My First Fun Run- The 13km Pub2Pub Race!

So today I completed my first ever fun run and wasn't it a big one! The race I entered I have been talking about for a while, called the Pub2Pub Race, a 13km race around beautiful Sydneys Northern Beaches, I was so nervous and barely slept a wink last night, literally, I think I had maybe 2 hours sleep, whoops and I have had such an amazing day. 

The race started at 8am on the dot and I got down to the beach at 7:15am to get myself ready and to warm up. Over an hour before the race started I had a small protein shake with water and a mueslei bar and a strong black tea to power me through my run, it definitely helped!

The point that sucks the most about this fun run is you start on the sand, soft sand and the first part of the run is a 800m soft sand run, it really sorts out the boys from the men so to speak, after that I was already in pain and took my ages to recover to power through the pain was hard, my legs burned and I hadn't even hit 1km. When I run I use the Nike+ GPS app which tracks your run and lets you know when you hit each km, when it said I was at 2km I wanted to cry, how on earth was I going to keep running 11km more? The app also lets you select a playlist, which I have set up of my great running tracks and away I go. I highly recommend this as I like to know how I am going per km for time. When I run I normally run each km on average 7mins but today I run 6.45mins so I knew I was running really well. This means you can track whether you are running too fast or need to pick up the pace. 

Just your avg Sunday morning w 5,000 of my closest friends.

 One thing I love about the run was the scenery... The run literally takes you from beach to beach and with the sun shining it was just great, there were people lined the streets clapping and cheering and it really helped to push me on through the pain.

I read one of those motivational quote things recently which said enjoy every downhill you deserve it, and that was something I did, every time I climbed a monster hill and made it to the top I got such a rush running downhill. Unlike city2surf where the monster hill is in the middle this run has 2 monster hills, one in the middle then one right at the end, but once you get up that last hill it is one massive downhill to the finish line and let me tell you I pounded the pavement down that hill like you wouldn't believe. It is amazing the energy reserves you can find when you think you have nothing left, as we were running down the hill there were people everywhere, when the finish line was in sight I just belted towards it and the feeling of it being over was so amazing, so rewarding and something I will never forget... 

The picture to the right is me moment after I finished the race, my hands were a little shakey which is why it isn't focused. Those moments when you finish are cruical in your recovery, drink lots of water and stretch, for gods sake stretch and walk around, don't just stop and collapse, even though you may want to!

What I have realised post race is just how important it is to challenge yourself, to put yourself out of your comfort zone, not only is it good for your body but also for your soul, you need to have something to work towards or it just isn't the same.

My final results are as below:

 I ran 13km with 5,000 and my category is people aged 19-29 years, I cannot believe this achievement, considering I only started training a couple of months ago, it makes me excited to know what I am capable of if I put my mind to it. 

What have you done lately to push yourself?

I will do more posts about training and equipment all for running long distance in the coming weeks. 

I hope you found this helpful, I really wanted to share this with you.

Jaime 

xx