One of the dive instructor's girlfriend told me how she had been ditched for the half marathon by her training partner. We had a little vent about that (both my partners ditched me in the early stages). Neither of us were the ones that actually wanted to run the race but somehow we both ended up being the only ones that saw it through. She didn't train much so we both had a big conversation about how much the race was going to hurt. She was convinced that the paramedics van would be following her (they traditionally loom behind the last runner) and how embarassing it would be to be seen by so many people (literally thousands come out to watch the race).
The party was pretty good and we ended up eating a ridiculous amount of meat. They had ribs, chicken cooked with cans of ginger beer up their butts, roast beef, pork, etc. The only non-meat items were buns and coleslaw. Oh yah for the vegetarians, someone had gone to the store and bought a vegetarian lasagna. Eat meat or get out! My kind of party! The band was really good too. I had seen them before (apparently there is only one band in Bermuda?) but they had this girl singing for them. She was wicked. A young girl rockin' out with some old school guys. She had the kind of voice that I wish I had and that I think I have when I'm drunk singing karaoke!
On Saturday I went to the beach. Sure enough, it's really nice out and as soon as I arrive to the beach, the entire sky clouds up and it starts to get cold out. The world is on a mission to ensure that I stay as pale as humanly possible. I actually had someone at the scuba party come up to me and say "Hey girl, you need some sun" and I actually currently have tan lines. Seriously, there is no hope!
On Saturday night I went to a bachelorette party. We rented a catamaran and played games on the boat. It was raining and cold and too dark to see anything. I think the boat rental was a nice thought but ended up being a bit of a rip off at $50 a head! The girl who is getting married seemed to enjoy herself despite having tried to change the date of the party at the beginning. We all dressed up in red tank tops and sailor hats and drank alot. We went to Flanagans and the DJ played some bad music. At one point my friend got me to hold a beer for her and then next thing I know I had the bartender yelling at me that I can't bring my own beer into the bar (she had brought that beer from home). I'm like "Dude! I don't even drink beer!" I ended up going home no too late because the music at the Purple Onion really sucked (it was a crappy live band with a drum machine).
Here's me and some friends at the bachelorette party. AHOY!
On Sunday I relaxed all day to get ready for my half marathon on Monday. I ended up finding the girl from the scuba club and sat with her on the ferry over to the start of the race. There were so many damn fit people there. I guess the half-marathon distance is where the out of shape people get weeded out (there are often lots of larger individuals at the 5km races). I found it funny because when I went downtown I saw a whole tonne of overweight people setting up their chairs getting ready to watch the parade (more on that later) and then I got to the race start and I was the out of shape person. And trust me, that is no small feat making me feel out of shape on this island (over 80% of the population is considered clinically overweight).
My warm up consisted of walking from the washroom over to the field and doing some light streching. There were people there that ran aroudn the field for 30 minutes warming up. For god sakes people, we are about to run 13.1 miles so you don't need to do anymore running then necessary! The race itself was pretty good. The first 10 miles of the race is very hilly but there is a nice view and there are people all along that cheer you on. I kept a pretty steady pace of 9 minute miles for the first 10 miles and then all of the sudden, it felt like someone stabbed me in the hip flexors with knives and I could no longer lift my legs (I did a granny shuffle for the last 3 miles). I guess that may have something to do with only training to 10 miles. Next year (if I can forget the pain that occured from this year's race) I will definitely gradually train up to the full distance rather than stop short and hope that adrenaline brings me the last few miles!
The race was well organized and there were tons of water/gatorade stations along the way. Gatorade is a life saver. Every time I drank some, I would get second legs for the next 2 miles (except when it came to those fateful last few miles were I could have taken crack and it wouldn't have helped me at all!) The worse part of the race was that I knew that the finish was close to downtown and you could literally see downtown from about the 7th mile. It never seemed to get any closer. But yay! I am finished. I did the race in 2:13:45. My goal was to run the entire thing (which I did). I must've run my last few miles really slowly because my overall average per mile pace was 10:13 minute miles (down from the 9 minute miles I was runing at the beginning).
Here's me at about 10 miles. This is when my legs began to fail me!
When I finished the race and was limping back to town, everyone that had set up their chairs patted me on the back. I guess it's because the most exercise they'd be getting is from lifting their fried chicken to their mouths from their plates. I was downtown on Sunday night and I saw people setting up chairs and taping their areas (they put duct tape down and write their names on it). They are hardcore. You should have seem some of the tents and set ups people had. They were nicer than my apartment! These people take their Bermuda Day Parade watching seriously. From what I've heard, people can get really bitchy if you put your chairs in someone's space that they had "reserved" the night before by putting down tape. My friend said she saw someone get sworn at and almost get in a fist fight over it last year! All in all the race and Bermuda Day went down well and I will definitely have to beat my time next year. I would really like to train extra hard and get under 2 hours next year. But I will have to be hard core! I have faith though!
1 comment:
Freakin crazy that you ran that thing...I couldn't do it. Way to go Peckinator!
And not all vegetarians are lame...but happy to hear you enjoyed your death-feast :P
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