The runner's high....

Very long post warning…..this has taken me a long time to write. My mind is all over the place at the moment (and I’m very tired!).

First of all – I have to thank CR’s amazing blogging community who have been so supportive, encouraging and inspiring.

So this is what a runner’s high feels like. Why didn’t y’all tell me about it ?? I’ve been grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat all afternoon. What an amazing day.

A big day of firsts for me: my first fun run and my longest run ever, both in time (previously 58mins) and distance (previously 8kms). What 10% rule ??

As I’ve previously mentioned in my blog, because of my shin problems and lack of (running) training, I had set myself the goal of simply enjoying the day and to walk in the event that my fitness meant I wasn't able to keep up with my companions or my shins decided they didn’t want to play (particularly given that I haven’t run on a hard surface in months now). A negative approach I know but nothing in my training leading up the event even suggested/hinted at how my day would turn out.

It turned out to be a day of personal discoveries for me: I am so very much fitter than I thought I was (no doubt thanks to the two satanic influences in my life – Satan and the Satanic Spin Instructor) and perhaps for the first time I felt like a runner, particularly because we ran the whole way and powered (well, ran slowly, comfortably and strongly at least) up HBH & and the hills beyond...

Where to start. I met the delightful Wobbly Man for the first time on Saturday afternoon when I met up with The Owl and him for a drink. I must admit to feeling a little anxious about the run in the last day or two but I woke up at 6am this morning completely rested and relaxed. I decided to go with a modified version of my usual breakfast – a bowl of porridge with 2 pieces of white toast (ick) with honey (yum). A lot of food yes and at 8am I was thinking it was perhaps too much – but by 9.30am I was peckish so I think it worked well (though I will skip the porridge for earlier, shorter races in the future). Mr Jen and I caught the bus to North Sydney and walked down to Milsons Point to meet Wobbly Man at 7.40am to walk across the bridge. It was a stunning morning on the Harbour. Very still and not as cold as it has been over the last few days.

After arriving in the city, Wobbly Man and I left Mr Jen to register and headed over to College Street to drop our bags off and to meet our running companions for the morning The Owl, Caro and Lulu. Wobbly Man had very kindly offered to pace The Owl and I. While we were waiting in the queue, the conversation soon turned to the state of my shins. The Owl, Lulu and Caro then decided to pay homage, and send good thoughts, to my shins (which worked it seemed!). By far the funniest moment of the day. After a long wait in the toilet queue, we positioned ourselves in the middle of the road and waited for the gun. It took us almost 5 minutes to get around the corner and into Williams Street. The mass of humanity headed up Williams Street was an incredible sight.

Wobbly Man took the lead at ducking, weaving and side-stepping our way up Williams Street. It took me a while to warm up and to feel comfortable but soon I settled in – as much as that is possible during the C2S. Somewhere around Double Day a niggle developed in my LHS shin. Grrrr. Of course I thought that my shins had already had enough and that I would soon be waving my companions off into the distance. Well, the strangest thing happened. It went away. Never before has a shin-niggle gone away. Happy days. My LHS calf was feeling a little tight as we passed through Rose Bay so The Owl and I stopped to stretch (one for all…) before tackling HBH. Caro and Lulu at this stage ran off into the distance and powered up the Hill.

I have to admit (and I feel almost like I shouldn’t be saying this) and it was no doubt due to our very comfortable (read: slowish) pace, I never really felt pushed or uncomfortable during the second half of the run. This is no doubt thanks to the support and pacing efforts of Wobbly Man and that The Owl and I ran most of it side-by-side or one of us just slightly in front of the other. Without the support of both, I would not have achieved what I did today.

We slowly ticked off the kms and counted down until 13km where we knew the cheersquad would be. It was wonderful to see – and hear – them as we went past. Wobbly, Owl and I made a pinkie-swear somewhere (early) in the second half that we would finish together. We caught Lulu not far from the finish and we all finished hand-in-hand. An amazing experience

I, of course, forgot to turn my watch off. The timing card read 106.40 but Garth tells us it was closer to 91.52. Once we passed through the drinks station, I left them to go and collect my bags. As I headed over to the grass to stretch for 20mins I bumped into the cheersquad and met my shin splint mentor Gronk for the first time and said hello to Tesso, Superflake and JD. After a stretch, some jellybeans and a banana, I had planned to go and stand in the water for 10mins to give my shins a bit of relief. I lasted a grand total of 1min. It was just too cold. And I managed to get my butt drenched in the process. So I headed over to the Striders tent for a chat and met (albeit) briefly Nick, CJ, Flash Duck and Aki. It was then off to the pub for a quiet drink where I finally tracked down Mr Jen and found out that we only just caught him. He ran a 107.?? so we must have passed him very close to the finish line. Mr Jen and I left the pub and caught up with friends for a meal, before heading home.

I’m still find myself shaking my head. My run today so was far beyond what I expected and what I thought I was capable of. I am almost astounished.

And how did I feel now? Bloody brilliant and bloody tired. My only ‘niggle’ is that my RHS hip flexor is a little tight. My shins are fine, good, excellent in fact – no tenderness at all. I can’t believe it (but I will ice them tonight just to be sure...) I can't begin to decribe how happy I am.

So my incredible week in review (it’s been an emotional rollercoaster this week):
Walk: 1 (1 hour)
Spin: 1
Satan: 2
Cardio: 2 x 30mins
(Edit: I can't believe I left this out)
Running: 1 (14kms non-stop baby!)

The week ahead:
Satan is away until Wednesday this week – so in light of today’s efforts I’ve decided on a recovery week:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: walk to work (1 hour) + pilates
Wednesday: appointment with the witchdoctor – otherwise a rest day
Thursday: walk to work (1 hour) + Satan
Friday: spin (30mins)
Saturday: rest
Sunday: run (20mins)

So a question for the wonderfully wise CR-blogging community – where on earth do I go with my training now ??? My last week of solid running consisted of 15min/23mins/25mins Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. However today I ran 14kms reasonably comfortably. Do I go back to, and continue to build on, my existing program or do I bump it up ???? Help.

Off to bed. Very sleepy now :-D