Sun Run, take two

Yes Nadene, you smashed last years time!

This morning Kylie and I completed our second Sun Run in two years.  At first it didn't look like the sun was even going to make an appearance, and we were both flabbergasted by the extremes in weather from last year where the temperature had already reached 25 degrees at 6:30am. We were grateful for the kinder running conditions with an unseasonably mild temperature of 18 degrees, and hoped that the rain would hold off for the run, thankfully it did, and we were both able to achieve our goals. Kylz is on FINE form and finished the 6.5km course in 34mins 44 seconds! There's no wondering why she is such an inspiration to me; when this girl sets her mind to something she does it.

After struggling so hard with the distance, hills and heat last year I was feeling nervous about this run. I haven't put enough runs on the board in the last three weeks and I thought I was really going to pay for it. So, I needed to start convincing myself otherwise, and reminding myself that I ran 5.5km in a great time (for me anyway) less than a month ago in the Resolution Run.

Thankfully after running the course last year I knew what I was in for this time, and I had already decided that I would walk up the first nasty hill, and probably have to walk a few others to manage a decent time. To my surprise my runners mentality kicked in before I got to the first big hill and I decided that I was going to get up on my toes, take little steps and jog as far up that hill as I could. And to my surprise I got most of the way up there, so next year I'm going to have to jog the whole way up that hill.

There were times when I couldn't believe that other people were walking and I was still running, and there were times when I felt like walking, but I didn't let myself. I kept reminding myself that Jen made me run much faster (6min/km) only weeks ago and I survived it even though I felt like I was going to vomit, so I could run the whole way now. The ocean views certainly made it an easier task and I sucked in the glory of the sun coming out as I plodded along a slow climbing hill.

Jogging with a genuine smile. Who is that girl?

"Look, the sun is breaking out from behind the clouds!"

As I approached the last downhill in to Manly a little voice inside my head said "stop bludging out, you can go faster than this" so I picked up the pace for what I thought was the last kilometer (I never saw the 5km sign), and then really strode it out for the last 500m across the finish line. It felt good, and I'm looking forward to seeing the video as I've worked so hard on my running style and want to see the differences and what I still need to work on.

The only bad thing is that in hindsight I probably could have pushed myself harder, but this is the first run that I've done by myself and pushed myself all the way. I beat last years effort by six minutes! I'm really proud of myself, I have broken through a massive barrier. Lots of credit goes to my trainer Jen who ran the Resolution Run with me a few weeks ago and proved to me that I can do it.

Yes I do have a certificate to prove it.

Now, what run should I do next? Will I be able to do the 16km MS Fun Run on the 3rd June, or would it be smarter to aim for the 9km? Then on Sunday 16th September whilst Kylie is doing her half marathon I'm going to try and kill my time for the 9km Bridge Run. Even if there was enough time for me to build up the necessary fitness to do a half marathon, I think boredom would win before I saw 21km. I should leave such big decisions for tomorrow, at the moment I'm still on my runners high and think I can take on anything.

Laughing at ourselves whilst feeling proud of our PBs.