Waimea Half Marathon 2010

About a month ago I asked a friend of mine if she would like to enter as a walking team for the up coming Waimea Half Marathon. I had not decided if I would do the full just yet but doing it as a team is great fun. We discussed names and finally settled on "Pink Panthers" so we went out and brought pink wigs, pink tee shirts and pink tights. As I love to do make up I opted to do us both up.

At the last minute I decided I would walk the whole event, which meant that I started first (tagging my team member at the 10km mark and taking off my team number)

The day was a magic day. Super hot with start temp of 16deg and climbing up to 22deg but with no breeze it was very hot. 8am came and the walkers were called to the start line. There had been lots of banter about our costumes and a few who didn't recognize either of us hehe. They counted down and the race started. Wendy bolted from the start as she always does and so I stayed close by but was not to bothered as I had my own race plan and was going to stick to it. Basically - settle in to my race pace and stay consistent throughout the race.

This course is a 5km loop that takes you down a 1km straight, turns and goes up a wee rise then weaves you in and out of big pine trees and then along the beach edge to join back up with the original long straight. By the time we rounded our first lap and came back through the timing shoots, Wendy would have been a good 1 min a head of me and seemed to be pulling slowly away from me. I checked my GPS watch and saw my pace was still around the 6min/km and I was happy with that. I ticked along keeping an eye on the time and the people around me. Runners had started by now and so the banter and encouragement was great. By the second lap I noticed that Wendy seemed to have slowed a litte as I had gained some ground on her. I was really pleased that Wendy had changed her mind and decided to enter this event, as I prefer to have someone to chase rather than be chased. Plus Wendy is a very fast and experienced race walker that I have yet to beat.

I came through the shoot and tagged my team mate and then quickly ripped off my team number and headed out again for the next two laps. I started taking note of how close I seemed to be getting to Wendy and by the 12km I had come up right behind her, she could hear me as I was scuffing my feet quite badly. She surged off and I decided to stay at my pace and follow as it was too soon from me to chase. She pulled away from me by about 20 meters but the gap never seemed to grow. We came through the shoot for the last time and headed out to complete our last 5km lap. I didn't expect to catch and pass Wendy at all...let alone at the 15km mark but its the way it happened. So with my kick down training I figured just go hard now and try to put a gap between us. I have no idea when she dropped off from behind me, I dont think I looked back once. I was so sure she was only 10 meters or so behind me. I rounded the beach and up the last rise to head back up the 1km straight to the finish. The last straight always feels like it takes for ever and the finish line has never looked soooo good.

I crossed the line in 2:09:58 Yay oh Yay, I took 1.5min off my person best for 21.1 km and I think I may have the course record too. I walked around and got my drink and then came back to the start to wait for my team mate to finish - she rocked in winning us the team walk event. So proud and it was great to call out to each other on the walk "think pink" ... soon others were doing the same to us too. So we both walked back over to our bags and sat down with the others while we waited for prize giving.

We were given a team sport prize while we were sitting in the sun, which was a nice surprise. Then the prize giving started. I won the Individual Half Marathon, we won the team walk and we won the best dress team too!! Then they drew out the major spot prizes and I was the last name they drew out ... OMG...so I also won a pair of Ascics Shoes which I needed desperately as my normal walking/running shoes were old. So all in all a FANTASTIC DAY!!

Race Start - Gillian, ? , Nyle & Wendy

Maree and Me - Pink Panthers

Me out on the course - coming through the timing shoot

Me - We had the best day.

here are my lap splits and race details.
Waimea Half Marathon by kyisis at Garmin Connect - Details