Sunday, February 27, 2011

Great Lake Relay 2011

Last Saturday was the Great Lake Relay at Lake Taupo. It was an amazing experience to say the least.  When training began 6 weeks earlier I couldn't even run around the track at Church College.  Infact I only made it half way.  200 metres.  And then I died.  Literally.  But I had a goal and the fact that we trained as a team made it easier to stick to it and push myself.  Don't get me wrong, I hated it every single training run. But then when I finished I'd think "hey that wasn't so bad" and the next night I'd be out there again.
So race day came and I felt really ready.  My leg of the race was only 6.1 kms and was classed as easy.  It was a great feeling starting off and even passing a few people.  The first half of the run was cruisey as it was mainly downhill - I even managed a conversation with a man running beside me.  (yeah, I didn't know he was there and was singing really loud to my i-pod).  Then the hills started.  One of them was 900 metres long.  Yeah, that wasn't fun.  But I kept going and then finally I saw the van again and Jonathan gave me a drink and told me I only had 1.5kms to go.  I was like "yes - I'm nearly done"  But I kept running and running and no finish line came into sight.  I started to think I must be running really, really slowly for it to be taking so long.  At last I saw the changeover station which gave me a boost of energy and I was able to pass a few people.  I tagged Jonathan for the next leg and pretty much collapsed in the ditch on the side of the road.  haha.  I was wasted.
Yep, that's me in the ditch :)
Then the team told me  that the leg had been mis-measured and I had infact run 7.3 kms.  Holy Moly.  That probably doesn't seem like much, especially to people like Paul who ran 14 kms at 2am but for me that was a big deal.  The most I had ever run was 5.5 kms.  So yeah, I was pretty happy with that.  And I even managed to do it in less time than I was alotted for my 6.1 kms.
All in all it was a great day.  It was awesome to be part of such a great team of people.  Running over the finish line together was pretty cool.  We'd made a hair brained goal at a family feed a few months before and actually accomplished it!  It took us 15 hours and 26 seconds to run 156 kms. We came 109th.  Bring on next year!

THE RUNS
Back Row L-R:  Wally, Nigel, Jonathan, Paul, Rene, Sach
Front Row L-R:  Nakita, Kelly, Me, Sam, Kara, Asher


6 comments:

Kimberley Farthing said...

You guys are the bomb and I cant wait to hear your time for next year!!

tania farthing. said...

awesome work Lian! you are looking so good btw :D can't wait to cheer you all on for the rotorua marathon...unless of course i decide to do it 2...hmmm

Jessica said...

That is SO cool!! What a feeling to finish that huge race. :) I have yet to do more than 5k's. That was murder for me. ha ha. But I'm fat and outta shape so go figure... :/ But so excited for you!!

Crystal said...

congrats again. my favourite part of this post is the photo of joff grabbing your boob

HIGGINS FAMILY said...

SOLIDER!!!!

Louise Ardern said...

Good on you guys! And Lian if you hate running as much as I do - and I absolutely loath it - then I know how hard that would have been.