21.10.2009

Fien hungry for half marathon glory

Australian world half marathon representative Cassie Fien reflects on her debut appearance in the green and gold after placing 31st on the streets of Birmingham, England, earlier this month.
  
What a long, long way away the UK is but I did eventually make it after just under 24 hours of travel. Jeff (Hunt) (the Australian male representative) and I arrived on the Sunday a week before the race; we were the first athletes to arrive as we had the longest distance to travel. The race hotel was the Crown Plaza, Central Square. We each had our own hotel room which was unreal.
 
I thought it would be great to get up on Monday and see the sights by going for a run. I only wanted to go for about 45 minutes so I headed off in one direction and thought if I go out straight I will come back straight - all good in theory. As I turned around to go back I spotted a canal and thought I would go down there as there was a canal right near the hotel and I thought it would take me all the way back. WRONG! As it turns out, Birmingham is built around a whole canal system with many canals going in many different directions. Two long hours later I found my way back and all I could think was thank goodness I am a distance runner.
 
Later during the week athletes started to arrive in their droves and I started to feel like a very small fish in the ocean and a fraud. I came to realise that getting up in the morning and just doing whatever I felt like for training really does not cut it on a world scale. My biggest fear was that I would come dead last.
 
Race morning came before I knew it; I didn’t know how to warm up for a world championships race so I just followed the Americans hoping they wouldn’t notice. When I got back from warming up it was time to put my numbers on and let me tell you trying to puts numbers on your back by yourself is not easy - I think I pulled a muscle. I ended up asking one of the American team managers to help me (thank goodness).
 
The opening ceremony was just before the start of the race and the children of a local Birmingham school paraded all of the nation’s flags and the best country was first, Australia. I was very pound standing there watching our flag fly. Every single nation was represented in the female race so the field was strong.
 
On the start line I stood, it was cold, wet, raining and the roads were really slippery but I didn’t really notice as I was just excited to be there. As the gun went off the commentator said, 'Ladies and gentlemen you are watching the best women in the world.' I thought, 'wow, they are the best in the world and hey, I'm one of them'.

I started the race very cautiously as I did not want to blow up and have my worst fear of coming last come true. I went through the first 10km in 34 minutes and in 26th position. It felt so easy and comfortable and the course was really nice with lots to see. I was running with American and Japanese girls. The American and I stayed together and we took it in turns taking the lead - it was so cool, I felt like a race car. After a while I dropped the American and continued on my way. The second half was not as pretty, as this is where all the hills were hiding. I was fine going up them and I was passing people but on the way downhill everyone was passing me. No matter how fast I turned my legs over, I could not keep up.
 
I switched off the last half of the race as I knew I would not pick up too many places and with the hills, I knew a PB was out of the question so I just kept it on cruise control. The last 500m I thought, 'let’s go' and picked up the pace; if I didn’t leave it so late I could have picked up a few more places but it was not meant to be. I came 31st in 1:12.55. I was a little down on myself and I felt a little disappointed with the outcome but it was my first international meet of many (I hope). If anything it has built on my hunger and desire to be the best I can be. I love the sport, I love the opportunities it has given me and no matter what, I will be running until the day I die.
 
I am still going to stay true and not embark on my first marathon until I am 26 years old. I want to do it right and get really fast at the 5km, 10km and half marathon. Who knows, maybe even attempt to set an Australian record at the half marathon distance and set myself up to be one of the best marathon runners. I have not planned for much else in relation to my running but this is a plan I will try to stick with.
 
My next big goal is to run at the Commonwealth Games. As the marathon is out of the question due to my plans, the next distance is the 10km on the track. This is a mighty big ask as I will need to get very, very fast in a short time but what is the harm in dreaming big? Absolutely nothing!
 
In the meantime I will just do what I do and plan away for the 2014 Commonwealth Games marathon.

With thanks to The Runner's Tribe