Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Sporting Life 10km Race Recap

Rain, rain go away come back some other day ... Mother nature must have heard me and decided to hold off the rain until after the race. 
It was a prefect race day morning nice and cool, the temperature was 18C and NO rain in sight. 
For my 1st 10k Race I picked the Sporting Life 10k. It takes place in Toronto and runs down Canada's most famous street - Yonge Street with the finish line just outside of Fort York.
The race is mostly downhill with a small uphill at the 3k mark. It is considered one of the fastest Downhill 10k's and a great place to set PR. 

I spend most of my Saturday running around trying to find Coconut Water, apparently there is a shortage... some sort of problem with the supplier not being able to meet demand. DARN, I was really counting on that to keep me hydrated during the race. 
I also had to run out and buy a hat after so many of you suggested that this was a MUST have for a rainy run. 
HOW could I not have a hat?? 
You SEE I'm not a athlete or I should that say I was never and athlete and really never saw a need for a baseball/running hat. 
Funny story... my hubby actually gave me a baseball hat as a Birthday present YEARS ago and I was actually MAD at him as to why he would think I would ever wear one. I took that sucker back and got myself a nice Sun Hat. 

I also laid out my various running outfits, since I wasn't sure what the weather was going to be like I had: running tights, Long sleeve running shirt, running skirt, running tank top, windbreaker... You can see I was VERY confused by what to wear.
More confused was I by how to attach the timing chip, I was worried it was going to fall off during the race... but I finally figured it out and the chip never moved once during the race.

I'm excited that we get to keep the timing chip as a souvenir!! AND certainly this was much better then the ankle bracelet I had to wear at Harry's Spring Run-Off.

I started my morning bright and early ... 5:30am, and actually managed to get a good 7hrs sleep. 
I tried to keep Breakfast simple as with my last race since it worked out so well.
 

A bowl of Oatmeal with 1/2 Banana and a cup of Green Tea, and since I couldn't find Coconut water I took the easy road and had some Gatorade before the race. I don't think I will be doing that again, I'm not a Gatorade drinker and I just don't find it did anything for me.
I made sure that I had my Oatmeal before 6am, that way I would have plenty of time to digest and it would not affect my run. This works perfect for me.
Since the Family was not going to be able to join me at the race, due to Hubby's injury  they did the next best thing and watched the Race Online
How great is that!! The Kids absolutely loved it and didn't feel left out at all. 

I decided to go with my favorite Running outfit; 
what else but a running skirt. Seriously if you haven't run in a skirt yet you need to try it, I'm sure you will love it as much as I do.

Once at the Race site I could NOT believe the Sea of people as far as my eyes could see. It was just AMAZING to see all these runners lined up all the way down Yonge St.. They were expecting over 14,000 runners and it certainly felt like it.

All Race picture were taken with my Blackberry, hence it being blurry
I was in the Purple Corral which had an estimate time of 1:15hr for the 10k, I felt comfortable with this time. I positioned myself in the middle of running pack and anxiously awaited the sound of the horn. 
Our Corral was 'released' at 8:21am and off we went without a hitch. Most of the runners around me seemed to be running at my pace, which when I checked Dennis (aka Garmin) was WAY faster then I usually run. I felt good and didn't think that I need to adjust my pace at this point so I continued. 
The km's where just flying buy and next thing I knew I was at the half way mark and I was ONLY 28min into the race. 
I'm not quite sure what happened, but it seems that as soon as I hit the 5k I started to have a twitch on the outside of my knee and a pain that ran all the way down the side of my leg that was getting worse with every step I took. (Now I know that this is called IT Band Syndrome, on Sunday at the race I just knew that it was a nuisance and I wanted it GONE)  At that point I took a minute walking break to see if I could walk it off, but when that didn't help I stopped and stretched my leg and massaged the area, nothing seemed to help the situation. 
I was NOT going to let that get to me, so what if I wouldn't finish with my estimated time. What mattered was that I was there and that I was running. That I had the courage to take this on even when it seemed impossible. 
So the rest of the way I ran when I could and walked when running was too painful. 
I was so happy to see that finish line!!
I manged to run across it with my arms held up high, stopped Dennis and saw the time was 1:10:16!!
HURRAY ME!!
  Thank you to the nice Girl at the finish line that offered to take a picture of me with my Blackberry!! 

Look at my BIG Smile! Injured and still came in below my estimated time!! 
YOU bet I'm Happy and I will be back next year to beat that time and come in under the 1hr mark FOR SURE!!


Results:
Chip time: 1:10:16.1
Overall: 10225/11918
Females: 5339/6691
F35-39: 795/961



Everyone received a Tech short sleeved Shirt and Medal. Overall it was an Amazing experience and I can't wait to do it again next year and set a new PR for this race as well as receive a medal without any spelling mistakes
 I really didn't run DOWNTOEN

Although 10k seems like impossible distance to run, I am prove that NOTHING is impossible and everything is achievable with a bit of training. Just believe in yourself.
Even when I was hobbling down to the finish line I was thinking that I would be back next year and what possible race I could do next, could I even do a 1/2 marathon in September?
I certainly did catch the running bug and I like how it makes me feel like I can do anything. 


Thanks for all your emails, tweets and comments on the blog they have been overwhelming!!


Now an update on Hubby, he went into surgery on Monday due to his separated Shoulder. The Surgery took way too long due to him having some complications with his heart. 
He is now on blood pressure medication and we are going to see a Cardiologist sometime this week when he feels better from the surgery. We are hoping that this was just from the sever pain he was in during surgery which quite common.
I'm playing nurse (minus the outfit) for the next couple of days.
Can't wait to be back out running.

13 comments:

Paige (The Last Doughnut) said...

Great job!!! And the medal is beautiful!

marie said...

Yeah, we had a good chuckle over those medals & I couldn't believe no one noticed it sooner.

Congrats.

Marlene said...

Excellent recap!

I noticed that spelling error on the subway ride home and had to laugh. How does that happen?!

Congrats again!

Kirsten said...

Great job! Congratulations again on your race! You did amazing!

RobinLK said...

Yay, Claudia!!

You ROCKED your 10K!! Great job and terrific recap - love the pictures, and yes, I'm a running skirt gal, too! Just feels fun! The downhill would've torn up my knees from the outset, but I'm glad you hung in there and did so well. That's so cool! Love the bling (and the misspell: OMG!!!)

Hope hubs is doing a bit better today. When he asks for the outfit (as mine would!), you'll know he's on the mend. :)

HUGS from Orlando!
robin

ajh said...

Great job! Love the medal and a 10K that is mostly downhill! Fun! Glad you have caught the bug and good luck to your hubby!

dynagrrl said...

Way to go!!!! The typo cracked me up no end! I had such a great experience at the race and am signed up and ready to go with the September Waterfront Half. Yippie!!!

Anonymous said...

awesome race recap. sounds like a pretty amazing race. i wanna do it next year! yay

Jill said...

That's just too funny about the medal, I can't believe someone official didn't notice that before all of them were made! Nice job on the run, sounds like a great time!! Oh, and I love that skirt :).

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about your knee, but way to go on finishing the race. That is awesome, and you still had a really good time. Congrats on finishing your first 10k!! :)

Jess said...

That is an AWESOME TIME for an awesome race :) Good job! I want my first medal. Soooooon. And I want a tech shirt haha.

Your running outfit is so cute!

See, I knew you could do it. You went out there and kicked ass. Good for you! I'm super proud of you.

Nancy said...

Hi Claudia,
Our mutual blogging friend Emilie of onemominmaine.com shared your blog with me. I love it! So much in your first post in particular rang really true. We have a lot in common except I started out about 5 pounds behind you [as in, my behind has 5 more pounds on it than yours!]. I ran my first 5k in April, having been a total non-runner for 41 years. It was great to read about your first one and also about your 10k. Way to go!! I can see that you have chosen really great races with awesome schwag! So far, I have one cheap cotton tee-shirt, but I love it all the same! I'll be following your progress--it's nice to read about experiences that are potentially just ahead for me. I love Emilie but she's a bit out of my league! Check out my blog about running and our family at www.makingourmarks.blogspot.com
~Nancy

Samantha said...

I did this race too! Its just a great course and really well organized. It was my second 10K and is my current PB. I can't wait for next year so I can compare my results!
It sounds like you had a great time which is fantastic! Good work!!