Today was race day! Wait, what? I last posted a month ago? Yup, that would be correct. Today's race was a bit different. I was alone for one, no spectators. I ran in Kitchener. It was my first winter race. Let me tell you, only real runners participate in a winter 10K run.
I was checking the information on the run and I noticed that they hadn't listed a same day race kit pick-up time. I panicked and called the store and they told me that they would bring the leftovers for us. This race gives a coat, so I wanted my coat but I did not want to drive from Hamilton to Waterloo Region twice in two days so I resolved to just take my chance. If they didn't have a coat that fit me, I'd take one regardless and at least SOMEONE would get a nice coat out of it.
Last night I got everything together that I would need today. I planned on hitting the hay early then Notting Hill was on (my favourite movie ending ever) so of course I had to watch it through. Then, because it was based in England and I was watching it on NYE I remembered that the 2012 Big Fat Quiz of the year would have occurred. So, against my better judgement I youtubed that because I LOVE them. I reassured myself that I would just see if it was there, then I would go to bed and, sure enough it had been uploaded. Well, I told myself, I would just fall asleep to it. Fuck that! It was hilarious. So, I watched it in it's entirety. 2 AM rolled around and I knew I HAD to go to bed as I had a 7:45 wake up planned.
I slept incredibly well and woke up feeling refreshed. I ate my traditional peanut butter on toast and banana and headed out, thankful that I'd prepared everything the night before. I got to the site and when I went to pick up my kit they did not have my coat but told me they'd order one for me. I thought that was nice.
I went out to the car and waited for the race to start as it was 9:45 and it didn't start until 10:30, as per the event website. I figured that I would listen to the Game of Thrones Audiobook that I'd uploaded to my iPod for a bit. Then I noticed a crowd of people come out and head to the entrance of the parking lot, which I assumed to be the start line. I found this rather curious. I started to gather my things, at 10 I headed over to see what was going on, if they were doing a warm up or whatever. Oh nope, not the case. The race was starting at 10. I was about 200m away and heard a great cheer and watched the pack take off. I started flat out sprinting towards them to catch up.
I had 4 people behind me, walking. God bless the walkers, I thought. They ensure that I would not finish last. The race was being run in 4 laps of 2.5k. it went uphill, flat, uphill, flat, uphill, loooooong downhill. I finished the first lap knowing that I was definitely in the last 5 when I heard the walkers behind me say, ok that was our warm up lap, let's start running. Fuck, I thought. Fuck. There is a good chance that I am going to finish this last. In the past month I hadn't run and I'd decided to focus more on yoga. While I've done yoga everyday for 5 weeks, Yoga is not cardio. It is definitely not 10 kilometres of cardio with a freakin' brutal cold (which I've had since boxing day- mind you, a cold is not pancreatitus, so better than my last tenner). I know a few people started late because I saw then when I finished my first lap, they must have seen the 10:30 start time as well.
I just told myself to keep on going and that I could always quit, there was no medal to be had and I was guaranteed my coat. I kept on though. One man gave me a thumbs up on a hill as he passed on my second lap, I liked that, vowing that if I was ever fast enough to pass others, I'd do the same. I'm not confidant that this situation will ever arise.
As I started on the first uphill in the third lap, a weird thing happened. the insides of my knees started to cramp. This has NEVER happened before. EVER. It was so strange. It was painful. I don't know if it happened because there were so many uphills or because it was cold, or a combination of both, but it was the STRANGEST thing ever. I figured I'd just keep going. If it was a cramp it would go away, when I hit the flat and the 2nd uphill it was gone. Then on my third lap after the long uphill a man told me to keep it up and that I'd crushed that uphill. I'm not gonna lie, I got a little choked up at that point. I love running uphill and I know he was just being nice but I was also debating at the point if I should call it quits after 3 laps. I'd noticed that I had not seen the last 2 walkers after I finished 5 K so I assumed that they'd dropped out.
NO! I decided. I would continue. When I finished my third lap the guy was telling people their times and it was an hour 10 minutes at that point. My goal was to run it in 90 minutes. This race was not chip timed and having started the run a little later than the others with only 2.5K left to go I knew with certainty that I would be able to run the last lap in 20 minutes. I always felt good during the last 2 kilometres. And I did! I finished in 90 minutes. This means that I knocked 2 minutes off my previous time. A new personal best! As I ran that last lap, there were no volunteers out stationed in their spots. I figured he, someone has to finish last and at least I finished. Unlike those walking drop outs. There was no one to cheer me on at the finish line and it kind of sucked as they'd even packed up the pylons but I was surprisingly ok with it all.
The day was gorgeous, perfect for a run. I love my winter running and I felt SO good in that last lap. I'm always happy to finish 10, it's far. Not many people run it on a regular basis (including me, apparently). I just listened to my Game of Thrones audiobook and enjoyed the day, even pushed myself a bit and I felt it a very rewarding race.
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