap from Melbourne.  I loved every single part of that weekend. Well maybe not so much the wind, but you get my drift. A huge thank you to everyone in this group who really make my life complete. This silly running caper is in my blood and with that you are all my running sisters.

So headed home, missed the train to Geelong so had to wait an hour. Got to the railway station in South Geelong and there’s one taxi left and this woman looks at me still in my running gear, looks at the taxi and I swear the theme from Chariots of Fire started playing, it was like slow motion, she took off and had no competition, I just yelled out “Nooooooo” my legs couldn’t follow. I banged on the window when I got to it and got the taxi driver to ring me another, but by then the rain had started and I was cold and wet. Taxi didn’t come, gaaaah had to ring them myself, finally came, got to mum’s, changed into warm clothes and then drove the two hours in the rain, urrrgh. I was sooo glad to pull into our drive.

Things I learnt from the Melbourne weekend:

• Don’t trust Jane the weather lady, there was not meant to be wind on Sunday.

• Running two half marathons within four weeks of each other is a bit much for these old legs.

• I know in my heart I need to drop around 5kg or more to feel comfortable running this distance again, otherwise it is a slog.

• Never underestimate the power of seeing a familiar face in the crowd, it’s energising.

• And cows truly do rock!

Sydney - the Encore

Hmmmm thought I better finish the Sydney posts before I set off on my next big hairy arsed adventure.

So what do you do after a rockin' big race the next day - you get up and lace up and get out there before breakfast, that's what!   At Alison's urging we decided to go for a shake out walk through Hyde Park and through more parkland to Mrs Macquarie's Chair.  It would be good for our legs she said!

Looking a bit bleary eyed perhaps ...

Apparently we ran around this fountain during the race, I vaguely recall it ! ha.  

What a fantastic day it was yet again, the Harbour was looking magnificent.  

What a gorgeous view I'd never been down to this part of Sydney for this vista before.

We found Mrs. Macquarie's chair but hmmm Kellie was having a slow time maneuvering down the steps!   One slow step at a time!

Righto, checking Wikipedia it indicates that Mrs. Macquarie's Chair is an exposed standstone rock cut into the shape of a bench on a peninsular in Sydney Harbour, hand carved by convicts from standstone in 1810 for Governor Macquarie's wife Elizabeth.  Folklore has it that she used to sit on the rock and watch for ships from Great Britain sailing into the harbour.

Well the chair has now sported three running girls from South-West Victoria!

So from there Alison decided to go for a run to the Opera House, 

what a view, how lucky the people of Sydney are to run around this area.

Kellie and I decided to just wander so we had a bit of a look around and then wandered through the beautiful Botanic Gardens back through Hyde Park to the motel for breakfast and packing.

We left the cases at the motel to collect later and went for a wander down town.  I sent this pic to Mike and told him I was looking for some after race bling to take home!  ha.  Whenever we saw someone wearing a Marathon Finishers shirt we made sure we congratulated them, got a few big smiles!

Our plan was to treat ourselves at a lovely tea rooms at Queen Victoria Building, we had spotted it on the Saturday and promised ourselves a spoil-yourselves-morning-tea.  Of course wearing race bling!   And we thoroughly enjoyed it.

One last train trip down to Circular Quay for a wander and a goodbye to Sydney, back to the motel to collect our cases and then taxi to the airport.

Until next time Sydney, an awesome weekend, I will return!

Sydney - the Main Event

I really need to get back to completing the blog posts on this before my next big exciting adventure!

Sooooo Sunday morning Alison and I were up at stupid o'clock and went about getting our planned breakfasts, trying not to wake Kellie, as our half marathon started at 6am and her marathon not until 7am, but she was awake and listening to us pottering about quietly, lost in our own thoughts.

We were out the door just before 5am and heading down to the train station.  Oh yes, remember we practiced this the day before?  Well things look a tad different in the dark and we took the first left instead of the second!  As we were walking down thinking hmmm not sure I remember this shop here or there and we see some fellow runners coming up from the other direction.  I lifted my throwaway jumper to indicate my race bib and said "are you going the wrong way?"  Ummm nope, we were! haha  They said "follow us, the train station is over there".  Oh dear.  

So we get to the Town Hall train station and descended the steps and see wall to wall runners on the platform waiting for the train.  Alison announced:

"We've found our people"

I had to laugh.   We fitted in amongst the crowd on the platform where we could, the train soon stopped and we squished our way on board holding on as there was standing room only.  It took only minutes to get to Milsons Point and we walked to the starting area in darkness, deciding the wait to the portaloo was way too long and we didn't really need to go.  A quick photo (excuse the grainy texture) which I sent to Kellie so she knew we were there, a quick hug and then Alison headed to her A Group starting area (because she is superfast) and I made my way to the B Group and started chatting to a lass from Queensland who was finding the weather just a tad coolish!  About ten minutes before the start I braved the cold and ditched my throwaway long sleeves ready to start. 

I don't remember much about the start really, I can't recall if they played the National Anthem like they do in Melbourne.  I just remember walking for about five minutes to get to the actual spot where we could start running and off we went.  It's so colourful on race day, the gear people wear, the flashes of colour as runners go past.  We did some winding around streets before we got to the bridge.  Now my pics going over the bridge are quite blurry as you'll see but that's because I didn't stop.  I kept on running, that was my aim to make sure I ran continuously over it.  It was one of the highlights of this race.

 

And I took no more pics during the run, I just wanted to soak it all in, so relied on the race photographers and there were plenty!  Despite being overcast it got quite humid running amongst the buildings.  I lost all sense of direction though, I had no idea where I was.  Lots of chatting and camaraderie on course, I couldn't stop smiling.

Lots of too'ing and fro'ing as you'll see from the course map and lots of areas where you could see other runners which was great.  Once we got to the water front it was lovely and cool, the humidity of around the city building was gone.  Gorgeous vistas, but I swear the Opera House had been moved, it seemed to take forever before we rounded that area at Dawes Point and ran under the bridge and there it was, yay.  The end was in sight, 

At one stage I got passed by a dog! ha.  And saw the lass and her dog at the end, it was an assistance dog.  I loved that the dog had it's own race bib and yes, it got it's own finishers medal.  Awesome.

   

What an impressive finish running amongst the flags and finishing right at the steps of the Opera House, here's a pic from the facebook page:

Not my greatest time by a long shot, finished in 2:44:57.  I will admit to worrying about finishing before the cut off of 2:45, they had quite a strict policy on their website that you had to be at certain points of the course by certain times otherwise you would be instructed off the course.  Considering I had no idea where these points were I just kept on as fast as my legs would take me.  I don't think the cut off was as strict as they indicated as I saw loads of people way behind me on the double back sections and besides which the marathoners would be coming after us anyway.   

But I do want to thank my running group buddy Diala for talking me off the ledge in the days prior to going to Sydney when I was having a mild freak out of finishing before the cut off.  Thanks Diala!

Despite my finishing time, despite my worries and misgivings before the event, THIS is the look of happy...

The spots of rain started not long after I had finished.  I wandered what seemed to be a million miles through the park to get my bag and quickly put my warm jacket on and caught up with some of the other ladies at the Opera Bar.   I got to finally meet Munuela for the first time, one of the motivational forces of our online running group.

And Tamra and Jacqueline who very shortly will be flying away to New York to run the marathon.  How exciting.

But I was eager to see Kellie out on course.  Alison was back at the hotel and was going to try to find Kelly en route around Hyde Park, I was hoping to catch her at Circular Quay.   Well we both soon realised, that despite even having her Road ID tracking going on our phones, that as spectators we make amazingly good runners!  We suck at spectating.  We missed her at every opportunity.   We were texting back and forth to each other from various spots on the route and then gave up and decided to see her at the end.  What a moment seeing my dear friend finishing her marathon.

I love these photos full of emotion that I took as soon as Kellie exited from the finishing area.  They speak volumes of how proud we were of her.

 

Once Kellie finished we got cold, the rain was coming down a bit heavier so we got her legs moving and said farewell to the girls and headed toward the train to get back to the accommodation.  Grabbed some food from a cafe around the corner and later on after a bit of a rest broke into the champagne.  

We did have some grand plans of dolling ourselves up and going out to a swish bang up restaurant on Sunday night for dinner.  But the last of the red hot ragers, we ended up back at the same pizza/pasta place as Friday night and Tamra joined us for dinner.  Then we were back at the accommodation and in bed by 8.30pm!  Yep, we girls know how to party.  We were exhausted.

So as mentioned I would leave it to the race photographer and got a lot of nice photos, here are some of them.   These are the types of shots you do this race for with the iconic bridge and opera house in the background.

See, there really were people behind me, I wasn't last!

Elated coming down to the finishing area.

Finished!

I can highly recommend anyone reading this to make the trek to Sydney for the event, it's really well run, such a gorgeous course, possibly not as flat as they made it sound like it was going to be, but loads of fun.