Sea FM Sunshine Coast Half Marathon

5:00 am- My alarm goes off. I have everything laid out so getting ready was a pretty easy part of the morning. I doubled, no triple checked I knew where I was going. La Bulsa Park, La Bulsa Park, La Bulsa Park. I repeated to myself over and over and I ran out the door of the hostel trying to be quiet and trying to find a taxi. I walked to the McDonald's on the corner looking for a taxi. I waited for like 3 minutes before I became impatient and called for one. Right after I hung up with the taxi cab company, I flagged down a taxi. Earl was his name and he was just finishing his shift. I begged for him to take me to La Bulsa Park. He reluctantly agreed and said it would be around $15 dollars. I informed him I had a credit card and $7.50 take his pick. His credit card machine was broken so $7.50 would do. (I will use this technique more often and haggle with taxi cabs since they clearly increase the prices.) Earl and I became fast friends as I told him about my life and the half marathon. He reciprocated and told me about his wife, 2 kids, and their life here in Mooloolaba. What seemed like an eternity later, we arrived at the park.

5:45 am- I walk up to the registration table and told them my name. They had no record for a Marisa Giangrasso to run today. But I named dropped the people I talked to prior to leaving for the Sunshine Coast and they let me re-register and run. I got my running bib pinned into place, my timer strapped around my ankle, my heart rate down to normal again, and started warming up. There were people everywhere and of all ages.  Some look like really experienced runners and intimidation started to set in. I realized that people had different color bibs on and asked why. Apparently the course is not that wide and to prevent traffic jams and give us the best time allowed. I was in the dark blue group which was the 3rd out of 5 waves. Even though I have never ran a half before, I so desperately wanted to be in the 1st wave. The competitiveness within me was already showing and I was just stretching. The first two waves start with no problems and I really concentrate on slowing my breathing down before I begin. I won't get very far if I start already out of breath.

6:10 am- The 3rd waves gun go off as I push start on my watch and iPod. "Here goes nothing," I say to myself. I start running and pretty soon my mind wanders. Perfect, just what I want so I do not start counting miles as marks on my soon to be grave. It is then I notice the scenery. We are running next to the beach, around a harbor to begin with. There are huge yachts, kayaks, and sailboats all over this harbor. I want to stop and take a picture but that would defeat the purpose of running a half marathon. Then as we round the first turn, my breath is taken away. There is open ocean, beaches, and mountains in the background. This is by far the most beautiful run I have ever been on and it really occurs to me then that I am in Australia, running for fun, at six in the morning. There is no description of how beautiful this place is as I am watching the sun rise over the ocean. I take a deep breath and run a little faster. Once I got over the shock of the beauty of this place I start paying attention to my running and find myself a pacer. Around my 4th pacer, I am finally into stride. My first pacer was a midget around the age of 25, but she didn't last long. My second pacer looked like the girl in dodgeball that took the beaver tranquilizer. I thought she would be perfect for me but her boyfriend who she was running with was slowing me down. My third pacer was a very broad shoulder lady who I thought was around 25 years old, when I passed her though, she was really like 40. My final pacer to the end was a mom around 45 who is in a running league. She ended up being perfect pace and kept me motivated to keep going. The first 10k was normal, I was feeling fine and felt like I could run forever. Around the 18 kilometer (out of 21.2 for those on the American mileage) is when things started becoming a challenge. This was around the max I had run up until this point and I was starting to get tired. At the first moment I really wanted to stop, Dirty Diane came on my iPod. I have become recently obsessed with this song and helped me stay motivated. Then, around the 20th kilometer, I felt dead. All I wanted to do was take a nap. Then, Dream On by Aerosmith came on. It is my favorite song of all time, and a song that motivates my mother. I started thinking, if my mom can get the motivation to run to this song, I can run one more kilometer and finish this race.

6:53 am- I crossed the finish line. :D 1 hour and 53 minutes after the gun. Quickly calculating the pace to around 8:40 a mile is a huge accomplishment for me.

7:05 am- I go to first aid for my knees. Preventative of course. Australian do not understand the concept of preventative treatment and continuously ask questions that I answer to the best of my ability.

7:20 am- I try to find a taxi back. I take the shuttle back to the mall where we were suppose to park our cars in attempt to find civilization and a taxi back to Mooloolaba. There is NO ONE around. I walk to the nearest McDonald's and go up to the nicest looking person I can find. I ask to use her mobile in order to call a taxi and she is immediately confused. Why was I at a McDonald's at 8 in the morning looking for a taxi no where near my actual destination and walking? A brief explanation clears up the confusion. She calls me a taxi and I wait like a homeless person outside. My taxi pulls up and is the nicest man to be driving a taxi at 8:15 am. He asked me about the race and how well I did, and I apologized for the smell that was most likely being emitted from my body. After what seemed like the longest car ride (there was absolutely no way I could walk back, which I contemplated), things started looking familiar.

8:25 am- I arrive back at the hostel and immediately begin banging on everyone's door to wake them up and go surfing. At this moment exhaustion starts to set in but I ignore it, shower, and gather the troops to get our surfboards and hit the beach as soon as humanly possible.