Number 1

Alas the moment you've all waited for...the first post by the first girl member...and how appropriate that it will be about a race. Yes that's right i decided to do the Triple Peaks in Hastings (aka. the triple peaks of hell) over the weekend. So here's the run down:

I took the bus (that's right i don't have a car, or clearly any friends) with a fabulous stop over in Palmy, arriving at 9.30pm. As you might not know I'm a Nana, and this was already 30 minutes past my bed time. Nevertheless, i met up with a friend who was going to run the race and we were going to stay with his Nana. Now time for a side story- Rob being a fairly fit guy thought that his running 5k once a week was more than sufficient preparation for a 47k mountain run.

Now back to the story- when i saw him i said "So are you excited about tomorrow?" his reply: "what's tomorrow?"...yep that's right, rob thought the race was Sunday. So an hour later Rob had stopped at the grocery store to pick up race food and eat Chinese for tea. his Nana was lovely and we had a wee chat, alas i was in bed by midnight.Fast forward to 4.45am wake up call. (nothing exciting happened during that time). anyways, we sit down to eat our pre race meal- mine being the usual bagel, peanut butter and banana (yes I'm American), and rob being left over Chinese takeaways.

oh i forgot to mention the best part...i picked up my race number and that's right...i was number 1. not 101 or 10, but actually number 1. It could only mean good things, that and lots of stares from people thinking I'm pretty awesome.

Start line was sweet with baby oil on my legs (thanks Ricky) it could only mean good times to be had by all. i some how ended up in the first little bunch (i thought we were just hanging around, and then i noticed that i was a bit too close to the front). It was 'non competitive' start where we followed a truck...i thought i was rockin' it while keeping up with the front girls...then the truck pulled away, ah the disappointment, was that not race pace? shit.

Race details:
up one big hill, bagpipes on top-sweet, down big hill. repeat x 3. add a bit/lot of bike carrying, 20 or so farm gates, 15 pieces of licorice, 2 liters of water, an Em's power cookie and 4 hours and 38 minutes later i finished. an hour earlier Nic finished- she's crazy good. so 4th place didn't feel too bad at all.

So what happened to Rob you might ask?? he finished only 30 minutes after me. who would have thought eh?

Food for thought: eat Chinese the night and morning before a race and you will go fast

Love it, love it, love it