We survived!
Andrew and I made it through the 2012 Adelaide Mothers Day Classic race! We completed 7.5km together and had fun doing it. I only snapped at him once for touching me with his sweaty arm; in our relationship that is a win!
The race was really well organised. The last time I ran it in 2009, there were only about 3000 people. On Sunday this year, over 10,000 came out and participated in the 4.5km or 7.5km walk or run. It was awesome seeing so many people dedicating an early weekend morning to health, fitness, and fundraising for breast cancer research. Just look at the crowd to get to the starting line!
Once we got going, the energy of the race took us away pretty quickly and I had to keep reminding Andrew (and myself!) to slow down. When the crowd thinned out after a few minutes, it was easier to keep to a reasonable pace.
The night before the race, I had some sort of allergic reaction. I had the works: swollen lips, a right eye that looked like I got punched in the face, nausea, trouble breathing. It kept me up most of the night, so I was feeling pretty rough when morning and our start time rolled around. Andrew was gracious to stay with me as I set out on a run 1km, walk 500m pattern to cope with the difficulty of rallying physically. We kept this up for most of the race.
A lot of the course wound along the lovely Torrens River with a great view of the convention centre and park.
It was a refreshingly cool day, and the rain held off until just after the race!
The course was mostly flat, but there were a few little hills, including this killer incline:
There is pretty much no one on the hill because they all collapsed in gasping heaps along the side of it.
After this hill, my picture-taking skills deteriorated quickly.
I rallied when we drew near to the halfway point because I could see the finish line just across the river! At this point I was pretty enamoured with the idea of jumping in that sludgy water and swimming to the finish.
The race organisers played a cruel little joke on us with the finish line. As you can see, we had to run along the water, then head up the grassy hill and double back on the route we’d just ran.
That grassy hill was slippery, muddy, long, and felt SO steep. It took everything I had to push myself up that hill at the end of the 7.5km. Luckily we spotted our friends Zac and Amy near the finish! They had ran the race faster than us, and hearing them cheering at the very end really helped us get to the finish. Hooray for cheering! It was amazing how the volunteers along the way could up our spirits with a clap here and a yell there. I loved seeing their smiling faces along the way, so a BIG thank you to all who volunteered!
Andrew and I ran through the finish together and made it in 1:01. I felt a little disappointed in my time. Just a few years I ago I barely trained and still managed to do the race in about 45min, but I had to remind myself that I’m in a different place now than I was then. After two years of battling injury and now managing full-time work and a Masters degree, I am in a very different place with my fitness. So, I choose to be proud that Andrew and I finished in one piece, with smiles on our faces and still in a relationship!
No I did not have a mini stroke at the end of the race, that is what happens when you mush your faces together and your face skin gets pulled down!
We enjoyed wandering through the crowds post-race and grabbed some fruit before waiting in line for FREE massages! <— best part of the race!
Thanks again volunteers!
After the race we showered and immediately went to find food, and then met up with Andrew’s family to celebrate Mothers Day.
It was a great day, though I did miss my wonderful mom a lot. She’s back in Canada and it was sad to spend another year without her (it’s been five in a row now!). I think though, if you don’t get to see your mom on Mothers Day you are very lucky to spend it running, raising money for a good cause, and eating with wonderful people that you care about!
Hope you had a lovely Mothers Day, too! What did you do?
