Sunday morning was the Perth City to Surf and Nat and I had signed up for the Half Marathon. I had done the 10 week training course with The Running Centre and come through it fine, really enjoyed the course and didn't get injured. I ran in the Perth Half Marathon during this training time, and while it was a crappy run (I still haven't looked at my Garmin data for that run because I'm sure the last 6km have me getting slower and slower!) and I got rained on for 10km, I FINISHED. That was the goal that day.
Well, last weekend Nat and I had decided to finish the race together. We train together but when it comes to a fun run we generally run our own race and end up splitting up at some point. Well we did finish the race - but under some very amusing (and painful) circumstances.
As we approached the start line everything seemed to be fine but as soon as we started running I knew something was off...and then the pain came. My right glute and hip had an almost stabbing pain going through it and I had to stop running. At first I thought that I would be fine and I could walk it off, so we walked up the first hill (which was annoying because we had run it twice in one of our training sessions and didn't have any trouble getting to the top) and headed into Kings Park. I stopped to stretch a few times, tried running a bit but before we reached the 2km mark I wasn't even walking properly and I knew I had to stop. Nat, being the awesome friend that she is, made sure I wasn't just letting the head games get to me but this was the first run that I started that I knew my body wasn't able to finish.
This is where it gets funny. We found an ambo crew and had a chat with them and they decided the best thing would be to get to a physio. Because I couldn't walk (and we had stuff at the finish line in the bag drop) we got a lift in the 4WD following the last marathon runner with the ambulance and medic buggy. When I say marathon runner, I mean a fairly young guy who was walking most of the time. I felt a bit bad for him because every so often he would turn around and look at the three vehicles following him. We picked up another couple of passengers (one who looked devastated and another who complained the whole way how slow it was) and off we went.
Nat and I spent the trip in the 4WD playing words with friends (as you do) and every so often the driver would ask if anyone wanted to change vehicles into the bus that was following (I was in the front and it took so much effort to get into the car that I didn't want to try and get out) and finally when we got to Railway Parade we got told that another vehicle was coming to take us to the finish line, because they could get us there faster. It was a golf buggy. With no restraints on the backseat where Nat and I sat...so we just started laughing! It was a very funny trip from there to City Beach and we got to cheer and wave at a Perth Crew girl when we saw the shirt going up the last hill. Getting to the finish line, we were dropped off just before the line, so I ended up getting an email saying I could purchase the video of my finish...which was me hobbling across the line! I don't think I'll be spending $10 on that!
So what's next for me? In January I am running the Disney World Marathon which is having its 20th anniversary which is awesome. Starting at EPCOT, I will be running through all four theme parks - Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Once I'm able to run (well, first I'll take walking without limping!) then I'll be back to training with my partner in crime, Nat in preparation for these events. Check out the course map below for the Disney marathon :)
Hi Sarah, Great blog, good read. The Disney Marathon sounds amazing, good luck and keep up the great work. Hope your glute and hip is feeling better!
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