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With injuries plaguing me, my concerns with all that is happening in Japan at the moment, and the terrible rainy Queensland weather, I lined up for the Queensland Half Marathon on Sunday less than prepared and far from mentally ready!

That being said, I do love the Twilight Half Marathon, for the fact that it is an evening run (so no early morning wake up!) and it has a very family orientated atmosphere due to its start time and its location at Queensland University. If anything, this race was going to prove a welcome distraction from my concerns over Japan, and my constant struggle with injury.

Julia was doing the 10km, as was my sister, Andrea, and my little 4 year old nephew, Bailey, was doing the 1km dash with the help of his dad Eamonn. It truly was a family event!

So I cheered on Julia and Andrea in their 10km races, both of them having fantastic runs.

Julia finished in 1:05:00 and I think, almost enjoyed this one!

There was defenitely a smile there as she rounded the corner towards the finish line.

She’s still adamant that running is not her thing, and that there’s no way ever that she’ll be taking on the 21kms… or Fuji for that matter! But you know the saying, ‘if you can do 10kms, you certainly can do 21kms.

She’s enjoying it more and more, which is certainly something… and never say never!

Andrea finished in a time of 58:21.

A great result considering she’s not been training too much of late, and proving that there is some serious running potential in those Pavey genes!

And then, little Bailey did his thing.

1km run in 9min 14sec).

He came accross that finish line of his first ever running race, with a huge smile on his face, hand in hand with Dad, huffing and puffing too.

The cheering and clapping of all the Half Marathon racers as they waited to start their own run I’m sure helped!

Meanwhile, we were just about to begin.

“Just a training run,” I told myself. Just a training run indeed. I’d forgotten my Garmin pacer watch, which was perhaps a good sign that I should have heeded. “Just go for a run. Don’t stress about pace and time,” I told myself.

Yeah right! As soon as the start went off, the rain stopped, and I charged forward. I ran by feel, going on my breath, and the way my legs responded to the efforts I was asking of them.

Nothing hurt!

Believe it or not, I’d woken up Sunday morning pain free.

This was enough for Julia to proclaim I was a hypercondriact, but I swear I am not! The injuries are real. It was just that my recover period coincided exactly with the begining of this race. And, never fear, there is still soreness and niggles post race.

I guess sometimes, it’s just the adrenaline and excitement of it all that helps make the pain subside… at least momentarily! So I ran, and I ran well, and I ran fast! There is nothing to say about this race other than it all went perfectly. I paced it right, I didn’t go out too fast or too slow. I made sure I took off fast at the start to get ahead of the 1hr30min pacer, and that’s where I stayed. I just ran, and I ran well!

1hr 27min 38sec later I finished with a huge smile on my face. What a run!

I’d missed my PB by only a minute. But that didn’t matter. This was a harder, hillier course, and I was under-prepared. It’s only the second time ever that I’ve run under 1hr30min for a Half Marathon, and I’m ecstactic. I took more than 6 minutes off my time from last years race, and I felt better, stronger, and fitter!

What a run!

I placed 23rd, my best result yet for the Half Marathon, and had a great night, celebrating with some very hot spicy indian Rogan Josh, to round out the evening.

So now it’s onwards and upwards. I have some further races in mind, and am still working hard on my recovery, as the achilles is still causing some concerns… But stay tuned for plans, and keep an eye out for the next Project Fuji Newsletter due out in the first week of April.