Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The Grape Escape

Posted by Anonymous

Good morning everyone!

Sunday, I had the pleasure of running with my sister for her first race ever! She has been running for a little while now and usually does closer to 5 k runs with a few longer ones here and there. When she heard about this race that was happening 10 minutes from her house, she thought it would be fun to try so she mentioned it to me and we decided to go for it.

The race started at 4pm, which is a unique time of the day for a race but hey, uniqueness is fun right?!

We suited up and headed out around 3:30 to get there a little bit early so we could meet up with some other girls.

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Char did open her eyes for the race!

The grounds were beautiful and a different setting than I had ever run in before.

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They had a great big huge tent set up for before and after the race, which was nice because the weather situation was unstable.

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The other girls arrived and we headed to the washroom for our last pit stop before race go time! The bathrooms were outdoors but had running water and flushable toilets.

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There were 3 distances to race…2.5 k, 5 k, or a 10k. The race started right on time and all 3 race categories started together. There were only approx. 100 people running so it wasn’t too bad to start off. We didn’t know what we would be running on or what the course would be. Turns out it was 4- 2.5 k loops. As I mentioned, the grounds were beautiful. I had my phone/camera with me so attempted to get some pics throughout the course.

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The course wound us up and down the grape vine rows, and up and down hills on the grass, which was wet and uneven ground. Felt good on the ol’ ankles and calves.

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I managed to get a couple actions shots too..

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Char’s goal was to finish in an hour even though she had never been able to do a 10k in under an hour before. On our first loop we were going a little fast but we had gained some momentum after weaving our way past people. We slowed down a bit for the 2nd loop. Going into the 3rd loop it started to rain pretty good and we got soaked. On this loop, Char said, I need to slow down a little more, which we never ended up doing. Going into our 4th and final loop, we were at 44 minutes. She looked at me and said, “maybe we can do it”, I said, “I think we can Char”, so off we went. We picked up the pace a little bit and when we approached the finishing shoot area, I looked at the clock and saw that it was just under 58 minutes. Final finish time was 58:01!! I looked at my watch then and realized that the total distance was actually 10.34 km. Char was very happy with that time, especially because we got in that little extra distance!

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There was a dinner being served to the finishers. We waited for the other 4 girls in our group to finish, then we all headed to get our complimentary glass of wine and get in line for the food. By the time we reached the table, they were all out of big plates and most of the food was gone too. I managed to gather a little bit of food to fill my grumbling tummy.

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After we had a few minutes to eat, the awards ceremony began. We were all laughing and having a good time and not paying much attention to what was going on, until we realized the Char was actually getting an award. She managed to place 1st place in her age division!!

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Congratulations Char!! So proud of you and so happy I got to do a race with you!

Ever Race with a sibling?

How do you feel about running in the rain?

10 comments:

  1. Go Char! That race seriously looks beautiful and so fun!!

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  2. WooHoo!! Great job to Char (and you!!) - so awesome that she broke and hour and won her age group!
    I've never raced with a sibling but in high school I used to run with the distance guys - my twin brother hated that because I could beat him!!!
    I just did a race with my youngest son - his first half!!!

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  3. It was a great experience!!

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  4. Ha ha , brothers are so competitive! That must have been great to run with your son!!

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  5. cori @olivetorun.comJune 11, 2014 at 9:44 AM

    How fun is this? I love that you were able to do a race together. However, I thought I was going to see some wine next to that cupcake with a race name that includes grapes ;)

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  6. Well... I actually kept it classy and drank, I mean sipped on it, while I was waiting in line for my food :)

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  7. So awesome that you ran with your sis in her first race!! Nice work ladies, and manage to look awesome in the process. I have paced my sister a few times in races, definitely nice to be able to support family!!! I love running in the rain, something really relaxing yet exciting about it :)

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  8. Laura. You sound like one tough cookie!! You love to run in the rain??? Lol

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  9. Amy @ fitnessmeetsfrosting.comJune 12, 2014 at 2:48 PM

    OMG WAY TO GO CHAR (and you)!!! 1st in her age group for her first race! A lot of pressure for her next race ;) What a beautiful course! I actually love running in the rain if I know it is going to rain, if it's not super cold, and if it is light rain.

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  10. Thankyou!! I will pass your congrats on!! The rain can be refreshing.

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