Don't Run On Spicy Food!

Well the weekend was lovely but left Nath with an injury and me sat at my desk sitting up straight pretending a string was pulling me up!

We ran the Hypothermic half marathon on Sunday and though the weather was delightful and not really suited to the name of the event, it was a wee bit emotional.  The start time was at 1000 hrs, which was awesome and meant that for the first time ever before a race, I was able to have breakfast and coffee.

I felt great setting off and was looking forward to the run but then I started letting out these little farts, oh no I thought, why did I have that very spicy Chicken Satay Pho yesterday. I figured that most people would have headphones on so would not hear the offending noises coming from my body and prayed that they were my lady farts (that we all know smell of Roses); then those people overtook me and to my horror, I noticed that no, they did not have headphones on! Damn those runners who like to take in the beauty of what's around them and pace themselves on their perfect breathing technique, whilst I have my music as loud as possible to hide the ridiculous sound of my breathing out of my arse (no pun intended).

So what else was going through my head that maybe most runners also think whilst racing; well I did question whether having a bottle of red wine the night before a race was a great idea, though justified this by the fact that I did have it with a massive bowl of nutritious carb filled pasta.  I also tried working out my end time if I kept to the pace that I was going but Maths is isn't my strongest point so trying to do it whilst running is near impossible. When I got to the half way point I also tried telling myself that it wasn't a half marathon but two 6.5 mile runs, I had read about this working for long distances but yeah it didn't work for me, my body was screaming at me to stop putting us through this!

It was so hot towards the end that people were staring to strip off, some people had initially dressed like they were in a queue on the Hilary Step.  It was a great turn out though so kudos to everyone who ran and there were people of all shapes and sizes either running or walking, just doing what they can to complete the race. I used to always be comparing myself to others during races and would berate myself if I wasn't running as fast as other people but you know what, everyone is running their own race and battling the negativity in their own minds; so whether your racing the clock or getting in the miles, it doesn't matter just focus on you. Though I must admit I was berating some bird that was in front of me who had her hair down like she was on a night out, to be fair she kept a really good pace.....though I did beat her ;)

Nath took some very unflattering pictures of me finishing and I noticed that I run like I am the hunch back of Notre Dam, hence me working on my posture today!

Oh and before I forget Nath injured himself! Foolishly he also ran even though his achilles were a bit tender and guess what, he could hardly walk at the end. A trip to a Chinese doctor yesterday that involved some draining and acupuncture fixed it up nicely but he still now has an elephant foot. No running for him till after Vietnam....in case I haven't mentioned it, we are off to Vietnam soon woop woop!