The dread I felt this morning at having to drag myself to the park, for what was sure to be an awful run, was pretty overwhelming. It only got worse once I got there. There was a 4 mile race before the 10 miler, and most of the people had elected to do that. So the field was kind of limited for the 10 - women only too. Good chance of a last placer coming up!

So I'm standing around in the sun (it was chilly) waiting for the 10 mile start to get closer and all around me are these fit looking birds, stretching.

I am not a fit looking bird. And I have never seen half the stretches they were doing. Looked more like a Yoga for posers tape than anything.

I watched them for a bit and thought, "well, you should maybe stretch a leg or two". So even though I had already stretched, I proceeded to enact the 3 stretches I typically do all over again. All casual like. Then I wised up. Thought, "what's the point of keeping up this charade? I'm warmed up. That'll do, pig. That'll do." So I stopped. I realized that there was nothing I could really do to make this run go better. I know I'm under prepared and resigned to the fact that it will steam like elephant dung.

But, I'm happy to say, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that good either, but it wasn't terrible. I plodded along. No last placer trophy for me today. Hazzah!

The worst part was the hill at the Harlem end of the park at about mile 7. Head down, arse up, and sniffing the fresh laid tar all the way. I was having a duel with a gal all the way up. She'd stop and walk a few paces and I'd pass her, then I'd stop and walk a few paces and she'd pass me. I am always surprised by the outburst of foul language in my internal monologue when that happens. Poor girl never did anything to me, yet I cursed her out pretty bad.

As I was walking home, or should I say as I was dragging my tired sack of a body home, I got to thinking that I probably could have run a half today. If I'd needed to, I mean. You know, if it was a life and death situation. Which is encouraging.

What's not encouraging is the overwhelming tiredness I feel after a 10 mile. I can't even imagine what it will be like after the marathon. But I guess that's what the training is all for.

Anyway, it was Mother's Day in Australia yesterday, so this event is a little belated for me. I'd like to dedicate this race to my Mum, who was probably out in the paddock with my Dad helping him fix a fence or something. Because that's how they roll.