Almost one year ago I came 2nd in the Brisbane Marathon Festival 10km event, a race I will never forget….
I am contemplating how I feel and how I can talk about my race on Sunday. I feel I am skirting a line between being proud of myself and my achievements, and not wanting to be a ‘show off’.
I am just going to tell you that I have worked consistently for 18 months back from injury to get to where I am. And I came 2nd place out of 663 female runners in the 10k race at Brisbane Marathon Festival. And I am proud of myself and I loved every second of that race. I felt in control and enthusiastic and sometimes like I was flying as I dodged and weaved my way past people, and I smiled (maybe only on the inside) when I was being blocked by the woman who won, she was very tactical – and I absolutely loved being at a place where a running race has become tactical. It was undeniably thrilling.
I did start too far back. You can see by the results. I went over the start line 30th, and it was – eeeek – a really hard first kilometer dodging everyone I actually swore out loud it I was so annoyed at myself.
I just kept plugging away and running very strong, holding that 10k feeling, and I caught up to the first place getter at about 4km. I had no idea I was so far up the front. Somehow we just stuck together until 7km where we reached the girl who eventually came 3rd. At that moment I realized we were the lead group because I saw something I’ve never seen in my life – a bicycle rider with “lead runner” high vis shirt on. OMG, seriously! I couldn’t understand for a while why I was seeing this bike!!!
The three of us were in a little pack for a while, I hit elbows and got cut off, it was so much fun, so interesting to run like that! I had a little moment of pure joyful fun, I am serious. The 3rd place girl was breathing so heavily it freaked me out and gave me a tiny jolt and I actually have a blank spot there for about a minute. Weird thing to say, but it’s true – at that moment 1st place girl got away from me and I got away from the other girl we just all split up. I think that moment had something directly related to confidence and experience, I am not really sure I felt I was ready to lead and win a proper race. That is a mental state of knowing you deserve it.
I didn’t run under 40mins like I wanted to. My result was 40mins45sec… Wearing a watch wouldn’t have changed it, it would have stressed me out and made me disappointed before I even finished. So I am very happy with my run, it was an unbelievable experience. And I won $300 and a $100 Mizuno voucher. My first ever winnings. Wow. I know I will look back on this with pride. For some reason it takes me a few days for what I have achieved to sink in.
Two other things I will never forget. Warming down and talking to the girl who won. She had won the marathon once on this course (and completed 10 marathons!). She is an amazing person and she gave me so much time after the race, just to talk to me. That was a beautiful thing for her to do.
The other thing was shaking Robert De Castella’s hand when we collected our prizes on the stage. He has to shake thousands of hands, I guess, with his career… but he honestly smiled at me with the most genuine eyes, that said he was just so happy for me. That a champion can be honestly stoked for you in your moment, shows he is a true champion runner. He knows the feeling and his eyes told me I should be proud. Some moments are imprinted in your memory and I will never forget that moment, ever.