Half Marathon .. 21,100 meters!!

I finally realise how far a half marathon actually is!! :)

We got to Taupo on Saturday around lunchtime and made our way to the house a group of us had rented for the night. Was a really great idea to rent a private home. For the seven of us that stayed there it worked out to $15 a night for each of us for a whole 3 bedroom house to ourselves. We spent the afternoon relaxing, chatting and then went out to the warehouse to pick up a few things. I was on strict orders from Bill to get me some new pants as my once tight size 18 pants were started to sag on me :) My friend Hayley came with me and was picking out some pants for me to try. I told her to only get size 16 ones. I didnt want to get too depressed trying on anything smaller to find them too tight. One pair looked really good on... a pair of pinstriped black butt hugging ones :) Hayley asked what size they were. I told her size 16, I presumed, given that the hanger said that. She smuggly smiled and said "No, I tricked you. I put a pair of 14s on a 16 hanger so you would try them on!" What a wonderful surpise! How cool is that?? lol. They fitted perfetly!! So of course I had to buy them!! Wahoo size 14!!! When I started WW in January I was a size 22-24. That started the weekend off to a great start!!

That night we had chinese and I filled my plate with lots of steamed rice... lower in points and giving me lots of carbos for the big walk the next day.

Woke up nice and early, rearing to go. My diareah had stopped on Friday and I was feeling 100% well again. On registration I won a spot prize... $10 gift voucher from Paper Plus!! Wahoo :)

The gun went off and the runners took off ... Bill included! He was running it with a pushchair (and Jese inside) ... crazy man but proud of him all the same!

Then it was our turn to get to the start mark. There were 3 of us walking together ... me, Hailey and my cousin Sandra. The starter went and we were off. I was a bit nervous about the speed at which the other two were going to be walking. We wanted to keep together but hadn't trained with either of them so didnt know whether we would be able to stick together. Unfortunately Hailey got seperated at the start from us among the other 3400 people. Sandra and I stuck together like glue and it really helped!! At times when I would have naturally slowed she kept me going faster. And vice versa.

I was really enjoying the scenery until the 15km mark... then it started to hit me!! Wow, what was I doing?? lol ... this was really getting hard, I was tired, my feet were starting to get blisters and my hips were giving out. Having Sandra there gave me someone to vent out my struggles and keep me focused. And hopefully I did the same for her :) We kept eachother going... one foot infront of the other. 17km mark came up and it felt like we had been far more than just another 2kms!! Then we rounded the corner of what I thought was the end and saw a series of bays reaching into the distance ... and a train of people as far as I could see!! We were far from the end!!! A gut renching sight!! I must have looked like I was in pain as people started asking me if my feet were ok. I was in pain but I was determined to make it to the end!! I started imagining my legs were pendulums swinging with ease. This really helped! One foot infront of the other ... one step at a time we would make it to the end. It was far more of a mental challenge than I had expected. I had to tell myself "I will do this ... we will make it to the end, just keep going". Both Sandra and I had a fear of coming in last so we were continually checking behind us to see how many there were. But we were fine ... there was a huge sea of people behind as well :)

Sandra saw a kids feeder on the ground and jokingly asked if it was Jese's ... I laughed and we carried on ... then 20mtrs on or so I realised it could actually be his. "Was it striped?" I asked her ... "yep" So I turned around and ran back dodging the crowds. Sure enough it was his ... that was inspiration in itself ... to know that Bill and Jese had been before me and were waiting for me at the finish. I hung onto that feeder so tight!!

Then I got to the '1km to go' sign ... wow we were nearly there!! But 1km is such a long way!! lol ... I focused on counting my steps. A quick calculation working out I had around 1400 steps to go... sounded alot but gave me something to concentrate on. After rounding the final corner I immediately lost count when I saw what was infront of us... A HUGE HILL!!! How could they do that to us?? lol There was a sign at the bottom "What a bitch of a hill" lol And ohhh so true!! Half way up the hill I became quite lightheaded but determination took over ... nothing was going to stop me getting to that finish line!! Sandra and I looked at eachother and no words were said but we both knew what eachother was thinking. As we neared the end crowds of people were standing behind the barriers clapping for everyone coming in. And among the noise I heard "Gooo Lynette!!" It was my wonderful Bill!! Water filled my eyes ... A very proud moment in my life!!! As we looked up to the finish mark we saw 3hrs 29mins 54 secs ... A sudden burst of energy to get me there before 3.5hrs. We did it!!!! We made the the 21.1kms!! And I was still alive!! Sandra and I looked at eachother when we crossed that line both with welled up tears in our eyes and gave eachother a big hi-5!! Each person got presented with a medal as they crossed the finishline. And I wore that medal for the rest of the day with such pride!!

Collapsing onto the grass I peeled off my shoes and socks to reveal my wounds lol. 2 big blisters on one foot but better than expected. The other funny thing ... during the walk my hands had swelled up so much my rings were cutting off my circulation in my fingers. Lucky Sandra had a pocket to put them in. I would have never thought to take them off beforehand.

Bill did extremelly well also at 2hrs30mins ... with a pushchair! And of course my skinny fit brother did it in 1hr15mins!!! Way to go Richard!!

This achievement is right up there with giving birth to 4 kids. Almost as hard (not quite :) ... one that I can live to tell my grandkids about!!

We then headed home to mum's for a nice hot bath!!

Yesterday Bill and I spent the day just relaxing at home. Both very stiff and sore but a good feeling knowing why. We even headed out for a walk in the afternoon... nothing too strenuous lol.

Today I'm feeling pretty good. My blisters have gone down and my thighs are only mildly stiff. Should be all gone by tomorrow.

A very proud moment!!! I'll have pics up in the next day or so and I'll scan in my medal for you all to see :)

Lyn :) :)
SW 107.4kg
CW 85.3kg
GW 65kg