The Horrie and Belinda Show

Well, what a great day out. First highlight of the day was Silverfox running across the road to pass on his best wishes and some advice to Belinda as we were heading across the Harbour Bridge to the start. You're a legend mate - thank you!

We arrived at the start just in time to see the Half start. Gave Cool Running Icon Lucky Legs a shout of encouragement and a wave before heading down to the park where the Marathoners were huddled. Weather was overcast and rain was threatening. Picked up the singlets on offer before depositing our bag to be transported to the finish.We lined up at the back of the pack, walked up the hill before starting to run as we approached the start line. Headed out very slowly as the plan was to give Belinda's calf time to warm up before settling into a steady pace. The good news was that her calf was behaving itself today until a twinge at 15km before not being heard from for the rest of the run. The plan was to run at 4:30 pace and see how things unfolded. Received a message of good luck from Superflake as we passed 10km in 63:15, which was a fraction ahead of 4:30 pace. Headed down into Centennial Park, seeing all the quicker runners heading back out. Just as we headed into Centennial Park, we ran past a Melbourne Spartan who is lining up for his 27th Melbourne Marathon next month. Centennial Park wasn't as good as I thought it would be as the few undulations were made harder by stifling humidity and no breeze in parts. Belinda started to fade slightly here. She popped her first GU here and it had its effect and she was able to pick up the pace again. Although she said it was only because I cranked it up and she had to keep up. Funny how I thought it was the other way around. Got a phone call from our eldest son who had brought his brother and sister out wondering how long we were going to be. It was a great thrill to see them at the turnaround at Kensington and we stopped to give them high fives from me and kisses from Belinda. We then crossed the halfway point in just under 2:14 with Belinda really running strongly. We slowly started to overtake the first of many as we continued along our journey to the Opera House. We really started to roll along as we ran downhill towards the city but were peeved to stop at Hyde Park while they let traffic through. After I gave the volunteer and police a gobful, we continued on without much of a delay. Then we started the climb over Darling Harbour and the run out to the City West Link. We knew this was going to be the toughest section and it didn't prove us wrong. The thing that kept us going along here was that we were overtaking several who had slowed to a walk. Two things here really provided us with a surge. The first was Plu shouting encouragement from 100 metres away for us and the second was the sight of a senior lady who was having walk breaks from the beginning before surging past us again in the first 5km. Belinda set her sights on her and just kept mowing her down until we went past her between 35 and 36km on another of the uphills where she again chose to walk. We went through 35km in just over 3:44 which meant we were just starting to lose sight of the 4:30. The last 7km were very tough going and Belinda just gritted her teeth and hung on the best she could. The hills got tougher, our pace got slower but Belinda refused to yield or walk as we continued to pass tiring runners. We managed the first hill around the 40km mark alright before being hit with the second one just around the corner. It was very tough going here but I told Belinda once we got to the top of the hill that it was all downhill from there. Heading across the Cahill Expressway we were passed by some that we overtook on the uphills. Then we were greeted by the awesome Cool Running cheersquad who lined both sides forming a guard of honour. This really gave Belinda a huge lift and she knew that there wasn't long to go. Then Jennie Mexner from the Striders joined us on the course running and telling Belinda that she was so close now. Then we passed O Runner and family on the downhill to the Opera House before being greeted by another Cool Running/Strider cheer squad just before the finish. Ran through the finish in 4:35 having our names announced by the MC which was great.

Belinda had done it - she had just run a marathon. She was shocked and stunned for a while before realising that she had achieved something quite special. We sat down for a while and had a drink, soaking in the atmosphere before heading up to the Recovery Village where we saw heaps more Cool Runners and Striders.

We then finished a great day by going to lunch with Tesso, Johnny Dark, Don Juan, Vat Man, Jen Runs, Owl and BennyR. Just before we left FlashDuck paid us a visit before we headed home.

I would like to thank everybody who offered their support and encouragement to us before, during and after the run as it made our day even more special. Can't wait for the next one.