Reasons to smile.

two week's holiday starting in less than twenty-four hours

no aches and pains from the half-marathon

school dinners and, in paticular, apple pie and custard

incomparable friends and family

new possibilities

and...a plane ticket that's heading to Morocco in two sleeps!

{along with Traveller! - yippee!}

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The Hardest Part.

Now, it may seem like a daft thing to declare (not that that's ever stopped T before) but the hardest part of the half-marathon is running the race. Traveller can handle the months of training, the intervals, the really long training runs but phew - when it comes to actually running the competition - it's quite tough, no?
It's all about the head space. You really need a certain level of mental strength to get you through when you don't want to run anymore. Traveller was astounded that even crowds of cheering bystanders, whooping family members and eager friends who were photographing at every mile or so were not enough to propel her towards the finishing line. To put it simply, by the tenth mile, she was tired. She did not want to run anymore. Of course she did, albeit intermittently.
So, long story short - Traveller finished the race at 201:21 - about 1 1/2 minutes longer than last year! She was on track to finish at about 1:52, but hey, who's counting?!
And, there is always next year.
RF and T did declare that they were finished with half-marathons mere seconds after the race. You do, however, always feel differently about these things once you've had time to recover...right RF? It needs to be said that RF beat her time from last year by five minutes! Winner!
Anyway, T will stand by the fact that the Royal Parks is one of the most beautiful runs you can experience. It has a fantastic atmosphere, is really well organised and passes all of the most memorable and beautiful of London's iconic buildings and landmarks.
So, minus the aches and pains, the anxiety, the interminable mile marks that just keep coming, the long queues for the port-a-loos and the strange dreams that inevitably happen the night before - the halfie is really a tremendous experience!






One of T's mates who ran the race on his 30th birthday. He came in at 1:39 - champion!


Love this photo - RF's expression is priceless!



One of the best parts?

Riding home on Boris's bikes through the beautifully autumnal Hyde Park
{even though T's legs were barely able to cooperate with the pedals!}


For those of you wondering about the strange dream..

T woke up gasping with fright (and unequivocal relief that it wasn't reality) from a dream that involved her and RF running the half-marathon. This half-marathon, however, wound through a dark and eerie city where escalators rose up to the heavens and indian buffets were on the sidelines and well, T just couldn't get RF to concentrate. RF was standing still on the escalators and worst of all, eating indian food whilst the race was still going. Needless to say, they ended up getting lost and missing the finishing line.
Disaster!

Hyde Park Horses.

Even though she hasn't blogged about in a while, Traveller is still running.

She's actually preparing herself for another half-marathon.

{silly girl}

Having run miles and miles through London, T is almost unaffected by the iconic landscape. She can run through Regent's Park without a second glance at the beautiful swans. She can do hill runs up Primrose and barely look at St. Pauls or the London Eye in the distance. And she can run through Hyde Park without noticing the Wellington Arch or Kensington Palace.

However, when running with RF in Hyde Park on Saturday, T came across a multitude of horses with riders in the official royal uniform. Instantly, T's breath was taken away. They were such an intensely beautiful sight.

Wishing she had a camera and wondering along with RF if the Queen was in tow, Traveller's daze was broken by another runner in front of her.

The runner {whilst still running at quite an admirable pace} proceeded to yell obscenities at the poor unsuspecting horses and in between the various types of colourful language, words like 'tax payers' money' and 'waste' were heard at full volume.

In London there will forever be a juxtaposition between the fairytale and the reality.

It was still pretty, though.

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Everything hurts. But it was worth it.

It's done!

Traveller has run the Royal Park's Half-Marathon and survived!

Even though Traveller was so nervous on Saturday, she must admit that she really didn't think it was going to be that hard. After all, she and running friend had almost run the distance a few times already.

Let's just say, she was a little wrong.

A half-marathon is 13.1 miles and at 6 miles
Traveller was spent. She (foolishly) went out way too quickly and ran out of steam! The big warning sign was that at the three mile mark, she was 6 minutes ahead of her target time, and then at 6 miles she was 9 minutes ahead!

Oh dear!

At 6 miles she wasn't hurting, and she wasn't puffed... she just had nothing left. Her stomach was growling for food and she was in trouble! A nervous stomach meant that T wasn't quite able to carb-load as much as she should have, and subsequently, she ran out of fuel!

T hates to admit it, but she had to walk a few times between the 7th and 11th mile, and was feeling so weak that she almost fell over.

Then, like manna from heaven, the lucozade table appeared at the 10th mile, and Traveller (ignoring all advice) guzzled the whole bottle and headed for the finishing line.

T was desperate to finish under the two hour mark, and managed it at 1:59:55!

That last mile felt like three!

During the race, Traveller was seriously considering her sanity in signing up for challenge; however, minutes after finishing, she must admit that she felt differently.

It was a serious rush crossing that finishing line.

Perhaps she'll sign up for another...

Who's up for it?

BTW: Everything hurts. Traveller can barely walk down the stairs at school.
T couldn't resist posting some pictures of brother and gorgeous Mimi. Brother was his speedy self in the half-marathon; he came in at just over an hour and a half with little training.

Running friend and T feeling very relieved!

Fall arrives in a flurry.

It seems that fall has arrived in London overnight.

Sidewalks that were once clear, are now covered in burnt orange leaves.

A breezy wind has arrived, and the leaves are swirling about in the air.

It is so pretty.

Traveller went for a run in Hampstead Heath, and could barely see the heath floor, for all the scattered leaves.

As her fellow Australian friends grumble and feel somewhat dejected at the darker afternoons and cooler weather - Traveller is secretly excited for all the activities and clothes that fall encompasses.

She is ready for the scarves, the coats, the tights, the many cups of tea, the apple crumble and custard, the boeuf bourguignon, the red wine and the reading under the covers.

She is even ready for the fight against the winter pounds; yes, running will continue after the halfie.

Fall is here!

photo via flickr

The Colour Purple.

The race shirt arrived in the post today, along with T's number and chip.

Traveller loves it; it matches her feminine sensibilities perfectly.

However, running friend's husband is quite adamant he isn't going to wear it.

It's too 'purple'!

What do you think?

Two weeks to go!