Catch up - Grape Run

This last week has just flown by and I need to fill you in!

pre race hustle and bustle 

So last weekend, Morgan and I ventured up to Healsville to run the 30km Yarra Valley grape run (we clocked in 31km). Coach Clinton wasn't too keen on this, as it really doesn't complement my training at the moment, so ' take it easy peasy' were my orders. These instructions were a blessing in disguise. Even though it was going to be the longest distance I have ever ran, by 10kms, I really didn't give it a thought until we got there.

team M & M before the run

I would be lying if I were to say I woke excited the morning of the run. I had worked until 10pm the night before, not getting to bed til 11:30pn with the alarm going off at 5am! I'm only human.

Once we got to Healsville Morgs and I went for a quick warm up jog, that was all I needed to get in the right frame of mind. There were roughly 400ppl out that morning running the 30kms. Amazing to see so many people out there challenging themselves :)

Morgs gave me the plan of taking an energy gel at the 8, 16 & 24 km mark and to run, roughly, 5mins kms. This set me up really well in terms of pacing myself and to also break up the run into manageable pieces.

The scenery was beautiful, green rolling hills, wineries and paddocks of roaming live stock. Hang on, did I mention the roll hills? Yes, beautiful to look at, yet they're not so attractive when you have you use all your woman power to get up them!

I have never run any long distance ‘fun runs’ with a partner. This was a whole new experience. It was great, because we were taking it easy Morgs and chatted most of the way and he kept reminding me of the ‘easy peasy’ I had been given. I am prone to getting a tad over excited and speeding up…a lot!

We got to the 11km mark and I felt like I could easily do another 11km. Then we reached the 19km, this mark was nestled amongst the rolling hills. I was feeling strong up the hills and still felt like I had another 10kms in me at this pace we had set.

afterward legs were feeling a tad heavy, yet the spirits were high

I was so happy to finish the 30kms along side Morgs in 2hrs and 33mins. And to top off what was a great morning, I ended up placing 3rd in my age group :)

the delish 'ginger ninja' from Veggie Bar

Now you always need to hydrate and nourish the body after a run of this distance. We couldn't go past Veggie Bar in Fitzroy. Sooo good, the nachos and the burrito hit the spot and I had the hydration covered with the delish ginger ninja cocktail ;)