#runna

A chronological post run post.

Iiiiiii had a hard hard time man. In hindsight, I always knew our race was at 4pm so perhaps doing long runs at 6am was never going to help but I was so optimistic for cool weather in April. Nope 31 degrees. My worst fear. I was on pace and on the game plan up until around 8km which is when the course went from some shade to full sun. Told my running partner to push on without me which I had to say 5 times before he did listen 😛 I hate holding people back. The rest was an absolute slog. I thought about a DNF. I found a second wind around 13km and settled back into consistent trotting. Got through. They told us at the start the course was 20.5 which was a shame as it was advertised as a HM and then I saw a girl who was about a km ahead of me usually (because everyone we snaked past each other we did cute girl high fives) going in an opposite direction and I said don’t we turn left again? And she said nope the course was actually 18km. What the heck. Look my performance was not my best but I would’ve dragged myself another bit. Crossed the line and kept going with some other die hards who were also trying to make up km but I got to 19.8 and called it. The water station people were like oh we have cleared the course how much longer will you be and I was like you know what I’m done.

I’m annoyed because the organizers have a whole calendar of events and yet they were so shambolic. They delayed the start time, changed the course and then cut off a considerable distance for everyone. Also WHO KNOWS why the run was at 4/4:30pm in western Sydney but that’ll do me.

The 10km started an hour after us and then 5km after that so there was people always out on course but for a big event there was seriously maybe 60 people in each. So many DNS because we are legit flooded at the moment so I guess people couldn’t make it. A few people DNF. I saw the 5km fun run and wish I went in that because the first woman was 28:10 🥹 but I know it’s not about that.

My average km was around 7:30 which isn’t too bad considering I did a lot of walk/jog intervals for about 6km all up but Runna had me working at 6:25-6:30 as my goal which I was on but it really did fall away. My running partner did a great job and held around 6:40 which I am so happy for him.

Maybe next time I should do more than an 8 week training block. What am I saying with next time 🤦🏽‍♀️ haha never let me again please!!!! I just want to be a parkrun girly and maybe 10km???

Best of all Josh surprised me at the start line to see me off ❤️❤️❤️

Saturday 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

No words.

Actually I have a few. 🤪

It feels like something has been unlocked and I feel so free. All these narratives I used to tell myself are gone.

I’m too slow ❌

I’m not good enough ❌

I’m too heavy ❌

I’m not the same person I used to be ❌

I’m injured and can’t recover ❌

The course is hard to run ❌

I can’t push myself ❌

I’m too sad ❌

Lockdown ruined my running ❌

Showing up is enough ❌

Instead, I’m thinking -

You are strong ✅

You can do this ✅

One step at a time ✅

Believe in yourself ✅

You can push harder ✅

Um excuse me is this real life?

Under 29! What! Ok I’m not going to be surprised. I legit looked myself in the eye when I got ready and I said when you come back into this house you will have run under 29. It’s time! And I thought like that because it is drizzly, much cooler, and although still 90% humidity I can handle it without the sun so it was the right conditions to have a go.

The last km I was off pace after that 4th and I really had to push it home for the last 400m but hey! We did it!

Tried out the Runna app and vibing so far!

Whenever I am in awe of everyone’s tempo runs or structured efforts I think my brain just can’t do that manually. Having an Apple Watch means I don’t really have access to training plans that set up everything for you like Garmin would. So this is a nice middle ground! I really enjoyed not having to think and the gentle reminders about pace. It is very hard to run in certain zones. So many times it was like hey slow down 😆 but the plan for today was -

which I certainly nailed though there was a bit of a seesaw in getting the pace spot on, or close enough. I also forgot that I don’t live in a flat part of the world so that added more intensity than was prescribed 🥵

Will see how this week goes!