Wow what an eventful and interesting weekend the Marathon turned out to be. It really was a weekend of mixed results but it really didn't matter how it panned out, the GGG spirit of support and friendship endured through it all!
Saturday saw Tina, Mandy and Rachel do thier first major event - all girls were pleased with their effort and times - PB's all round! Our veteran events member, Vicki ran the 10k after a long lay off due to a broken toe (which still hasn't healed fully) and did an outstanding time of 1.06
Sunday morning, the Half Marathoners rose early for their 6am start line - Alana, Michelle, Caroline, Sally, Annette and Colleen and Jane ( we'll still claim you!) Its incredible, running with 10 000 runners we did manage to all find each other and say hello along the course!
Sally finally cracked under 2hr with a mighty 1.55! Always knew you could! Our young'en Annette for her first half did 1.54 - congratulations. It was also first time for Caroline and Michelle and both were happy with thier results - how inspirational is Michelle - week in week out Michelle ran mostly on her own - just keeping to her pace til her training run was finished! Well done for achieving a very special half marathon.
I haven't caught up with Alana yet but her gorgeous partner, Chris ran by her side, sporting thier bright orange Can Too singlets.
I had an emotional day, coming across one of my boys broken down on the side of the course at 3k - it was just devastating to come across your child distraught with the knowledge that today he had to make the brave decision to pull out so not to cause any major damage to his body. Jarred's calf suffered micro tears and we have spent the rest of our stay at the Gold Coast attending a brilliant physio each day. Jarred managed Harbour Town on Tuesday with crutches!
Now for our Marathoners of the day, Jo and Donna - what an emotional roller coaster the day became! Jo had a brilliant 20k - even having time to txt and send photos to Hubby and Coach but disaster struck both our girls from 20k onwards. Both became very nauseous for the remainder of the day - every time they ran they wanted to be sick. Tina, Vicki and Colleen kept the girls company from 32k til the end however nothing could distract them from feeling so sick. It was terribly dissappointing from the fact that neither have ever experienced nausea during training so there were no solutions to offer on the day. On the bright side, Jo felt fit and her legs were pain free for the majority of the marathon. Donna in typical style remained positive and enjoy the company and direction of Vicki and Tina.
However for all the ordeal on the day, both did respectable times - Jo 5.21 and Donna 5.36. That lemonade never tasted so good at the end, did it girls!!! You both can proudly wear those marathon shirts as we admire your persverence and determination demonstrated both on the day and during your training journey.
I might add here that we had a couple of Hubbies also participating this weekend. Jo's husband did the 5.7k and my husband Len did the Marathon in an amazing time of 3.28. My uninjured son Reece did the Half in 1.44!
So who is coming to Gold Coast next year? Come be a part of an amazing and huge Qld running event - thank you to the GC Marathon organisers, thanks to all the volunteers - the water stations, recovery area etc and especially to our Hubbies and Family members who came along to support and cheer. There is nothing so special as running along and hearing a familiar voice calling our your name with pride. Thank you!
