Spar Womens 10km Race

Soooo, today was the Spar Women's 10km Race and my first race. My last few training sessions, which I didn't blog about, SORRY, went very well, so I was aiming to try do this race in 1h30.
(sorry, I know the first few pics a fuzzy, the light was bad and I didn't have my camera there )

My hubby in his 'outfit'

The crowd there was humungous, with just over 19 500 people entered. They had a special pen for elite runners and one for club runners, which means that you get a better start before the crowd, but as I don't yet have my club gear, I was stuck in the middle of the massive crowd. My hubby, although he was wearing his club colours (and pink tights, pink tutu and an orange wig) stayed with me as it was my first race.

Hubby & I before the race started

From left to right: Caitlin, Jane, Tracy, Trevor, Carol (me) & Glenda - before the race

When the race started, it was impossible to actually get running or even walk at a decent pace, there were just TOO MANY people walking slowly. As soon as possible I got more to the side where it was at least possible to jog. The start of the race, was also 2.5km up a hill and I had been pretty worried about it. HOWEVER, I actually ran up MOST of the hill, which surprised even me :-) The rest of the race consisted of me jogging interspersed with some walking to recover and I think I did pretty well.

I did however have a slight mental wobbly right near the end, when I mistook the entrance into the stadium. I was looking ahead at some robots, thinking they were the entrance into the stadium, and was mentally preparing myself for the end of the race, only to realize that it wasn't THOSE robots, but the next ones LOL. It was a bit of a mental letdown, but I persevered and was determined to acutally run the last bit of the race into the stadium. With all those people watching you, its a real bummer if you have to walk it LOL.

I was REALLY glad when the race was over, but VERY PROUD of myself for having done it and done it in 1h26 which was faster than the time I had hoped for.

Me after the race with my medal :-)

It was a really great race, and I'm very glad that I did it :-) Next week is the Telkom/Pro Sano run (my club run) and I'm really looking forward to that one, to see how I do without such a crowd keeping me slower. However, I do have to hope that my legs will have recovered sufficiently by then LOL.

Lots to talk about

Lots of things have been happening since my last blog. Last night we went to my hubby's Long Service Awards Dinner Dance. I don't normally like those kinds of functions, but we had great people at our table and the food was REALLY great (It was at the CTICC). We didn't stay for the dancing afterwards, cause hubby's hip was sore and my feet were killing me (from the killer high heels I was wearing) and also because I needed to run today.

Also yesterday, a new friend arrived to come and live with me, all the way from the USA. Her namie is Faith

and she's a PixieCat. I'll post a pic of her soon, when I get my camera out.

Today, I slept late because of being out late last night at the Dinner, so I didn't do my run early in the morning as I usually do. First we went to run some errands. I got myself a togbag, to take all my stuff to the races etc in. My hubby also wanted to shop for his 'outfit' that he's wearing for the Spar Womens 10km race. All men that want to enter, need to dress up as women. He ended up getting pink tights and an orange wig and he's going to borrow a little pink tutu type skirt from my eldest daugher. On the day I'll take a pic and post it, I LOLed so hard when I saw him dressed up. Taking about the race, I suddenly realized that its this weekend coming up, so I started feeling a bit nervous about it *bites fingernails*...

I did my run on the treadmill later in the day, week 8, day 1, all done & dusted. It went really well.

I also wanted to get another pair of the nice Asics socks that I have, because they fit so well, so I went to the sport shop where I bought them to get another pair and they didn't have any. I was so disappointed. To make matters worse, when I thought I'd just buy some other pair, I discovered that the shop only had those silly 'secret socks' for the ladies. I'm sure some people like them, but I DON'T, I much prefer the ankle socks. I went to another 2 sport shops and they didn't have any ankle socks either so now I'll have to go on the big search to get some somewhere else :(

Week 5 completed

Today I completed week 5 of the Shape 10km Challenge. I decided to do it on the treadmill for two reasons. Firstly, it was quite windy this morning still and secondly, it involved doing 4 x 4min run at faster than usual speed. On the road its difficult to judge speed and be sure you're keeping your speed constant, but on the treadmill, its easy to keep track. I normally jog on the treadmil at 5.4kph and for my faster speed, I did 6kph. I'm very happy and pleased with how my training is going. Thanks Shape Magazine for an awesome training program.

On another note, I went to my second meeting at my club last night. They are putting on a race on 16 April, the Pro Sano 10km Challenge. I had NO IDEA how much WORK actually goes into putting on a race and the amount of club members and helpers it takes. When you go to a race, you just do your thing, but you don't think about what had to go on behind the scenes to make it all happen. Believe me, a LOT goes on behind the scenes for months in advance to make a sucessful race happen. It takes a lot of time and dedication on the part of the club who's hosting it. My hat off to all those who make it happen.

Week 4 - Day 2

Today was - brisk walk 20mins - jog 10mins - brisk walk 10mins. All completed. I have to say though, that my sessions are getting more tough now and the sweat production is picking up, especially as I now can only get out at about 8am to do my sessions.

I'm still really enjoying the running, but I have to say being so HOT and SWEATY and STINKY after my session is not so much fun LOL Oh wait, sorry, I was always told by my mom that LADIES don't sweat, they glisten LOL well if thats the case then all I can say is that I must be glistening more than Edward (and if you don't know who I'm talking about - where have you been living?????) on a sunny day hehehe Oh, by the way, GO TEAM JACOB!!!!! Geez, talking about that, I wouldn't mind seeing Jacob all hot and sweaty *Carol dreams whistfully*  Okay, okay, enough with the perving now :-)

I'm really starting to get excited about my race in April, but also a bit nervous about it. I'm not nervous about finishing or anything, I know I'll do that, even if I walk some of the way, I'm more nervous about going the wrong way or something stupid like that LOL Oh and of course there is the dreaded "What if I need the loo on the way" problem - but we won't go there...That reminds me of a funny story I heard this weekend involving my two sil's (sister-in-law's) and a race hehehehe (Don't worry Glenda, your secret is safe with me :-)

Oh well, I guess now that my training is over I need to get on with the rest of my day. Have a good one peeps

Week 3 - Day 1

So, I have now completed day 1 of week 3 and I have realized something which I'm going to admit......I don't know better than the experts and I'm gonna have to rethink my race goals and go back to my original race plan.

Let me explain - I've been enjoying the running so much, that I thought I would be clever and add in an extra training session, so on Saturday, while I was away, I repeated Fridays session. It seemed fine, but this morning when doing my session, I realized it was a mistake. Even the first 5min jogging session this morning was difficult with the 2nd and 3rd being even worse, BUT, I did do the whole session.

So, admitting I'm wrong, I'm NOT going to do the two 5km fun runs and the 10km UCT race that I had planned for March. I'm going back to my original (realistic) plan of my first race being the Spar Womans Race on 10 April.

Having said all that, this has definately NOT put me off running, I still love it and will definately continue, but I am going to listen to the experts and not do my usual 'want everything quickly' thing LOL

I'm looking forward to Wednesday's and Friday's sessions :-)