Monday, November 4, 2013

London Lady's Race Recap

Posted by CheapRunnerMichelle

Welcome to Monday...who's excited for the new week?!? I am!!!! (Only 'cause that means 6 days of work left until holidays!!!! - which especially after the Friday I just had at work...I am very much looking forward to my time off)

Friday night we went to my nephew's 1st bday party. It was at Mike's sister's house - they literally live right around the corner from my work - so I headed straight there after work. #bloggerfail I took no pictures....ooopsie. It was a nice time with family enjoying little Charlie! After the party Rhoda took the kids home with her for a sleepover (how awesome is she), so Mike and I decided that we would head out for a #hotdate...

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Yup that's right - we went to the gym to workout together - I know you can barely contain your surprise at learning how we are total party animals ;)  I'm not quite sure what the machines were called that we hopped on - they were kinda like an elliptical...but on steroids. It was a complete body workout - and both woke up quite sore on Saturday morning. We were just finishing up our workout on the machines - and we got kicked out...that's right on a Friday night - with no kids - we closed the gym down

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We got showered and changed and then headed out to a place close to home that has $4 martini Friday's. Mike decided to go with a Guinness, while I had my martini (or 3).

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Saturday I was off to work - the day flew by since it ended up being a pretty busy day...the raining cold weather must have made brides decide that it was a good day to shop. During the day I received a text from Rhoda about going for a carb dinner on Saturday night (she had a good reason - she was running a 1/2 marathon the next morning...I was only racing in the 5km)....but none the less my arm was twisted - and we all headed to our favourite place to consume pasta...Spageddy Eddy's...it is literally a hole in the wall place down an alley...but the food is sooooo good - and the portions are huge

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Sunday morning we were up bright and early - as it was "ladies" race day. Rhoda arrived at our place just before 8am - and we headed over to the park for the 1st annual

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Kennedy and I did the 5km race, while Rhoda did the 1/2 marathon. For the 1st race put on by this origination - I thought it was ok. I did enjoy myself, but there are lots of things that they can improve on for the future. The race did end up having to deal with some last minute logistical issues - the week of the race they had to change the venue due to flooding at the park/paths where the race was planned for. I thought their communication on this matter could have been better - they announced it via twitter, but never put it on their website nor did they send out an email notifying us of the change. Due to the change in venue, it ended up being the exact same course that I ran back in April for the Run for Retina. So the 5km was an out and back with the turn around right at the 1/2 way mark. The race started right on time (8:30am for the 5km). Kennedy and I started about the middle of the pack...big mistake since 50% of the runners directly in front of us walked up the 1st hill we had to go up at the very start. My 1st km I ran too fast of a pace, but I had no choice, as I had to weave in and out and dodge people. Once I got settled into a pace it was still much faster than I typically run - but I just decided that I was going to keep pushing myself. One thing that the course could have used more of were volunteers. There were many areas of the course where the path splits into different directions - and there was little to no signage or volunteers there directing you (mistake on their part since they did not seem to capitalize on people willing to help out ex. Mike). Like I said earlier - this was the same course I did earlier this year - so at least knew where I was going, but there is no doubt in my mind that many people "cheated" on the course without even knowing it. Well my push through to the finish got me a time of 29min 59sec...I'll take it!!! I really have to push myself to get a time like that since my body is much more comfortable lately at a 7:18/km pace (I finished yesterday with a 5:57/km). I was even happier to learn that I placed in the top 25% of runners, and 15th (of 70 some-odd) in my age group! Once I finished I ended up looping back to go find Kennedy, and I finished out the race with her.

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Mike's sister and the kids as well as Rhoda's sister Miriam ended up coming out (on a v.e.r.y cold morning) to cheer us all on...as well as Mike and Jackson of course. As always it's always so nice to have a cheering squad for you.

So let's re-cap

Cons:
- they started the walkers and runners at the same time
- not enough volunteers
- course was not well marked
- needed better communication - before the race, as well as at in it (I'm sure Rhoda will touch on this)

Pros:
- we all received hand crafted, locally made necklaces instead of a finishers medal
- tons of draw prizes
- 3 grand prize draw winners, values of $5,000, $3,000 and $1,000 (in those prize packages were huge gift certificates to Lululemon!!!) best prizes of any race I've ever been to!
- the cause. All $ from the race was going to the local hospital for the neonatal-intensive-care-unit. We have friends that had a preemie last year - so it's nice to know people who the $ directly effects :)

All in all, despite the freezing cold conditions, I had a great day!

Anyone else race on the weekend?

Anyone else going on holiday's soon? Where?

7 comments:

  1. Nice recap. There were certainly pros & cons to this race but things could have been a lot worse considering this was the first year and the flooding issues. The prizes were awesome, and I also really liked that they just posted the door prize winning bib numbs on a board so you didn't need to wait around in the cold to see if you won something.
    I'm sure the organizers will learn from this experience and build on it, because it sure seemed like a great turnout and an event that the London running community really took to.

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  2. Sounds like a great weekend overall! So awesome of Rhoda to keep the kids while you 2 crazies tore up the town (gym!!) - however the martinis later looked good!!!
    And, those pasta bowls - I just went into carb heaven looking at the size!!
    Great job on the race - did you win one of the grand prize drawings?!

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  3. Sugar Coated SheridanNovember 4, 2013 at 9:30 PM

    Glad you had a good time despite all the cons...I HATE it when they start walkers and runners at the same time if there is not a VERY WIDE designated area where the walkers and runners are separated.

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  4. Closing down the gym and martinis sounds like a perfecto Friday night!

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  5. katie @ fromicecreamtomarathonNovember 5, 2013 at 11:01 AM

    Great job Michelle! Congrats on being in the top 25%! I love your outfit/headband too!

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  6. Way to go Michelle! Sounds like a lot of fun!!

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  7. So gym date followed by Guinness and martinis sounds perfect to me!!!


    I really don't like when races start walkers and runners at same time, it can be very frustrating at the start! Sounds like the race has some work to do but really does have some things going for it- i.e. awesome finishers awards and great cause to support!

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