Marathon, DONE.

NB: This took me this long to get done as so SO shattered this week!

Well, I did it! I completed the Dual Marathon in 5:01:55. With it being a cross country race my goal was to do it in under 5 hours but I am so happy with my time because the terrain and hills were A LOT harder than I had imagined...

My race was on Saturday and would start at 8:30am so on the Friday after work, I travelled up to Auckland with my sister Tracy, Keegan and my gorgeous wee niece Ava. For my Race Day Eve dinner I made chicken pasta (yes, of course pasta!) while everyone else enjoyed Burger Fuel - was well jel! Was in bed for 9pm with my alarm set for 4:45am as we had to catch the ferry in Auckland at 6am.

We got to the ferry on time and set off. I distracted myself by taking pictures of the Auckland skyline with all its lights - yes, it was pitch black still! Arriving at the island in the dark was awesome, there were marshalls stood at different points with head lamps on to show you where to walk. With an hour and a half until my race, I sat back and enjoyed some porridge I'd brought over in a thermos.

RACE TIME!

Come race time I was ready to go and actually not really feeling nervous. I just wanted to get it done.

At the very beginning of the race there is a hill.... a big hill. Tracy, Keegan, and Ava went to its halfway ready to cheer me on.

I had decided the night before that I wouldn't begin the race with my iPod, and at the race briefing we were also advised that we would share parts of the tracks with mountain bikers so figured I was best not to use it there too! In the end I didn't use it at all which a few months ago I never imagined I could do even for a small run.

Me to the left running up the first hill.

With all of us at the start line, the horn went and we were off! There isn't any dramatic beginning in a marathon, slow and steady it was. Especially with that big hill looking down on us!

The start of the race was countryside and gorgeous views of the volcano and the Auckland skyline in the background. I was surprised by the fact that the hills were very constant, if I wasn't going up, I was going downhill. We soon met up with the mountain bikers and I had to go over a fence to get on the track. They were coming down the hill so fast that I couldn't take the normal route. Now this was my favourite part of the run (and actually it was all uphill!!). We ran on the right hand side with the bikers coming up next to us chugging up the hill. One man tooted a funny horn on his bike and cheered us on. On the left side there were bikers racing down the hill - you don't dare get in their way. It was such a distraction and it was through the bush but on a nice gravel road so loved it!

Then I came to a green arrow (indicating marathoners' path) and a marshall who pointed to the PROPER bush. At this point I was running alone and this is where I realised this was a real cross-country marathon. In the bush there were tree roots, rough ground, and rocks everywhere. In some parts I had to climb up a few tree roots to get up the hill, and I nearly got lost. They directed you through the bush with white ribbons tied to tree branches. I came to one area and started to run to the right, and just as I turned, in the corner of my eye, I noticed the ribbon indicating to turn left, lucky!!

I struggled through this part and even more so when I came to two young boys who directed me up a whole stack of stairs! I ran out of water and was not sure when the next aid station was. This was what took over my thoughts for the next half hour. I tried to have a snake sweet but that just made me feel sickly without the water! Finally, at the bottom of a hill (that you basically just slide down), I came to an aid station. Here a boy filled up my bottles for me while I guzzled some water!

I set off again and this time with two men who had stopped at the aid station before me. I would spend the next hour and a half running between them both. And I was happy with this for the first hour because they kept up the pace.

 

Runners on the Lava Fields

 We ran through more bush for quite some time before coming to the lava fields. Now these were fine when they were either side of you and a nice pathway in the middle. But that did not last long. After the 20km aid station we ran round the side of Rangitoto Island and through bush with lava rocks beneath us - so very difficult to run on and eventually agony for my ankles!

The three of us had become like a wee team, the man in front kept me from spraining my ankle because I watched where he stepped and when I saw his ankle twist, or a rock move under him I avoided that rock! For this part of the run (approx 1 hour) you are only concentrating on where you are stepping, nothing else. And so I was lucky that the man in front yelled, "Duck!" when a branch would've otherwise knocked me out! There were a few times that I heard the man behind me trip over, but then I heard a proper fall and turned to find him on the ground. When I asked if he was okay, he just replied, 'Yup' and got up and carried on. I have to say I was quite relieved because a rule in this race was that if you found someone hurt you had to stay with them and another person run for help... I don't think I could've managed running on those rocks more!!

During these rocks you just keep thinking that around the corner the rocks would stop, but they don't. In fact the man behind me summed it up at one point saying, 'Are these bloody rocks ever going to end?!' Prior to the race start I had hoped to finish the marathon in 5 hours (the course average over the years was 5:02:00). At his point I told myself I would be happy finishing at 6 hours.

The rocks ended. At an aid station, phew! Here I got some much needed sunscreen. I left the aid station with the men still there, and me covered in white sunscreen - it soon soaked in. I was now back to running by myself and was happy for it (the man in front of me had started to slow down, overly cautious of the rocks after a few near ankle twists). The rocks were now gone and I was back to gravel, oh glorious gravel! My ankles at this point were furious with me and so I hoped I would not see any more lava fields.

I soon ran from Rangitoto Island to Motutapu Island where I know had only countryside - and A LOT of hills. It was from here that the crying probably started. Every time I came to the top of the hill, I would see a downhill followed by another hill. And the ground on the downhills were so hard from the drought that it killed me just as much as the uphills. The pain and tiredness I felt at this point was like nothing I had felt before. I become a blubbering mess. I tried very hard to focus on every step rather than the upcoming 'horribleness', but this was near impossible when you could see the next big hill.

It got worse. I then ran out of water again. Every time I came to a marshall I asked if the next aid station was close and it seemed every time they told me, 'Sorry, a few more hills yet.' So every time I passed them by, the tears would continue.

In my head, I couldn't help thinking, 'I will never ever do this again, why the hell did I sign up for this!!'

Until finally I came down a hill to find three young girls with pom poms cheering me on! There they were at the aid station offering me water, sports drinks, sweets, bananas, suncreen.... I filled up my water bottles, guzzled a cup of water, then set off.

Up until this point, I had been eating mini Mars bars, and jelly snake sweets every half hour to keep my energy levels even. Normally on my training runs I would feel better after having them but it just didn't seem to work here. As I came to the 30km aid station I grabbed a banana and munched on that but it didn't seem to help either. After 30km it is all downhill in a small bush area, and the tears were still going on. It wasn't until I got to the bottom of this bush and came to a flat area that the tears stopped. This flat part of the race was AMAZING. It must've been at least 10 minutes worth of flat, and also where I saw my support team.

My cousin Tayla (who had been training with me) and my uncle Graham were doing the half marathon on the island. So also with Keegan, Tracy, and Ava were my Aunty Sandra, and cousins Zoe and Jacob. Zoe was on look out at this point (they had been waiting awhile as not realising how hard the course was, we all thought I'd be there sooner!). Zoe ran with me until I came to everyone else where I grabbed a Coke from Jacob (that they had flattened earlier) while Keegan told me to drink it all. Before the race, Keegan had suggested I got Coke and I had but I was a little bit apprehensive about drinking it. But since Keegan had got me this far with my training I decided to trust him and I drank it. Well...

After passing them and drinking that Coke, the whole marathon changed for me. I had been struggling up until this point. The wee flat part of the run was done and I was soon chugging up the next hill fast. And I kept going fast. It was as if that Coke had refreshed my entire body and I felt so determined to do that last 10km using every last part of my energy. At the next aid station I grabbed some watermelon which I then followed up with more jelly snakes and another Mars bar. I was going to push my self to the limit now.

As refreshed as I felt this part of the run did drag on a lot. I think it was more the fact that I thought that the hills would soon stop and they never did. And then as I came to every top of a hill I thought I would see the finish over it, but I didn't. Instead I saw another hill.

As I went through one paddock, I ran past a boy who had his head down in a seat playing on his phone. I didn't think much of it, but did wonder what the point was of him sitting there. Well I soon found out. Some men starting yelling to me, and then the boy. The boy was meant to have told me to turn at that point. I had gone where the mountain bikers go. So I ran back and gave him the very best evil eyes I could, and kept going.

Ahhh... that final downhill was AWESOME. It was right before the finish line and I ran down it so fast, like a proper sprint. You wouldn't think I could sprint at this point but to be honest, I was sprinting because I didn't have the strength in my legs to stop myself!

Graham and Jacob were at the bottom of the hill waiting on Tayla to finish so they were able to cheer me on. As I ran along the final straight to the finish I couldn't see anyone else anywhere. I ran over the finish line and had done it! And ohhhhh man did I feel amazing because I could stop and Sandra appeared cheering! I sort of glided to the side and had a wee sit down on the ground before she helped me back up and gave me a hug. She was super impressed how fast I had done the last 10km and told me Tracy and Keegan weren't there yet because they thought I would be at least another half hour! So unfortunately they missed it, but I have to say I am quite happy that the reason was because I was fast!! Hehe..

Now I could barely move and my ankles were excruciating. I sat down and Zoe brought me drinks and watermelon. She was at my side for the next hour looking after me, and letting me lean on her when I needed to!

My uncle Graham completed the half marathon in 2 hours (crazy good considering the terrain!) and my 14 year old cousin Tayla completed the half marathon in 3 hours. And if I'm being honest, while I was running part of the run I did worry that she wouldn't be able to complete it. So very impressed! Congrats!!

Shortly after prizegiving we went for a swim in the harbour... it felt amazing having no pressure on my legs and the coolness of the water calmed my muscles! After that swim, I even managed to play a little frisbee!!

We caught a ferry at 5:30pm and went to an Italian restaurant in Auckland where I had the most delicious and well deserved pizza, and the most delicious and very, very well deserved glass of Merlot. Nom Nom.

 

Rangitoto Island: CONQUERED.

Other highlights:

• On the ferry I met a man who was running the marathon for charity... the weekend before he had run in the LA Marathon and before that Antarctica! He was also running on the North Pole and in Jordan. During the week he worked back in his home Qatar. Crazy!
• Passing some mountain bikers up a hill who were walking their bikes - when one of them saw me he laughed, 'Well, this is very embarrassing!'
• The strange things a marathon does to your body... despite all the water I drank I didn't go toilet at all during the race and not until over an hour after the race.
• The morning after the marathon, Tracy made me penguin shaped waffles with maple syrup, yum!

Oh, and I do think I will do another marathon. In fact, I am certain of it. Next time it will be a road marathon so I can test my speed for sure. This is not the end of my marathons, I think I may be addicted!
 

THANK YOUS!!

Okay, so I only got to that start and finish line because of sooooooo many people and really can't mention everyone but you all know who you are!! Whether it was the encouragement on Facebook, sponsoring my run, being a running buddy, feeding me up on good ol' grub, looking after me on the day, or so many other things... you all helped SO SO much! There was no way I was letting any of you down.

And a special thank you to my coach Keegan, who lets face it, without your coaching I never would've got to that finish line. I did one of the hardest marathons in New Zealand as my first one, and somehow I got to the finish. I did think you were crazy sometimes... actually, a lot of times. Especially, when you wanted me to do training I thought I couldn't (and then found out I could). I was apprehensive at first with your suggestions but in the end, trusting your advice got me there, so thank you. And to anyone who is even thinking about doing the ultimate in endurance training - an ironman - do look at Keegan's website www.vo2coach.com and get in contact with him. Or enquire for any form of training. He can train anyone, anywhere in the world and will see you accomplish things you thought impossible!