Baby Steps

Baby Steps needs to be my middle name :)

Another event, another reflection and I'm learning to be positive about my running and reflections.

Today I ran the Blackmore's 9km Bridge Run, which ended up being 9.44km.  I ran this last year and last year it was my longest run to date.  I completed it last year in 1.00.34 and my goal this year was to finish it in under 60 minutes.  I like to have a goal, it keeps me aiming for something, rather than just running and zoning out.

It's been a huge week and no I'm not making excuses, just understanding that life doesn't always go to plan and life can be busy.

It was the last week of term, with a couple of difficult days as kids decided they'd prefer to be on holidays than being respectful little vegemites like I'd expect.  On Friday was my son's 21st and we had a party for him last night.  Thankfully the party was at an RSL club and finished at 11pm, which meant I was extremely lucky to get about four and a half hours of tossing and turning sleep.

So begins the morning of another event, we're at the train station at for the 5.27am train, peanut butter sandwich, banana and water in hand.  Hubby and I are planning on watching some friends run past at the 11km mark of the half marathon and then we'll get the train to Milson's Point to start our run at 9am.  A late start so I needed some fuel, plus a coffee early in the morning.

Great to see my half marathoner friends and was so happy to spot Kelly - her response was awesome!!!!

I had planned to run with Katrina aka green tutu girl.  And my plan was to run hard, not to run and chat.  I wanted to put myself out of my comfort zone and see what I could do.  I know I'm fit and I know I'm healthy, so worst case scenario if I go out too hard, would be to have to slow down.

Katrina and I started off well, kept below our 6.30 pace that we'd predicted we needed.

Love running over the Harbour Bridge, it really is a special feeling.

We got to the downhill bit of Mrs Macquarie's Chair, about 6.5km into the run and I'd had a drink of water, my bottle slipped as I tried to put it back into my belt.  I had to stop, turn around and go back for it and try not to collect some other runners.  Katrina kept running and I couldn't catch her, so focused on my pace.

I was really proud to run up Mrs Macquarie's chair, it's not a huge gradient but it does climb gradually for quite some distance.  Last year I struggled with this and had to walk a little bit.

It was approximately 800m from the top of Mrs Macquarie's chair to the finish line.  I tried to give it all I had and finished in 1.00.22 - a 12 second improvement from last year.

I would love to have massive improvements, but am happy to just be improving, especially with a busy life happening.  I was really proud of my attitude today.  I could've easily stopped and walked a couple of times, but dug deep.

And the post run selfie with the lovely Molly with the Opera House in the background and then some debriefing post run hydration with some lovely ladies from Run Club.

If you don't belong to a Run Club, seriously consider it.  Running is a solo sport and I find the camaraderie  really inspirational.  Run Club has new runners, very experienced runners who run a multitude of distances at different paces and everyone seems genuinely interested in your accomplishment.

Oh, and Molly, you're amazing, such a determined, focused woman who has had a year of smashing times and distances!!!