An Eventful Weekend

Whew! What a weekend! I am so glad to be back in the comfort of my home, on my couch, not running. Lets just say I'm a little bit sore now. Let me start at the beginning...

Seeing as I have Fridays off uni and work I count them as part of the weekend, call me lucky, I do! After a busy day of visiting the Podiatrist (just got my foot strapped up, nothing serious) and running errands I baked a cake for my friend then headed off to dinner at the Mexican Cafe where we celebrated with a bit of moustache madness! The cake was made in record time and with a new icing technique and ombre on the inside, more on this another time though!

Decorating the cake

Surprise ombre!

Chimichanga!

I moustache you a question

After a little sleep in Mr S and I decided to pack a picnic and head to our favourite spot, One Tree Hill. We had spinach wraps with ham, and salad, crackers with pate, fruit and juice. Yum! We sat in the sun and relaxed for what felt like the first time in forever the headed off for a little walk around to see the cute lambs. We managed to see some crazy sheep hanging out on the middle of the road, one even stopped to feed it's baby, silly sheepie! Later we headed off to one of my favourite shops (ever) the American shop, Martha's Backyard. As tradition, we bought candy and snacks we had never tried before plus I found these awesome Wonka candy canes for Christmas (can't wait to try them!) and some apple cider sachets! After sampling some tasty American junk food and having a mid-afternoon siesta, I packed my bags and headed off to my parents place to stay the night as they live quite close to where the Auckland Marathon started.

Picnic at Cornwall Park

Not the most appropriate place to feed

Look at that face!

American candaaaay!

Sleep time for both of us

I hardly slept at all (I didn't expect to) on Saturday night but I woke up fresh and early at 5.15am to start getting ready for the race. After downing half a Gatorade, a large cup of coffee, a bottle of water and a bowl of Special K I left for the race start line. I stood in some crazy long lines waiting for the toilets and ended up missing the start of the race, it didn't matter though because I had a tracker on my shoe which would track my time from start to finish anyway. The race was amazing, not what I expected at all, I think I was planning for the worst and had muesli bars, gummy bears, tissues, Nurofen and my cell phone all loaded on my running belt (it was actually a hiking belt) just in case. I ran a lot faster than in my training, probably because of the adrenaline and energy but also because of all the supporters on the side lines cheering me and 16,000 others on. It was pretty magical! My highlights were 1) Seeing my friend, Vanessa, holding up a sign with my name on it -this had me grinning from ear to ear and I ran even faster after it 2) Running over THE Auckland Harbour Bridge while Katy Perry Firework played on my ipod -that was pretty special 3) The group of spectators sitting outside their home blasting Gangnam Style and dancing -it made me laugh so much and I joined in on my way past 4) Crossing the finish line after an excruciating 30 minutes of back pain -nothing beats this feeling and I can now see how people can get addicted to marathons/half marathons.

Photos we took the day before (we knew we couldn't get good ones on the day)

I'm lightening fast!

Just about to head off on the race

Photo I took while running on the Auckland Harbour Bridge
*Baby you're a FIIIIREWORK*

All in all, the run went well, I had some pains in my left foot which I expected, my right foot which I didn't really expect but makes sense when you're running further than you ever have and my back. Oh my goodness gracious, my back hurt like nothing on Earth! I think it was about 45 minutes from the finish line and it just started, my eyes welled up with the amount of pain it was causing and I had to tell myself that this wasn't as painful as when I got my wisdom teeth out. When I finally saw the finish line I had to stop myself from crying because I was so happy and emotional, this resulted in a weird sort of hyperventilating sound every time I breathed in which sounded both retarded and hilarious! I crossed the finish line in a very dramatic but appropriate manner, with my arms up in air and yelling YEEAAAAH!!!!

(Photos that cost $29.95 each to buy. No. Thanks.)
Me doing thumbs on the Harbour Bridge

YEAAAAH!!!!!

When you register for the Auckland Half Marathon you have to write your expected race time, I wrote 3 hours because I had absolutely no idea how long it would take and to be honest, just wanted to make it past the finish line! I ended up finishing the race in 2 hours and 24 minutes! I was pretty stoked! All that training finally paid off. Unfortunately Mr S had to work on the day but when he got home from work he bought me flowers (EEEP FLOWERS!) and candy and lots and lots of congratulations. We decided on fish and chips for dinner and celebrated (real classy) with a bottle of bubbly while watching Casino Royale. Perfect night to end a great weekend.

Fish n Chips with Lindauer Rose - classy!

Thank you so much for your support on Facebook, I really appreciated it! Did you run the half marathon too? Or maybe you're super amazing and completed the marathon? Or did you have a nice relaxing weekend soaking in the sun? Hope ya'll had a fabulous weekend whatever you got up to!