after dinner with my mom, we arranged to meet up with her again the next day..then lynne and i checked into a hotel..because the marathon was only a couple days away, we wanted to be in the hotel for that night and the night before the race..
the next morning lynne and i lined up to pick up our packets for the marathon..race number, timing chip, all that sort of good stuff..the expo was smaller than we expected, way smaller..(it wasn't until the next day that i realized the new york marathon had taken place the same day as the auckland day, as well as a marathon in seoul..its not a wonder there aren't elite runners at the auckland race, since new york is the same day)..adidas was the main sponsor, and they had a lot, but there was very little else..oh well..
lynne, mom and i went to a museum..the auckland war museum, it's huge!! i've been there before, but i love historical museums, and both australia and new zealand do those sorts of museums really well..anywho, after the museum the three of us met up with amy and another girlfriend in mission bay..i knew the other girlfriend, ann, from primary school!!! crazy that there were 5 americans who had/have all lived in bloomington having lunch together in auckland..
lynne and i didn't do much else for the rest of the day..we tried to go to bed early, since we had to be up early the next day..trying to go to sleep at 8pm just doesn't work very well..i dont think we made 10pm either..
anywho, the alarm went off around 0400 or so the next morning..soooooooooo early..lynne and i had set out everything we planned to take with us the night before, so it wasn't all left until the last minute..i tend to take too much with me in prep for a marathon..our hotel was almost across the street from the ferry we had to take to get to the start line of the marathon..even though it was a small marathon it was fairly well organized..we were on one of the first ferries (if not the first) to devonport, and ended up with a while to wait before the start..sorry lynne!!..we dumped our bags in the bins with our numbers, and figured out where we wanted to stand in the crowd at the start..i was prepared with my inhaler, my ipod, and a bag of lollies..over the years of running ive discovered that sucking on lollies while running has the same effect as consuming energy gels..and lollies are way more fun:)..as some of you know, i wasn't exactly fully prepared for this marathon..i had run a few times (15x max) including 2-3 long runs, but i hadn't been running for months..but after failure at my last race, i knew i was going to finish this race, one way or another...i knew i would cross the finish line, but i had no idea what kind of condition i'd be in when i finished..somehow, after doing my meditation retreat, i wasn't worried about my mental state during the race..as long as a marathon is, there is plenty of time to talk yourself into and out of things..i went into the race looking forward to the long run, just to see where my mind went..the weather was awesome..chilly at the start, but that's the best for the start of a long race..sunny, slightly breezy..the first half of the race was slightly hilly, the second half entirely flat..part of the course takes the runners over the auckland harbour bridge, which was nifty..but we were on the wrong side of the bridge for seeing the view of auckland that we all wanted to see..running over the bridge was rough, but still fun..not many people get to do that, it isn't like the sydney harbour bridge which allows pedestrians..the bridge was at about the halfway point of the route..the second half was an out and back along the water..beautiful, sometimes a little chaotic in terms of aid stations..it wasn't always clear who was supposed to pass on what side..i usually aimed to pass on the left, as kiwis do..but the person running toward me didn't always go to the left..i'm glad i know auckland a little, as it helped me know how far i had to go to the turnaround..for the first time ever, my mind was entirely fine during the race..in a totally objective way i could feel my body start to break down as i kept running and running and running..the way my lower back was super tight from all the pounding..the way my quads complained just a little more each time i started running again after walking through an aid station..(you all know i'm not the most coordinated person, it shouldn't come as a surprise that running and drinking is far beyond my capabilities)..i remember being so excited that my mind was good that it didn't bother me that my body was falling apart..after all, running 42.195kms is a long way to go..falling apart was expected..i crossed the finish line in my second best time ever, and stopped..and so did my body..it was a struggle to walk, let alone carry the banana and whateva else i picked up to eat/drink..thank goodness there were volunteers to take the timing chip off my shoe, as there was no way i could've done it myself..it took me about 10 minutes to get over to where our bags were being held, only about 300m..i think..distances at that point were tough to judge..then it took me another five minutes to pull my jackets out of my bag and put those on..at that point, i saw both lynne and ann..(amy and ivan had dropped ann off at the race on their way out of town)..lynne didn't have the race she had planned and trained for, definitely a disappointment..she was far better trained, and far better prepared than i was, but she ended up with an injury..argh..
after slowly walking back to our hotel and getting cleaned up, ann, lynne and i enjoyed a leisurely lunch on the viaduct..then we hopped in the hire car lynne and i still had, and started driving north..
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