First 10k Race

Sporting Life 10k May 2nd 2010
Chip Time: 56:56.9
Average Pace: 5:42/km
Overall Place: 5776/11901
F25-29 Category: 535/1407
F Category: 2242/6685

On the day before, I was so nervous. Like sweaty palms and pacing around nervous. So to keep me occupied we went and got Rohan a new bike helmet and that took 2 hours from walking to the store and back. Then I went out for a yummy dinner with Erin and her family and Marlene. It was great to finally meet some of the people I’ve been talking to for the last couple months. Saturday night just after I packed my bag and made sure I was already set, Tom reminded me that Dr. Who was on TV so I stayed up till 10. A bit later than I wanted to be up till but that was ok.

My watch alarm went off just before 5 and I am so glad I set it because my regular alarm clock didn’t go off at all. I ate some breakfast and got dressed and headed over to my friend Tania’s house. We grabbed Lorna and off we went to parking on Exhibition grounds so we could grab the shuttle buses up to the starting line. We got there just before 7am and had a driver who apparently didn’t know her way to the start line so it took us 45 minutes to get up there. One of the best things we did was to hit the first set of port o potties we saw. They were the furthest away from the start line and at that time there was a tiny tiny line that’s all. After that we walked down Yonge towards the start and our corrals. We talked about our running plans for the summer and fall. It wasn’t too busy yet when we first got there but the crowds were definitely forming, so we decided around 7:40-ish to get into our corrals. Tania and I were both in the blue one and she wanted to stay in the front and I was going to head to the back before the race started but it got so crowded so quickly it would have been pointless to try to get back there so I stayed in the front too. At 8am they got ready and started counting down for the 1st wave to go and that gave me some butterflies. Then when the 2nd wave got walked up to the start line we got to follow them and that was exciting to see them take off right in front of us. We were literally right in front of the starting line when us the 3rd wave got to go and it made my stomach flip to realize that we were next. Tania and I wished each other good luck and got ready to run.

The horn went and off we went. I planned to start out slow and that was working for me though it was hard to not get caught up in the crowd and everyone cheering. It was so great to see the excitement from the little kids on the side lines and to just be a part of that. I was still being passed by people around 2-3k and they were just huffing and puffing and it took everything I had to not tell them to not kill themselves by pushing so hard so early. Just before 4k I took a small walk break to take a good drink from my handheld (which was a life saver with all that humidity we had). I was able to keep going well and around the 5k mark my watch showed 27mins so far and that cheered me up to realize I definitely could be under 1 hour. The bands playing along the sides every so often helped a ton in keeping me in good spirits, 2 of them even had me doing a dance in the air with my hands. I took another walk break just after the 7k water station. The woman who was in front of me apparently tried to thrown some water down her back and basically missed her back and almost got me. That woke me from my zone and I realized how thirsty I was. Around 8k (realizing there were only 2 more to go) I got into a great mood. There was these two late teen guys in front of me and one looked like he was really dragging it at this point. A volunteer was trying to cheer them on to keep pushing and apparently they didn’t like that. In the mood I was in, I decided to help out and as I went past them I turned and said “Only 2 more to go. We can kill this. Whoo” I’m pretty sure they didn’t like me either after that.

When 9k came and you could see some of the people who had finished walking along the side of the course with the medals on, that just gave me the drive to go. So I picked it up and ran harder. Just before I saw the finishing line I happen to glace over and saw Erin’s daughter, but it was too close to the end to slow down a bit to try and see Erin. I just started sprinting towards the finish and starting passing a shit load of people. As I crossed I raised my arms in the air. The adrenaline that got me through that last bit was insane and I almost started crying as I walked with the crowd to the finishing area. According to my watch it was just under 58 mins and I was thrilled for my first 10k race.

I quickly went through the finishing area and got my medal and a banana and juice box. I got a quick stretch in and went off to find Tania and Lorna to see how they did. We all met at the car and decided that coffee and breakfast were on the top of the order list. We rode the way back to the Beaches all talking about how we did and things that were going on around us during our runs. Got to the restaurant and of course after I ordered my wonderful bacon and egg meal do I remember that I can only a bit at a time after doing any runs over 7k cause my stomach can’t handle it. So I had quite the take out bag to bring home. Got home and found my chip time from Tom since it was already posted online. I was so glad to be home and just hang out with the kids after that crazy morning.

I loved the race, and the experience. It was great course to do for a first 10k and I will definitely be doing that one again. Now I just have to figure out what to with my medal.