A marathon weekend

This weekend, Leon and I did the full marathon in the Marysville marathon trail running festival. The run started the year after the entire town burnt down 10 years ago, and I've done it 7 times - mainly the 10 kilometer, once the half marathon, and this is the first time I've done the full 42.2 distance.
And it was hard. The first half was great - no wind, beautiful weather, nice people, stunning trails. I stacked at 26 kms, but escaped with bruises and grazes.

From 30kms it got really hard. There is a climb to a lookout that just went on forever, and coming down there was quite a stony path, and I kept kicking rocks. We had been looking forward to the final 4km - mainly down hill, and a very familiar trail, but the heat took a toll on Leon, and he was suffering from severe cramps. Still, this marathon has been my goal for a long time, and now I've done it. We might have to train differently and do it again stronger next year, or maybe not. I'll decide once the bruises have healed.

Marysville is just so beautiful. I had my camera out to take a photo to show you the view from my parents veranda:

Then this king parrot came up to explore. I wonder if he is the same one from last year?

So pretty. I did get more knitting done than I expected - sometimes after a long run I am too exhausted, and my hands are swollen, but this time my hands felt fine. I've done both sleeves on Leon's jumper, and am a hand-width off starting the bottom ribbing. It's turned into a surprisingly quick project. So that was my weekend. I'm off to stretch a bit more, and rest my weary feet.

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