It was an early start on Sunday with a 5am alarm and preparation time. I was glad that I had set everything out the night before as I didn't end up with the time to spare that I thought I would have. Time for a quick breakfast and then up to Olympic Park again for the race. It was quite a still morning, cool and so pretty much perfect for running. I didn't feel that confident based on the pain I was experiencing during the week and to be honest I had no idea if I could finish the race as I hadn't run since the Tuesday night.
I went through my warm ups thoroughly and prepared for the starters gun. I think there were around a thousand runners from 92 countries who set out on the two lap course of the park...
The first lap went as planned and in a good time without any pain, I managed to stay out of trouble as several people came to blows with traffic cones, bollards, each other and slippery corners. I started to feel the pace on the second lap and the lower leg pain resurfaced although this time in another place which in the cold light of day I'm pleased about as it suggests a niggle rather than anything more sinister! I've been concentrating on dropping my arms a little so that I can relax my upper body (coaches at my club have identified this as something to work on!) I managed this for quite a while but the height of the arms seems very closely linked to my level of discomfort! ... check the pictures!
There was a little cramp at the finish but nothing like that I'd experienced earlier. The fact that I'd run my best time of the year by twenty seconds also eased away the pain! It was then out of the stadium for a warm down and see Beth who had been following the race throughout. My time placed me 131st but more importantly 7th in my age group. I was delighted with the time and pleased with my placing considering the poor lead up week that I'd had. I'm confident that there is more in there... I've actually come away from the games buzzing about running inspired by some of the athletes I've met. More on that in the next post...
We spent the rest of the day visiting other venues before entering the Olympic Stadium (... Now ANZ Stadium) for the opening ceremony... it was quite nice to enjoy that without having to worry about competing the next day. I had some well deserved beers and we enjoyed the ceremony watching the athletes parade into the stadium. The singing of the Australian national anthem was moving as was the oath we had to stand to take.
After the ceremony, complete with Leo Sayer (... he's an Aussie now!), we walked off into the night back to the car, some fourteen hours after we'd parked it there!
What an amazing day...
2 comments:
Good Job Paul! Looks like you did really well out there. You look SOOO fit! well done to you too Beth, i know what it is like being the support person on the side lines....takes a lot of effort!
congratulations and i hope to see you paul in the 2012 olympics here in London! Annie x x x x
Yes - an amazing day!
and yes, shoulders reflect feelings!
Photos capture flavour of games - and coach/support! and loved the breakfast 4 2 photo! good to see Olympic venues being used and good with National Anthem and oath. xx xx
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