After checking out of the luxury spa place (yes, I'm going on about it a bit), we headed to Elleker where we were sharing a more modest place with Claire and Jo. While the accommodation was a bit of a come down, the company was fabulous and the stay so much fun it didn't matter at all. Anyway, I digress. Sunday morning was half marathon day. We were all pretty nervous - Claire because it was her first longer run (and race) since the London marathon, Jo because it was her first marathon in a long time (plus being so speedy she has a lot of pressure put on her), and me because races just stress me out. Kate was there too, staying in another place; we had got together the previous evening for a stretch session. She, too, was nervous, but I had little doubt she'd do a great time. We got to the start of the race with more than half an hour to spare. Kate and I decided to do a short warm up, more because we were cold than anything else. The Albany runners put on such a great race and this year was no exception. 

We began a little after 8.30am. It's a tough start and finish as you run past the start/finish to a cone down the road then out onto the main road. You do that again at the halfway and at the finish. I felt pretty good at the start and was going along at a nice pace, sitting just behind a couple of local female runners. One dropped back after 2km and I stuck to the faster one. Then some male runner decided he didn't want to be behind a couple of girls, so he surged past and plonked himself in front of both of us. The other girl overtook him, but he seemed to be holding her pace, so I was happy where I was. Then his pace dropped and dropped. Realising this, I went past him, which seemed to bother him as he did another surge, went past me, held the pace for a short while then slowed down gradully. I was battling at this stage but pulled past him again and again he did a surge and slowed down. I got near the drinks station, took my gel on the run and had a brief walk to get the water down. Mr. Annoying (as I've now decided to name him) had meanwhile carried on, but I soon caught him again. And yet again we played this game of him surging, slowing. Finally at about 7km we got a nice steep hill, which seemed to finish him off. Sorry to revel in someone else's bad experience, but yay! That was the last I saw of him. We were getting close to the main road and back to the start/finish area where we would do the same loop again. In KMs 7 to 9 I'd had a few runners race past me but soon realised these were the 10km lot. One of them was worse than Mr. Annoying - I will call him Mr. Gross because of the amount of mucous that seemed to be spurting from him - hack, spit, gag - what more can I say. Fortunately I didn't have to put up with him for long.

Lap two and I was feeling heaps better. I'd got into more of a rhythm and was enjoying the fact that I was more than half way there. I soon caught up with the girl I'd been tracking early on. She had started to struggle (probably not helped by her coach/friend/what have you who kept driving past and calling out instructions). But the two of us had a great run together for a while. She picked up the pace and I hung onto her, then as she tired I went past and she hung onto me. We kept this up to the 17km mark, going past 5 or 6 fading runners. At that stage, we hit the steep(ish) hill again. I don't mind hills so I just leaned into it and maintained the pace (more or less). She hung on but sadly ran out of steam at the top and stopped and walked. So I was then alone for the last 4km. I was feeling motivated and kept strong, passing another two runners. KM 19 to 20 was tough, but I held it together, of which I'm really proud. Then it was around the corner and back to the start/finish area where friends were yelling out support as I made my way one last time to the cone and back. As I got closer to the finish I could hear Kate should "come on Kimmy" so I pushed a bit harder. I saw the clock at about 100m out - if I pushed I would definitely come under 1:53, so I did my best tired legged imitation of a sprint, finishing in 1:52:49 (48, according to the photo finish, but there you have it). I felt a bit queasy for a few minutes - a sign of a race well run - but then felt so good. I did a PB, but most of all I beat my race demons. Now I'm totally excited about the Perth marathon!