The Race

Whoop Whoop!  It's done!  To recap, this was my first race since a 10 km in May 2010.  I was pretty nervous about it just because I knew that I wanted a better time than I was capable of.  With the running clinics being cancelled in the summer, I just wasn't where I had intended to be.  I kept telling myself that it's okay to walk and it doesn't matter what my time is.  I wanted to be under 1:20 but ultimately I finished at 1:24:15.  Not too far off.  There was quite the bottleneck at first because the path was narrow, I wish I'd waited a little bit to cross the starting line because it was chip timed so it wouldn't have mattered.  I waited till I was all the way across the mat and past the photographer before I stopped the garmin, hehe.  Didn't want a picture where I was looking down at my watch baha!

I went to the get-together with my neighbours Friday night and as I promised myself, I had two glasses of wine and I only stayed there till 10pm.  I also drank two big glasses of water while I was there and stuck to the fruits and veggies.  When I got home, I was still wired so I decided to chug more water while I was getting everything completely ready so I could sleep longer in the morning.  I borrowed a spibelt from my friend Stephanie because she wasn't going to be using it.  Those things are great, I'm going to buy one for sure.  It held my iPhone, chapstick, and a couple other things I wish I wasn't carrying and it stayed in place.

I had a pretty crappy sleep the night before due the early arrival of my monthly visitor.  I couldn't believe it.  I woke up three times in the night because I was cramping.  Every time I woke up, instead of  just laying there and debating about getting up, I jumped up and took some ibuprofen and a melatonin and tried to get back to sleep as soon as possible.  Thank goodness this race wasn't a 7am start or anything!!  In my haste to get out the door, I forgot to take breakfast.  I was going to pack a peanut butter sandwich and a banana to eat on the way to the race and I forgot.  I stopped to pick up a friend and went up to her place because I had her race kit.  She fed me toast & peanut butter and a banana so I was back on track!!  

We got to the race in time to see the last two waves of half marathon runners take off.  Then it was my turn to go for the 10km.  Like I said, the first mile was crowded and then it started to thin out.  It was a really pretty course too.  It was an out & back through a park so it was mostly narrow and forest.  I had just passed the 2 mile marker when the first person was headed on his way back passed me going the other way.  Holy sh*t.  He just ran four mile, in the time I ran 2.  Then a couple more people blew past, then my friend Nicole came running down and we high-fived each other.  She ended up being the 2nd place female and 12th overall.  INCREDIBLE.  And she was sick with a nasty cold all last weekend which carried over throughout the week.  As I got closer to the 3 mile turnaround, I was seeing lots of people I knew from the run club I attend so it was nice to get some cheering.  With the course being through trees, there wasn't really anyone out cheering like for many road races.  I turned around and then thought to myself that there was really no going back.  You have to finish at this point and it didn't matter that I was tired. 

There was a couple other girls that were doing a walk/run system too.  We kept leap-frogging each other and I started to get annoyed with constantly having to pull out to the left and then pass and then having them do the same thing so on the way back, my goal was to pass them and then not be passed again.  I waited till they both took a walk break and then RAN.  I ran faster than I normally run for about three minutes to put enough distance between us and then when I walked, I walked as fast as I could.  Then I saw three girls walking together in front of me and my new goal was to get ahead of them too.  I caught up and did the leap frog thing again.  Then in the last mile, I passed them and another couple.  The last mile was SO COLD.  The whole time had been pretty windy but the last 1/2 mile, we were running straight into it and there was nowhere to hide so I just put my head down and walked as fast as I could till the final bend and then I ran as fast as I could to the finish line.  AND DONE!!!! 

We grabbed our chocolate milk and snacks and ate really quick and then left.  We were freezing.  We stopped at Starbucks on the way home.  Once I got home, I just sat for a few minutes and then had a lovely shower.  I turned on the fireplace, grabbed my favorite blanket and a pillow from my bed and spent the afternoon on the couch like this.  The afternoon brought to you by ibuprofen and kleenex.  I am now very stuffed up and now have that cold that I've been fighting all week.  

Just a little note about the friend I picked up.  It was her first race ever and it was her goal to do a 5km this year.  As of last weekend, she was going to just not do it but I convinced her to do it and messaged her every day that it was going to be great.  She did so good!  And she had so much fun and she wants to do it again.  So funny!  She kept looking around and saying it was like a different world and it really is.  The running community is filled with some crazy awesome people.  

I really wish I'd taken more pictures but I was freezing so I mostly jumped around trying to keep warm till we started.  I'm not sure when the next race is, I'm thinking it will be the Santa Shuffle 5 km in early December and I've also heard about an I'm a Girl run in November sometime so I'll google that now.  

I'd love to do this one again next year except I'll be FASTER!! :)  I look forward to my running minutes  increasing and my walking minutes decreasing!