Great Ocean Road Marathon Festival.

 There are some runs which will stay in my memory as one of the best. And for me the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon is one I will always remember as one of my best running experiences.The scenery along the run was truly spectacular and made every step an absolute thrill.
This run followed the Great Ocean Road along the south western Victorian coastline from Kennet's River and finishing in the main street of Apollo Bay. The run was not for a beginner as it was quite hilly for most of the course  plus it had some quite long challenging climbs.

 Dear friends Ros, Ava, Erica, Melissa, Brian, Moi and the Chubby Hubby all drove over to Victoria together for a long weekend to compete in this event.We stayed in a luxury apartment right above the finishing line with spectacular views, and have already booked it for next year to run again.
These are some of the photos I took along the way, although I did cheat and take some the day before.

 The run was really well organised and supported and the local residents lined the roads to encourage us and watch the mass suffering.
The finish line was very exciting and people lined the last 200 metres to form a tunnel of support.
My finishing time was 2hrs 18mins which I was very pleased with given the nature of the run. The Chubby Hubby ran in 2:50 and he was very happy with this given that this was his first road run. The rest of our friends all finished around the same time as me.
My only disappointment was that I did not attempt the full marathon as when I crossed the finish line I still felt that I had plenty of running left in me. So hopefully next year I will run the full distance.

Happy running,
Cheers Karen.