I Did It!

It was a beautiful morning. Clear and crisp. The start of the racing today was delayed by about half an hour which made me a little anxious, but soon enough we were off. There were 1350 people walking/running today - doing either the 6km, 10km, or the half marathon.

It was tough. Really tough. Especially heading down to Northhead and seeing all the runners coming back the other way. Nice to see Rupes and Murray near Narrowneck Beach, but after that I was pretty much on my own. I really just put my head down and went as well as I could. I did a little jogging (less as the event and time wore on, and my body wore out). Probably the hardest part was back along Takapuna Beach to the finish line, though going up and around Northhead was pretty tough too.

My aim was to finish in 3hrs 30mins, and not to be last. Even with a very brief toilet stop my time was 2hrs 58mins 38secs. And I wasn't last. So, all in all a good day.

And now I am very tired. Very sore. Everything from the waist down hurts. But I did it - my first half marathon (and quite possibly my last!)

All the friends did well too - Rupes did a personal best of 1.52.50, Murray beat him at 1.52.30, Nicole did the 10km in about 57mins and Cindy in about 55mins. Excellent. And the breakfast almost made up for the pain!