The days leading up to race day were pretty nerve-wracking. I like to do a lot of needless worrying, I guess, especially when I don't know what to expect. But, everything went pretty well and I ended up with a PR of 34:09 (of course it's a PR! It's my first race! Shhh).
We got out of the house in good time, with all the kiddies in tow. We got a great parking spot right nearby. I remembered to bring everything I needed (iPhone, earphones, armband, blanket to wrap around my freezing cold legs while waiting for the race to start...), and I felt pretty good.
I was very happy to have so many people cheering me on! My Mil came, and my Bil and Sil. Of course, hubs and the kiddies were there, and I received lots of cheers through my Nike+ app as I was running along. It was so nice (thanks everyone!!).
That's a photo hubby took as I waited in the big pack of 5K runners for the gun to go off. I realized I had not had one sip of water yet, so I scooted out of line to grab some H2O, then got back in just in time! My mouth was so dry at about 2.5 K! They had a water station, but I could only manage to throw my cup of water in the general direction of my mouth, soaking my entire face. I think I'll bring my water bottle next time. Also, I LOVE having my tunes, and the feedback from my Nike+ guy telling me how far/how fast I've gone, but the whole system needs to be fixed a little. First, the iPhone 4 is really pretty heavy and kinda' a pain when you are trying to race. Second, my armband sucks and my iPhone has gone flying off of it 3 times now (luckily this hasn't broken it....yet! And, Thank Gawd this didn't happen on race day). I either need a way better armband or, ideally, I should probably switch to a Nano for running. I'll look into these options.
Meanwhile, here's a photo of the front of the pack (where all the real runners go). Notice none of them have 5 pound iPhones attached precariously to their toothpick arms. No, that was just me.
The biggest challenge I encountered during the actual race was the sprint/walkers. There were quite a few people who just booted it around the first lap of the track, but once we headed out of the park, down the streets of Dundas, they began to walk. I tried to keep a nice steady pace the entire time, but that did make it challenging. My pace was about 30 seconds to a minute faster/km then it normally is by the first km, and then when I saw some people starting to walk I thought, "Ya, I'm a bit tired, too. Walking does sound like a good idea. Hey! They're doing it". But, then I'd think, "What?! You've been running for 6 minutes, you bum, keep moving!". Not that there is anything wrong with walking. As long as you are moving forward you're doing great! And, of course, a lot of people run with a 5:1, or 10:1 run/walk plan, and I'm sure many of those walkers finished with better finish times than me. It's just that walking after 6 minutes was not part of my personal plan and I just found I needed to remind myself of that. I really needed to keep focus on my race, and not what other runners were doing.
I also found there was a fair amount of confusion about the actual course. They were telling us all to turn down one street, when we were actually supposed to turn down another street 2 roads away! As we ran along I was worrying that maybe we were doing the 10K course, because no one said what the difference was (that I heard), and there weren't any signs (that I saw). Apparently, a couple of the 10k runners actually ended up getting steered in the wrong direction and they ended up doing the track around the park twice, in the beginning, when they were only supposed to go around once before heading into Dundas! Pretty bad! Despite that huge screw-up, they still beat everyone else, but I have no idea how they can figure out their proper times after that.
Once we got ourselves turned around and headed back to the park at the halfway point I was very relieved! Good to know that I was only doing 5K! Plus, we had been on a gradual uphill most of the first half, so now we were headed downhill and that was great. I felt like I was flying! ...until one of the 10K runners Zoomed past me like I was standing still. Ha! That actually made me smile as I was running along. A little comedic relief.
Then there was the dreaded STEEP hill heading back up into the park. I gave myself permission to walk up that hill ages ago. A mistake, probably, because as soon as I saw it, I switched off. I didn't really try and see if maybe I could tackle it, I just thought, OK, there it is. Walk time! It was only a brief break in the whole 5K and the only part I walked (maybe just a minute or two of walking), but I'm not letting myself off that hook next year. I want to kick that hill's butt.
Next year I'll have to remember to look up at the finish line, as well! I was so focused that I didn't see my family ~right there~, and hubs couldn't get the nice, smiley, hands thrown up in the air, finish line photo he was hoping for. I'll also have to try and go find them all next time before I start cooling down (I just started walking away through the park!), although, i gotta say, after I finish running I feel like I really need to walk it out so that I don't, you know, die! Run 5K then Stop? Just like that? No walking after?? I'm not quite up to that, yet. Something else to shoot for next year. :)
There will definitely be a next year, though. I had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about the race and the course, so i feel better prepared to Beat that 34:09 next time.
And that hill, too. :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment