One year ago today I began this blog with a wrap up of Nike She Runs 2013… which incidentally I must have accidentally trashed at some point because I now can’t find it anywhere. #awkward. Anyway, in some ways I feel like I’ve been talking to you guys for waaay longer than that, and yet in many other ways I feel like it was only yesterday that I was sitting at Toko Sushi Train in Paddington with my friend (and now housemate) Kate, discussing how I was going to put together my first post. In celebration of the anniversary of that first Nike She Runs post I thought I’d do…. another Nike She Runs post! Look, I know I could have been a little more imaginative, but the dates just work. So here we go again Team…
I’m starting to think the universe has something against Nike She Runs. For the second year in a row, race day dawned with grey skies, steady drizzle and temperatures around 10 degrees less than comfortable. By about 4.30pm I – along with every other entrant I spoke to – was almost regretting the decision to enter at all. Nevertheless, buoyed on by a mix of determination, willpower and stupidity we donned our red singlets, an additional 478 layers of clothing and headed to the start line.
[Sidebar: the singlets. Last year’s race singlet is one of my favourite training tops. In fact, it’s the only top I train in that isn’t Lululemon. This one? Well, let’s just say that if I ever wear it again it will only be because I have literally nothing else in my wardrobe. The colour, the fit, the fabric – none of it was really working for me unfortunately.]
Right, back to it. Kate and I were running late for the 6pm start (as per last year) and sprinted in a panic from the baggage area to the purple group, only to find that we still had about five minutes til gun time. It was at this point that I looked down at my wrist and realised that I’d forgotten to wear my Garmin. I was devastated. I’d entered the 45-minute finish pack, but my real goal was just to finish closer to 45 minutes than 50 minutes. I had no idea how on earth I was going to pace myself without my beloved watch! There wasn’t too much time to whinge about it (a fact that my start line buddies Kate and Lauren were no doubt grateful for) before the gun went off and we were racing!
I took it pretty easy for the first km or so (at least I think I did….) as I found my rhythm. The next few km ticked over at a pretty steady rate and at around the 6-7km mark I noticed I’d been pretty much on pace with one particular girl for at least a few hundred metres. And in even better news, said girl was wearing a GPS watch! We started chatting and running, and chatting and running, and running, and running… was this ever going to end? Finally, the 9km mark was in sight and from there a slight uphill, a beautiful downhill and at long last, the finish line! Perfection!
My new running bestie Claire and I crossed the line together – I made a total ass of myself, bowing to the crowd and jumping in the air along the way – and then we hugged, took some selfies, drank some juice and parted ways in the manner of all good first dates – with the exchange of phone numbers and promise to chat soon. Actually that’s not entirely accurate. Basically I bored her senseless about Lazy Girl Fitness, told her I would be plastering her photo on my blog and forced her to give me her phone number so I could tell her when it was live…. HI CLAIRE!!!
Overall, it was another fantastic event and a healthy, fun way to spend Saturday night – from the enthusiastic staff cheering us around the course (and even handing out hair ties at the start line!), to the awesome drink bottle we each received, Urban Remedy juices, Guy Sebastian singing and Kris Smith MC-ing the event – you couldn’t ask for much more.
But if I WAS to ask for some more (hey, I said ‘much’ more), I would say that the course-side entertainment was a little lacking in the imagination department this year. What was there was great, but there seemed to be decidedly less of it than last year, and that’s a comment I heard from other entrants too. Just some food for thought if you’re listening Nike!
Oh, I almost forget the most exciting part – I did a 10km PB! Clocked in at 46.06 and 128/6000 people. Gotta be happy with that!
Anyone else run this year’s race? Let me know what you thought of the event in the comments section.
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