This was a rough race! Luckily I knew going into it I was kinda setting myself up for failure so I didnt have any crazy high expectations. But it was the first time in my racing "career" that I've run a race slower than I did before...which I have to admit stings a little...
The race was on the holiday Monday after the weekend of my grandpa's 90th birthday celebration. We had 30 family members fly in from all over Canada and we spent the entire time eating and drinking. I very rarely have more than 2 drinks in one sitting and the night before the race I had 7...
I ate way more food than I should have (sooooo much cheese!!!). I crawled into bed stuffed and drunk! My little one did not sleep well so I was up a bunch with her and slept pretty fitfully. I woke up exhausted, dehydrated, with a pounding headache and to top it off had started my period and had brutal cramps... it was about the worst you can feel going into a race!
Thank god it was only 4 miles...I figured I could push myself through that in any state :) This race is very low key and low budget. I think it costs $10 and there's no chip timing. We pulled up to the race and I realized I had also forgotten my headphones (sigh...welcome to my life...I forget everything!!). I was running with my uncle and running buddy and no matter how I felt, being at the race with them it was hard not to get into it and be excited :)
(start line smiles)
I took some solace in that my uncle had been at the festivities with me and my running buddy drove in to race from a camping trip where he had been drinking a ton so we were all a little worse for wear.
Ready to go
I decided to play my music regardless without headphones and hope that we spread out quickly and my tunes didnt annoy anyone. Especially since there is only about 100 people in this race. I hit play and the first song that came on as we are all crowded together heading out was full of profanity! I was cringing and just trying to break away from the crowd.
The first mile was slightly uphill and managed a 6:56, mile 2 was tougher and when I hit the next hill I couldnt get over how tired my legs felt, I just wanted this race to be over. I felt terrible and was just willing my self to get this over with. Mile 2 and 3 I averaged about 7:30. Mile 4 was a relief. It has a decent stretch of downhill and then you know you are getting close to the finish. You turn the corner onto the main drag and people are cheering you on which is nice. The only thing that killed me was about 300m before the finish line there was a mile 4 marker? I was so confused as this was a 4 mile race. Who put that marker there and were they just trying to mess with us!! I crossed the line with relief coming in around 6:56 again on the last mile.
I was about to go get a water when I realized my running buddy was coming in next right after me. I didnt even get a chance to take a pic as he was about 30 seconds behind me. It was kinda cool seeing us on the race board so close! Both him and my uncle had great races and beat their expected times!
My final time ended up being 28:43, compared to last years 28:27. The weekend celebrations were fun and I would do it all over again. It was a conscious decision to choose to party over being in optimal race conditions and...
But next year I'm taking that race down. It's on Comox... I intend to be rested, hydrated and kick ass :) On the upside even though I was slower than last year I ended up in 3rd place for my age group. 4th overall again out of the women. Last year I was 4th as well but they all were the same age as me. So it was a nice pick-me up to get a ribbon :)
(even if they spelled my name wrong)
Ribbons make me happy...can I get that on a t-shirt :) Goal time for next year sub - 28mins!!
