Oh how the mighty have fallen

Ouch. My left knee is killing me. The impact of pavement to knee joint for 14km has left me in a bit of pain. I'm finding it hard to walk up and down stairs atm, in fact I think I twisted my muscles. My mum who's a qualified nurse with 20 years experience, ignored my cries of pain and basically laughed it off (thanks mum!).

When I actually rolled up my trouser leg, I could see her eyes widen at the swollen knee cap and then she began this tirade of why I shouldn't have run the City 2 Surf. Bascially I shot back: "I told you I was in pain, why didn't you come have a look at it?". After work, I'll go to physio but hopefully it ain't nothing too bad.

I probably aggravated it before and after the race. Commonsense suggests that you don't do the following:

1. Run for 35 mins the day before the race. For the first time ever.
2. Don't get a free massage from a hot female therapist when its on offer after the race.
3. Despite feeling a lot of pain the next day, bend down and help a colleague fix up the shelving cabinent underneath their desk.
4. Run to get the elevator before it closes
5. Walk 15 mins to go to some crappy sale after work, at a place with steep steps.

Last night, I think I was getting a bit dramatic and thinking about basketball players that get serious knee injuries. Due to the state that I am in, I obviously can't play basketball this week. I've lost my explosiveness and my first step ( I can hear you say what explosiveness/first step have you got?).


The race itself


It was very chilly when I got to the City at 8am. Luckily I had on my sweats on which I stripped off before the race started. We gathered in College St for the back of the pack. All I could see ahead of me was a sea of people that stretched as far as the eye could see. I proud to say I completed the race. All 14km baby! I probably ran about 2/3, and walked about 1/3. It was way too hard to be running whilst in the "Back of the Pack". Half the time your just dodging people and saying "excuse me" as you squeeze through the gaps.

I would have run it better had I been with other people that were also running. I was compeitive until I reached the first drink station and I gasped at the dude handing out the drinks - how far til the finish line? Only hear the guy laughing, we're only at the start of the race son, only 10km to go.! At that point I knew I was screwed! PLus the effect of running the day before, was getting to my aching legs. So I decided to keep pushing along and walked up Heartbreak Hill. It was killer - a hill 2 km high.

I gotta admit though, I did stop and chat to people along the way. Then I heard a voice cry out "Ho!" and turned sideways to see Rahul and Ed running. So we jogged the rest of the way, with Ed dropping off in the last 3km but me and Rahul kept the pace up.

I felt like the Incredible Hulk, gaining strength with each additional step. The adrenalin was pumping and I felt my legs muscles twitching like hell. But I ignored the signs of the body breaking down and broke through that pain threshold, pushing myself. The sign for 2km came up and I gave R the sign "2". We pushed ourselves even harder, with me leading the way. I just kept saying to myself that I wouldn't stop running til I reached the very end.

And the finish line couldn't come soon enough. When Bondi Beach came up - it was an awesome sight - except the finish line was still a fair way away! By that time, Rahul had dropped off in the last 500m, but like the energizer bunny, I kept going. In what seemed like an eternity, I reached the time gates and felt estatic. I HAD FINALLY DONE IT - 14KM in less than 2 hours! It's a fantastic personal achievement and I'll be back again next year, in the HSBC start trying
to beat my time.

Peace out,

DJ HO.