Well folks, we did it and we survived! This was the first time for each of us to race a 30K (18 mile) distance. And, for me, this was only the 2nd time I have ever run this far. I have done several 25-28 k runs but only once before did I run 30 k. I have a full-marathon in my schedule, 5 weeks from now, so I thought this would be a good training run to prepare me for that. It certainly was that. This was quite a hilly course and at times, I thought they were playing a joke on us by how steep the hills were. Some may think I am exaggerating but in my mind, that was for real! The last 10 k are through rolling hills and I mean rolling…
Anyways, on to the event details. You will see other recaps this week on the event so I won’t include everything. I will leave some things to the others.
We hit up the race expo on Saturday to pick up our race bibs and packs. There were a lot of great booths there and I wanted to look more but for me, there were too many people and I wasn’t interested in weaving through all the people to look at stuff so we didn’t spend too much time there. Our race packs came with a long sleeve tech shirt and a hat. Both very nice and very comfy!
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Sunday morning came and we were up and at it by 7 am. Race start time was 9:30. We arrived around 8:30, hit up the washrooms then waiting to be herded to the corrals. We all stuck together before the start. We were about 6 minutes back from the starting line after the gun went off. Once we crossed over the starting line, we wished each other well and were on our individual ways. I saw Mike up ahead of me for a bit, then lost sight of him. I put my iPod on and my head down and powered away.
The weather ended up being very nice for a run. It was about 3°C/37°F and sunny which really helped.
I would have to say this race was as equally challenging to me physically and mentally. I took some of your advice from comments on one of my posts from earlier this month and mentally broke the run up into 3-10 k runs. It really did help so thank you!
When we originally signed up for this race my goal was to finish in 2:45 but then after the last couple weeks and really struggling with some pain in my left foot and right hamstring I thought I would take it slower and hoped to finish in 3:00. I listened to my body throughout the run and kept a pace that was comfortable and did not push myself. I ended up finishing in 2:41:24 so I was very happy with that. I did do a positive split throughout the last 10k of the race with brought down my overall pace but I didn’t mind that at all.
At the finish, we were handed a bag and some items of food and drinks and then our medals.
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I found Mike and we headed back to the car to get our change of clothes and came back to meet up with Michelle when she finished. The race finished inside the First Ontario Place so we were able to have a warm spot to sit in the stands and see Michelle finish.
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This was our view of the finish area.
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As we were sitting there, I said to Mike “why are they playing wedding music?”. Mike looked around and noticed that there was actually a couple getting married right by the finish line.
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Not sure what the story is behind that but it was kinda cool to see that! Congrats to whoever the couple is!
After we all finished, we were starved and needed some food immediately. Michelle found online that there was a Mother’s Pizza close by so off we headed to get our post-race fuel.
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It was everything I thought it would be!! Delicious and nutritious!! Right??!! I left with a full and satisfied belly.
All in all, I am glad we did this race and I am happy with my finish but I am not so sure I will be rushing to sign up for next year.
Did anybody race this weekend?
What was the weather like to run in?
