I did it! Gun Run 10km..

Well who would have guessed that I am not as unfit as I thought I was!?

I did do the Gun Run this morning and it was great :)
Now I remember why I like running! (I did the Gun Run for the first time last year it was my second ever 10km run.)

I had a pretty bad start this morning though. Last night I was very reluctant. I was freezing all day yesterday and the threat of bad weather (wind, rain and cold) for this morning made me feel very disinclined to wake up at 6 and rush of to do a run I would no doubt hate.

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off at 6am (argh!), and there was silence.... No rain! For second I was actually disappointed. But then I told myself; "Self you have to do this. No excuses now, just get up and DO IT." So up I got and off I went.

I thought I was there in good time but the queue for the loo's was loooong and slow moving, and I simply HAVE to wee before the start of a race... That's always the most stressful part of the race, trying to get a wee in, and get to the start line before the race starts. LOL

Anyway, I finally got out of the loo with 2 minutes to spare before the start, but still had to get to the start. I got to the back of the queue at the '30-secs to go' mark and then decided to take my warm top off, because unbelievably the sun was even out. The top got all caught up in my hat, sunglasses and MP3 player! Yikes!

So as the cannon fired I was still all tangled up and stressed out, so much so that the sonic boom of the cannon couldn't even give me a fright! HAHA. I quickly sorted myself out. Then I remembered I was supposed to put my stop-watch on! (can you tell I haven't run a race in AGES, not since the Landmark's 6km fun run LAST November). I fumbled with the stop-watch and then finally gt it turned on. Then I was stuck in the throng, and could only walk. Sigh.

I wasted at LEAST 2 minutes before being able to actually move at anything more than a slow walk, and then finally got to jog a little, but had to dodge and weave between people.

By the 1km mark I was able to get more into a pace, but was not feeling all that strong at all. I was wondering what the hell I was doing. I was out of breath already and my mouth was dry. I was thinking my running career must be over, cos I doubt I will do this again. I was fully expecting to find myself walking most of the race. I also found my stop watch/pedometer was gone. It clips on my waistband and it managed to drop off :( BooHoo.

Then suddenly I was at the 3km water point, where I got my 2 water sachets - one for each hand, I run grasping onto them like safety blankets (hrm, funny I coped with labour by gripping stress balls, so this must be my coping mechanism thing!) - realising 3km was up I decided I was going to give it a decent effort and just TRY. So on I plodded. Not trying to catch or pass or compete with anyone else but myself. I was already nearly 1/3 of the way through, I told myself I could do it and so on I went.

Last year I stopped and walked at about 6.5km in. I told myself to get to 5-6km again, and then we would walk (we being me, and my body ;) ).

Suddenly the 5km mark was there, and I was still going. I had briefly thought of trying to beat last year's time, but then I decided let's not try to go fast lets just pace ourselves and try to keep running. (Hmmm... I definitely have a split between mind and body while running, I have just noticed this. Body tells mind stuff, like OW!, I'M TIRED!, and mind bargains with body 'Just a bit more', 'We'll rest soon, we'll walk at the hill') LMAO. It seems that I am a regular freak show.

Anyhoo, so I get to the 6km point and see other people stopping to walk, and think that was me last year, and yet I was still feeling ok. I told myself running slower must be easier for me, and oh well so much for beating my time from last year, but am I am bit out of shape, so whatever.

Then I got to 8km and I was STILL running (Note I have run 3x 10km races and 2x 6km races and I always stop to walk at least once!). Now I was thinking, wow with 2km to go there is no point in stopping to walk. Rest when you're dead and all that, so run on we did!

I was still thinking I would shave at least a minute if not 2 off my finish time to get my actual race time, what with all the fumbling and delays at the start, and so I wouldn't be too disappointed with myself.

The last km, as usual was the longest and hardest, but I pushed on, entered the railing and got to the finish, searching for the time clock and it said 00:50:09. OMG!!!

That's my fastest 10km! Even without adjusting it!*

Last year I did it in 00:53:33.
Next week is the Spar Ladies race and I am actually excited about it now :)

* I heard people mentioning that the course was a little short by a few 100m. Ba humbug to them! ;)