Yesterday I took part in my first ever race. It was a half half marathon - basically our local HM lets you enter as a team of 2, so for the last few weeks hubby and i have been training.
Weather yesterday was overcast with a very cold wind and threatening drizzle. Being on time involved getting up earlier than we do on a work day, but we got the start on time, and hubby dropped me beside the shuttle buses before heading off to park and find his start area. The buses were nice and warm, and 30 minutes before the start off we went to drive the first half of the route to the handover zone. This was at 500m so it was COLD.
There followed an hour or so of hanging around - but the crowd was friendly and I hung out with a work collegue and some women who were on the same bus as me waiting for hubby to appear. Pretty much bang on time (he'd estimated an hour and he was there in 61 minutes) he was there. We passed the timing chip (on a valcro ankle band) across and off I set. He had done the climb up of 500m, my part of the race was the descent. Of course, I set off with folk on pace to do a 2 hr marathon, which I was never going to be anywhere close to, so I stayed at the side and let them all pass me.
About 15 minutes in, just as I was contemplating putting on some music for company, a familiar voice said hello - hubby had decided he didn't want to hang around in the cold waiting for the shuttle bus, so he'd come to keep me company. I jogged on and he mixed slow jogging and brisk walking beside me. I wasn't out to do a fantastic time, I just wanted to finish - so I kept my pace around 8.30/km - and that worked well. One small miscalculation. An HM being 21km, I had thought I would have to run around 10.5km - but the way the route was designed, runner 1 did 9.5km and runner 2 got 12.5. The last 2.5 really hurt but I made it to the end as was happy with my time of 1.51 for 12.5km. 12.5km is the longest distance I've done so far AND my 10km time (87minutes) was a whole 3 minutes faster than my previous best. So I was chuffed with myself, and hubby was also very chuffed with himself for running an unplanned HM.
Photo is at the finish line - with our name at the top.
I finished the programme about a year ago, I certainly never imagine I'd be able to take part in something like this.
like the concept for the race. (yes, I did just do that).
My first race ever
First ever race done - I'm so excited !
My first race/race for life!
My first Half Marathon race
First 5K race report
