Post Race Reflections

Well this post is partially inspired by one of my biggest supporters, the lovely and wonderful Carol Gilmour, herself slowly becoming a running machine.  She is one of the people that I spoke of in my last post that offered me endless support leading up to the run and following it as well.  I have also been lucky enough to be captured in a number of photos from the day (beware, none of them are pretty) by the photographers, so this post is partially pictorial as well as having a bit of content post race.

At around the 3km mark feeling good

7km mark feeling awesome

After the run I was fortunate enough to have a fair bit of feedback from some smart people about what I needed to do to recover.  This included hydration, stretching, no running, good food.  I would like to say I did all this to the letter, but no I did not.  The hydration was spot on, in fact I felt like my insides were floating at some point during the day.  I was also always going to stick to the no running part for as long as I could and thankfully for me I was told not to partake until today/tomorrow with the running.  Sadly the nutrition was not the area where I made sure I watched and adhered to.  In fact I did not eat a lot during the day.  I also fell down in the area of stretching.  I did a little during the day but not enough I think.  Hence I have been stiff and sore, probably more than necessary in the last day or so.  I am used to DOMS, but DOMS in the toes is a new one for me. I have since been told of this weird notion called “Runner’s Toes.” Thanks but not something I like the sound of.

Another just after the 7km mark.

Not feeling good at the 15km point

I was very cautious prior to my run about making sure I had thought about things that may go wrong and trying to prevent them.  I have had issues with my calves tightening in the past, so I made sure I wore my long compression socks.  I was worried about blisters, so taped my feet and wore 2 pairs of socks.  I did not want to chafe, so I wore skins under my shorts.  I did forget about the possibility of my shirt rubbing on my nipples (hate bleeding nipples) but thankfully that wasn’t an issue during the run, only when I put on a dry shirt after the run.  Ouch.  My way of thinking was that if I can control the controllables (wonderful football parlance adopted for everything now) then I will hopefully not have any issues and if something else happened then so be it.  I also made sure that I was well hydrated prior to the run by drinking an abundance of water and hydralite on Saturday and also Sunday morning.  I ate well on Saturday evening to ensure I had the fuel in my body and also had some muesli bars and a banana in the morning.  Knowing that it was only a half marathon (only not meant to be cocky about the distance) there would not be food/electrolytes at the drink stations, my wonderful friend Melissa brought me some magic powder.  It was a carb powder that I was to drink during the race to give me a bit of extra oomph.  I have never used these sorts of things before and never really used gels either, (other once in one of my Oxfam Trailwalkers) so was not sure how it would work or if it would make me feel sick.  You are supposed to use these things in training runs so you can see how they react to your body and if you would use them in a race.  I still find it hard to call it a race as I was not there to race anyone, even myself, but that is exactly what it was with prizemoney on offer, so I need to call it that.

Struggling at the 18km point but not giving up

I MADE IT!!!!! With timer to prove it

I must admit, I am starting to feel a lot better, in mind and body.  I am shocked at the response I have received from people about my effort and to hear from a friend that people I don’t even know personally, are talking about me in Facebook groups due to them being impressed is slightly humbling.  Yes I have done something I have never dreamt possible, but obviously this is impressive to others and if it helps them get up and try to achieve something they never thought possible all the better for them.

Reflecting back on my run and what I have achieved has been an interesting experience and strangely I look at where I was 12 months ago and where I am now.  It is quite scary to think where I might be in 12 months time, but the posts are changing all the time now in relation to my goals and I am not daunted by anything.  Do I think that there is anything I would not be able to achieve in the future. Certainly NOT!!!!!  I think that the way I am feeling at present I would be able to achieve anything I set my mind to.  Of course the work beforehand needs to be done but it should be for any endeavor, athletic or not.