girls on top...lessons learned

The pic doesn't really display the exhaustion I was feeling at the end of the night...

Well it was with much excitement and anticipation that I turned up at Judges Bay Road, Parnell for my first run with "girls on top" multisport group. I had missed the one two weeks earlier because I ended up in Christchurch. I had put myself into the "slow bunnies" - they jog the flat and down and walk the uphills....only a few minutes into the run I decided I was in the wrong group! So we paused for the turbo turtles to catch us up (they power walk and jog) and I switched groups. It wasn't long into this new group that I began to wonder what on earth I was thinking - I'm obviously way less fit than I'd like to think and I was definately the turtle's tail the whole way. The run was made all the more painful because I managed to trip going from grass to footpath and ended up sprawled on the road. As I was falling towards the hard surface of the road all I thought was "oh no, I'm gonna break my nose". I managed to avoid contact between face and road, instead hurting both hands, my wrist, one knee and my hip on the other leg and of course my PRIDE!!
To cut a long story short, it was a painful two hours of which I felt like giving up and going back to my car most of the way (only problem I had no idea where I was in relation to said car so was forced to just harden up).

As I sat in my car after the 2 hours was over I realised how amazing I felt...mentally it was the best thing I could have done. Physically it was tough but I did it, I didnt quit, and socially it was great to meet some very encouraging girls who each have their own reasons for putting themselves through this.

Here are a few lessons I learnt...

1. NEVER eat an entire packet of shortbread fingers tne night before a big run no matter how moreish they may be.

2. DONT run with a bag on your back bigger than what you need (my backpac last night was not a good fit and not only was the bag flopping around on my back but the contents inside were also having a blast rocking from side to side.

3. ALWAYS pay attention to where your feet are going rather than making eye contact with the person you're talking too - otherwise you could end up conversing with the ground.

4. SOMETIMES being at the back of the group is handy, especially on a windy night

5. ABSOLUTELY believe in yourself...even if you have to lie to yourself sometimes and say 'its ok, this is fun'

6. KNOW that it will be better and if it gets too easy, its time to push on up

So with kind of sore muscles and very sore other body parts, I will sign off for now, and will post some pics of my injuries if the bruises come up looking any good.