Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Call Me 'Calamity Jane'!!





Why Me? Unwanted & unexpected near-death experiences follow me to every race! It's true!



This time, having finished the Melbourne Half Marathon (more of that later), showered & with an hour or so before leaving the apartment, I sood in front of the bathroom mirror (but not for too long!), when I heard a roaring, rushing sound of wind and/or fire in the apartment; ran out into the main room, nothing to be seen but still a thundering roar surrounding me. Terrified at what I thought might be happening (the place on fire?), I ran back to the bathroom & then hurtling down right beside me came the cover of the man-hole, missing my head by inches & cracking the floor tiles!!


I flew to the phone & screamed for help with what breath I had left! The 'Duty Manager' duly arrived & said "Oh dear! How awful! So sorry!", picked up the slab & staggered out with it. Later, after Jim phoned through a complaint from Sydney that no one had checked to see if I had died from a heart attack, Duty Manager arrived with apologies & a bottle of red wine as compensation, adding that a report would be sent to Mantra Head Office. I'll follow that up for sure!


The roaring, rushing sound I'd heard had been a huge blast of wind travelling up through vents to the 8th floor & exiting into my bathroom by blowing the man-hole out! When I thought about it later, I'd had a lucky escape.


Now I know how Chicken Little felt when the sky fell down!


The Half Marathon ...... I had another "goof" one! Everything, simply everything, worked out brilliantly...if that can still be said at 79! After a slow walk to the starting mats & as soon as the crowd spread out, I was once more on a mission.....to run under 2.5 hours!


I thought the course & weather were great. Cloud cover the entire time, the course flat & scenic, an abundance of water, sports drinks, great volunteers & enthusiastic crowds along the course.


I started out very slowly......in retrospect, I think too slowly because I felt very comfortable from the start running around 6:30 to 6:45 pace, but stayed with 7mpk as planned for the first half. Always a conundrum, but better to play it safe & have plenty left towards the finish...and I did!


I made it to the finish in 2:29:51....still feeling great.....which is why I think I could have gone out faster, earlier, but who's to know for sure?


First half in 1:19:10; second half in 1:11:37. Very happy!



5 comments:

  1. Good grief LL - which hotel is it that I won't be booking at?

    Congratulations on another fabulous run, you certainly had a better one than most it seems :-) All that hard work is definitely paying off - I wish could be a full time athlete like you are, then I might be improving rather than going backwards lol

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  2. Wow, what an incredible finish time! Huuuuuge congrats!!!! I can't wait to tell my mates that you met ... I'm sure they thought we were fibbing about your age :)

    Funny, we were cheering outside your hotel for some time and I was thinking what a great place to stay. Hmmm, not so great!

    Take care. Recover well. Catch up soon.

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  3. Are you sure the manhole wasn't blown out by the vacuum you created running that race? Glad to hear you weren't hurt, anyway!

    Congratulations!

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  4. I've found your outfit for the next race.

    Brilliant race and negative split. You were flying!

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  5. Fair Dinkum, you're really Rock & Roll, aren't you?? Can't go on a trip without trashing the hotel room... :-) :-D

    Gnome

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