Almost Ready...

We had a very cold weekend. Snow in places that hadn't seen snow in years - and some really nasty rain/hail downpours. A few of us had been going to meet at Takapuna to do a practice run/walk for next weekend's half marathon, but we all decided to stay home! Had a very lazy day, playing on my computer and organising my Itunes, then friends over for a lovely dinner on Saturday night. Rupes cooked roast pork followed by baked pears - very nice, especially with a couple of glasses of wine!

Sunday morning started off the same way, lazy and cold, but the weather cleared, so I decided to get out there and train. The most I have walked so far is around 12.5kms and I was getting nervous about the half marathon being just days away, so decided to really go for it. 23kms and nearly four hours later I staggered home! The first 15kms or so were actually pretty good, and then my hip started to ache. And it just steadily got sorer and sorer. But, I got through it, didn't give up (not that I could as I had no way of getting home) and am surprisingly ok today, just a bit of soreness, and a general weariness.

Luckily our lovely neighbours invited us over for a spa and roast chicken, so that was really nice - and the spa definately helped ease the aches. The other good thing is that the course I chose to do (for those who know me, I walked from home to work, then around the lake, then back home) was very hilly, in fact about four times as hilly as the actual half marathon race on Sunday.

So the upshot is that barring major accidents, viruses, or training injuries, I am ready for my first half marathon. I'm hoping for a time of around 3 hours 15 minutes and intend to walk most of the way as running/jogging seems to aggravate some of my old injuries. I'm a little nervous, but at least I know I can do the distance, even if the last part of it is a major slog!