Our Thanksgiving started very early as we left the house at 7am headed for Hellyer Park and the Turkey Trot Half Marathon. Unfortunately the virus I picked up at the weekend had not gone away as hoped, the sore throat had returned overnight on Tuesday and I was feeling pretty wiped out, so I did the sensible thing........and raced anyway.
It was a lovely sunny morning, just a bit on the cool side that early in the morning. First stop was finding the closest free parking (we could then feel smug watching the less savvy locals circling the $6 a day car park desperately seeking a space to park) and then walking over to the number pick up. We got there just in time to hear the announcement that due to a power cut all the toilets in the park were closed because the flushes need electric to work.......400 plus nervous runners and no toilets, every race organisers worst nightmare! Fortunately our route back to the car to drop off our excess clothing passed through another part of the park where there were a couple of porta loos......which we found ahead of the other 398 people who all appeared to be queuing for them a bit later on.
We were expecting the race start to be delayed due to the toilet dilemma but it was actually very prompt. The half marathon and 10k started together with the 5k starting 10 minutes later. So at 8am sharp we were off on the mile loop of the lake before heading out on the Coyote Creek Trail for the rest of the course which was a straightforward out and back. We weren't sure what the standard was going to be as this is only the second year the race has been held but our suspicion that it would not be a very high proved correct.
I had set my watch for 6.50 pace which is slower than my normal half marathon pace but I was being realistic about the sort of shape I'm in after 6 weeks of no regular training, too much food and alcohol and on top of that a virus. The usual race start adrenalin rush made it feel easy for the first mile but unfortunately it didn't last long and it soon started to feel like hard work. After 4 miles I really just wanted to stop and lie down at the side of the trail but since that wasn't an option I gritted my teeth and resigned myself to another hour at least of feeling horrible! It was made slightly harder by not feeling like a race, after the initial jockeying for places, I could see one person ahead of me on the straight parts of the trail but otherwise I could have been out for a morning run on my own.
At least I knew I was ahead of all the other female competition and the going was fairly easy. There were a few undulations, the odd dip in the path and bridge crossing but on the whole it was a flat course and I was just about managing to hang on to the pace target. As I neared the turn around point I started to meet the leaders coming back and starting counting to see how Martin was doing. It was fantastic to see him neck and neck with another runner in joint third place and looking comfortable. The turn around was just across a foot bridge over the creek and I was 8th at that stage. I had meant to take note of the time to see how far ahead I was of the next female when I passed her on the way back....but naturally I completely forgot!
There were about 3 or 4 women fairly close together and I spent the rest of the race expecting one of them to catch me up. I pushed really hard to try and stay on the pace and I managed it until the 9 mile mark but after that I gradually dropped off and found myself working harder to run slower! Towards the end I started to pass the back markers in the 10k race, mostly walking and I knew how they felt! I had risked a couple of nervous glances over my shoulder and knew that there was one other runner behind me - male - and as I reached the point where the path split and headed back past the lake to the finish he overtook me dropping me down into 9th place. Martin was waiting here too and said that I was second lady which gave me a bit of a jolt, I knew I was first unless someone had cheated..........but I tried to put it out of my head because I could see the clock ahead and I still had a chance to get across that line under 1.30. Somehow I managed to find an injection of speed from somewhere and just made it....1.29.59!! My worst half marathon time since 2009....
Martin had done really well and finished in 3rd place overall and a great time of 1.25.39 which he later found was a PB for him.......by 1 second! I was a bit worried by him thinking that I was second - he said that another girl with a half marathon number on had passed him whilst he was waiting for me. However, an announcement that the male course record had been broken was followed by another one saying that I had won and broken the course record by 5 minutes....so all was not lost. Fortunately they were handing out the winners medals as the runners finished so we didn't have to wait around for a presentation and in all honesty all I wanted to do was go home and lie in a darkened room for several days........
........So we went home and after a quick shower and coffee I spent the next 6 hours in the kitchen helping Sherry cook Thanksgiving Dinner for 12! At 3.30 guests began arriving, all bearing platters of food and eventually all was ready and we sat down to a gigantic feast. It was really bad timing that I just wasn't able to do it justice although I did my best and I think Martin may have made up for me to some extent. The evening was also marred slightly by Sherry having a spell of feeling unwell and having to go and lie down for a while but fortunately she rallied and the evening ended on a high.
After everyone had left it was back to the kitchen for more washing up duty and then we relaxed and chatted for a while before staggering off to bed. It had been a long day.
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