The Great South Run!!

Well... it's been six months but the day has finally arrived. today dear readers i ran the GSR in 2hours 10mins and 38secs. my knee went at 8.5miles so wasnt able to crack the 2hour mark but hey... i will next time!

so... i hear you all say... how was the day?
OMG - TOTALLY BRILLIANT (except the hour and a half it took to leave the city after the run - herumph)

this morning was an early start - THANK GAWD for the end of british summer time and an extra hour in bed. both bernie and i had a good breakfast then we all piled into the van to head off along the M27 to portsmouth.

we had given ourselves plenty of time so arrived at southsea common by 9.45am - so we had a good 90mins to soak up the atmosphere, go to the little girls room a couple of times (thinking i may have over done the whole keeping hydrated - apparently you sip not glug from your water bottle... who knew?) and just stroll about.

with time on our hands we headed to the start to see who we could see... the atmosphere is fab.

here are the elite women - the winner ran the GSR in 52mins and 55seconds. thats pretty darn fast!

and here's me and bernie in the green wave enclosure about to start. well... walk to the starting line which we crossed at 11.16am. can't really describe how i was feeling - but if i had to try... i'd say bordering on hysteria!

running for No Limits whre i work - already raised over £400 and there's still a month to go... brilliant!

and here we are at i think mile 3...

what an athlete!
only got seven more miles to run...
thank goodness for our support team of Rosie, Jackie & Sarah. and hoorah for Pam, Karen & Karyn who i spotted just after mile 3 - really picked up my spirits. what fab friends xx

DID IT!!!!!
the last 1.5miles i was hobbling, walking, running. in quite abit of pain as my knee just gave up the ghost. sigh... it did mean that i had plenty of time to really take in the whole atmosphere of the GSR - everyone was super encouraging "you can do it liz" " keep going liz" " nearly finished liz". soooo lovely.
and then i turn the corner at 200meters and i'm in the home straight, running down the centre of the finishing funnel towards the finishing line with the HUGEST smile on my face.
i hobbled over the finish line and all i could think was "I'VE DONE IT!"

bernie was there to cheer (she did the 10miles in 2hours, 5mins and 55secs) and of course our support team of Rosie, Jackie and Sarah were there cheering at the fence. yes i was in abit of pain. but boy oh boy - i felt fantastic!

so what's next for lizzie???

1. i've decided to continue with OF&H
2. i'm going to sign up for a 5 or 10k in jan 12 (bernie's up for it too)
3. i've signed up for a 10mile in march 12
4. and i will be signing up for another 10m - @ denbies wine, dorking, surrey in may 12

and of course there is still plenty of time to donate to No Limits...

http://www.everyclick.com/lizcarter