Race Report - Half Marathon - part deux

Morning
I had a great sleep, I had gone to bed early and pretty much slept straight through until my alarm went off. I had prepped my oats early yesterday and did my trusty combo of oats, little bit of brown sugar and frozen berries. Had a shower and got changed and backed my support bag (jumper, spare snakes, vitamin water that came in my race pack, and another bottle of water.

My best friend came to pick me up around 7.30am and we drove to the course, I was quite nervous. Quiet, any questions, I responded with 'yep', 'nope'.

The day was looking amazing, warm, very warm. I lingered about at the start as we got our pre-race, to be honest, it was a smaller race than last time, and the only thought going through my head was I don't belong here, I'm not fast enough, etc. It was silly, I know, and I realise that, and I soon talked myself out of it, and focussed on the positive - nice weather, nice weather, you have signed up for a marathon, you HAVE to do this race, it's part of your training.

And then the gun went off

Start
I went out steady and probably a bit too fast, but settled into a good rhythm as we ran around the streets and on to the river trail. It was warm, I was well hydrated - but still lived for every drink stop.

River trail out
The trail out wasn't as flat as my bays half, there were a few up and over sections, and because we had had a huge storm, loads of mud on the gravel track sections - my shoes look well worn in now! In hindsight I was going out hard on the way out, I was steady, but a bit too fast, I saw my best friend just before the 10km point, camera in hand, and barked WATER, had a quick chat, a cheer and kept on going. I had heard and when I had mapped the course the night before and it was longer than half distance, and it was become clear when I saw the 10km sign, and didn't hit the official turn point until much later than expected whilst still keeping my pace up. People were coming on their way back, all looking a bit worse for wear, it was odd. But everyone was still happy and I gave out little waves and thank you to people as they cheered me on - that's seriously the best thing about being toward the back, sometime it's like you are at the front.

River trail back

The trail back was for the most part the same, with less mud! And with finally a bit of a cool breeze, I wasn't overheating, but I was very aware of the sun. I picked up my pace a little, and ended up passing 4 people on the way back slow and steady, that was a bonus, having really never passed anyone on my first half outing. It seemed to take ages to get back to town, and that's where I realised it really must have been a longer course, not too long as it was good to get the miles in, but for a half, well you don't want it to be that far out!

Finish
I finally got into town, and knew I would make, but miss a pb, and at that point, given the warmth, the distance, and just the awesome feeling of about the finish my SECOND half, I didn't really care about the time. Which was good, because I came in just around the cut off!

Post race
I headed over to the water and food table, grabbed a banana and muesli bar and some water. Come to think of it, I had the water way to fast. And as we headed to back to car, I started to feel less than flash. I ended up asking my friend to walk me up the stairs to my apartment, and she dropped my gear down, whilst I headed to the bathroom, and was sick. I felt hideous. I actually ended up taking my shoes and socks off, and just laying on my bed, mud and all in my running gear. About twenty minutes later I was sick again, and then I had another rest. I later headed for a shower, I still had pretty bad nausea - and headed back to bed. I didn't emerge until around a couple of hours ago, with a huge craving for chicken noodle soup, and anything with a bit of salt. Three bowls of chicken soup later - literally a chicken stock cube, water, pepper and sea salt. I'm feeling MUCH better! Oh and I had some salt and vinegar rice crisps and a small bowl of steamed vegies. That was all I wanted, my body is now happy, and I have colour in my face!

It was a great race, and I felt fine until afterwards. It has made me aware that I need to work on my nutrition over the next few weeks, and my race nutrition whilst fine, it also needs to be able to work for double the distance. I do not want to be laying in my hotel room in Auckland after my marathon feeling ill!

Any tips, thoughts would be appreciated.