Rotorua Marathon

It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I competed in my first running event.

A couple of months ago I was talking with Chelsea about starting to run again and she passed a comment about Eliza wanting to run a half marathon.  I had just received an email reminding me to enter the Rotorua Marathon so suggested that Eliza start with the 1/4 (10km) marathon in Rotorua.  Long story short Chelsea and I were signed up.

Before I knew it it was the week on the 1/4 marathon and I had done zero training.  The wednesday before the run I decided to dust off the running shoes and see just how much fitness I had lost. I headed out the door for a gentle run.  I completed 6km in a little over 40min and felt good.  Thursday, 2 days before the run, I headed out the door and again completed the 6km but in just under 40min.  I felt good about my level of fitness and decided that if I could finish the 1/4 marathon in about one hour or at least under 1 hr 10min I would be very happy, especially because that was my time last year.

Friday arrived and it was hard work getting out of bed.  Eliza and Karl turned up just after 7am and we all piled into the car and headed for Rotorua.  On the drive south we were fill of confidence and had our target times.

The closer to Rotorua I got the more the nerves increased.

We watched the marathon runners start and then it was our turn.  Lining up Eliza and I wished each other luck and waited for the gun to sound. Chelsea was at the back ready for a fast walk as she wasn't feeling to well.

The start was the same as last year. Slow and annoying. There were walkers that had positioned themselves at the start of the race and it took a while to get through them and actually start the run.  Once I was into my stride I found it easy as I knew what to expect.  Each corner wasn't new and running towards the finish was a great feeling.

I wasn't sure how good my time was until I saw the clock above the line. 1:03:57. Not a bad mat time at all.  Race time was 1:01:23. Very Happy.

Chelsea was finished before me and completed it in under 1hr coming 70th out of a couple of hundred women. Not bad at all considering she was unwell.

We both had heaps of fun and I'm looking forward to doing another run soon.