sounds like a country song

I did it!  I finished my first 10km.  My time was nowhere near glorious however, as after running the first 2km my Tibialis Anterior packed up and refused to cooperate.  I ended up walking the next 3km at a snails pace of about 4kph before I could stretch it out, and then walked the last 5km at a 6.5kph pace.  Damn.  I should have stuck to my plan of walking the first 1km to warm up, but silly old me wanted to run and I should have listened to myself. 

I lost my head in the moment.  I decided to follow the lemmings in front of me (Stuart and Belinda are not lemmings by the way, and they were beside me over the start line, not in front), being those who ran from the sound of the cannon.  Double damn.  Epic race plan fail.  Rule number one – follow your race plan!

Once my tib packed up, I walked the remaining 3km of the first lap with a 74-year-old woman named Neera, who entered that morning – she got out of bed, got dressed, rocked up to the event centre, registered and walked it.  Awesome work Neera!  After we parted ways at the 5km mark, I was on my own.  Seriously – most of the 10km’ers had finished at that point and I hardly saw another soul.  I stopped at the 7km mark and made a marshall take my photo (LOL) before continuing.  Yes, I carried my camera, it was a fun run after all and I got to see parts of the lake shore that I would not have otherwise. 

The Green Apple PowerBar Gel I had at 4km kicked in at 7.5km and my torso felt like it was about three paces behind my legs for the last 2.5km, especially when the rain started to hammer down at 8km.  I had some jet planes in my race belt in case of emergency and promised myself one for every km after the 5km mark.  I did not remember them until the 8km mark when the rain started to drown me but was glad to find them.  The jet planes distracted me long enough to get through each 500m section from then on, while in some serious pain.  Stupid Tibialis, I really didn’t need you to play up today! 

Nonetheless, I finished in a respectable 1:54:29.  Moreover, I finished before the marathon winner and podium finishers came back so I did not feel too bad, and there were people in the 10km who finished after me.  For me, an event is never about winning.  As a FAST triathlete, (that is Fat and Slow Triathlete to you!), I am happy just to finish something.  Of course, my speed averages out at something like 5.25kph but that is still faster than the average bear when walking.  Average walking speed is 4kph, so my speed was good.

Happily, my personalised video is not too bad, even if I do look like a hot pink Michelin woman.  I think I might buy it and stick it on my iPod so that every time I feel like slacking off, I can be instantly reminded of what a FAST triathlete I am. 

After the event, I headed into the event centre for a banana, cup of soup, a cup of tea (best cuppa tea in the world that was, or so I reckon), a massage, my special needs bag contents (chocolate milk, another banana, a bottle of Gatorade and another chocolate milk) and a warm jacket.  Later on, I headed back to the hotel and then to the Polynesian Spa for a soak in seven different hot pools. BLISS!  The sad part though was dropping my beloved Dolce sunglasses on the concrete floor and breaking them beyond repair.  Very sad.

Anyway, I’m pretty tired and need a lie down so I’ll write more tomorrow.

Ciao.