Leeds Half Marathon recap (about time too!)

Gosh! Can't believe I've been too busy to post... it's been over a month and a half... eek! Anyway... lots have gone on... Paula's 3rd competition in which she did great and had lots of fun! Fun races for all 3 kids, interviews with kid's teachers, all great BTW :D, all 3 kids going off to camp with school... bliss! 3 days, 2 nights!

On April 22nd, the day after Paula's 3rd competition, the Cursa dels Bombers was held in Barcelona. It's my favourite 10K... 25000 runners took Barcelona... it was amazing, plus I had to do 23km that day as my training for my upcoming half marathon in Leeds! The race was great, as usual, top marks for a perfect organization... amazing, though, how in between so many people you can feel so alone... :p I ran Bombers in 1:08:16 (1:10:10 in 2011), not great but I'll take it! The previous week, I run a 10k here in Girona inn 1:07 something. Happy! All the training was starting to pay off! On May 1st I went to do the Marxa Popular de Bordils, a 12k trail run. Beautiful. Did great for me... I don't remember how long it took me but it was really nice. Enjoyed it very much but had a scare. At around km 10,5 and out of the blues I started having this pinching pain on the outside of my right knee. I kept running but the pain got worse and worse. Didn't know wether to stop or keep going as I was so close to the end. I kept going and eventually, the pain wore off. I made it. I was very happy. Went home but once back I could tell something was wrong with my knee. It even felt tender to the touch. Spoke with my wonderful doc and he said it was overuse. We did laser sessions and the pain went but it would come back at times when running... I went to Leeds... we left Saturday am. Paula came along as well as Fiona with Lisa & Harry and Dani. We landed, got our car and headed to Leeds... run around in circles trying to find the hotel, LOL. In the end we got there. We left everything at the hotel and headed out the check the city. We did a bit of shopping and then went to the pool at the hotel and out for dinner. I had a bad night... something didn't sit well in my tummy and was sick at night. I had no wish to run in the am :( Could hardly eat breakfast and felt no emotion when getting to the race site and seeing all the other runners. Eventually we made it to the start. I decided I'd stop if I had to. I was worried about my knee too. The gun went and we got going and surprisingly enough I started to feel ok. No mile markers to be seen anywhere which helped big time if I may say so. I was guided by the water stations ;) I had my Garmin on but didn't want to check it :p

So I went and went and went over those long long long and steep hills and made it to the end on a very hot Sunday am in Leeds... I crossed the finish line in 2:30:35 with Paula&Harry... priceless!

Got my bag and while deciding what to do, we were just stood there. My knee held well all the race. When we decide to go back to the hotel for a shower etc, it was like having a knife poked through my knee... ouch! But the race was over :D I had done it! Back at the hotel I took my ice bath and stretched. Went for lunch and straight to the airport. What a great weekend... thinking ahead... what will be next???