Soooo much fun went down at this race day! I decided a couple of weeks ago that I would run the 5km race they offer at this race venue. The big deal of the day is definitely the marathon and half marathon, but the timing was perfect for me to run the 5km at 8am, and hop over to the start area of the full/half to watch them start! Papa was running his first real* half marathon that day, so I didn't want to miss it!
*He ran the half-marathon of the Goofy Challenge with me back in 2012, but he didn't really train, as he was trying to surprise me ;)
The 5km race started at the Exhibition, so Papa dropped me off there, and headed toward the starting line to find parking and get himself ready. It was a very cool morning, but the sun was shining and I could tell that the conditions were going to be great for his race!!
As I was doing my 1-2km warm-up run, I realized my Garmin was frozen. This is the second race this year that this pesky little problem has happened. It was plugged in right up until we left the house, so I am not sure what happened, but I was quite disappointed :(
I knew after some active warm-ups (a's and b's, strides) I would have to find my friend Tricia and her husband Robert at the starting line. Robert is speedy and I hoped to cling to him during the 5k, so now it was even more important to stick with him as I had no way of knowing my time until the finish clock.
As I scanned the (very large) crowd in the first corral, I heard someone calling my name. It was Tricia! Yay! She is such a sweetheart, and offered her Garmin to me, but of course I could never do that! She told me to wiggle up to the front to find Robert.
I felt like kind of a jerk squeezing through the crowd toward the front, but I wanted to find him, so I kept at it. Sure enough, I found him! We watched the minutes tick by on the clock to the gun. O'Canada was sung, and it was time to go!
The first kilometre went well (I think). At least that was when I was still with Robert. I think he started to pull away just before kilometre two, and man, did he ever pull away! He kicked up the gusto and I just wasn't able to stay with him. I was on my own from there, and I hated being so clueless as to my time.
I turned the corner toward the last 500m, and the crowds were awesome! People were cheering like crazy! In the last 75m I heard "go Robi go!" which was odd. Was that for me? Really? I was focused on the finish, and the disappointing time on the clock, but I tried to finish strong (20:30). I met up with Robert (19:14--a Personal Best for him!!--and Bronze in his age group!) and congratulated him on a great run.
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| Post-Race, myself and Speedster Robert. I made the photographer take one of us together (marathon-photos.com) |
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| Those hashtags are very personalized inside jokes, of course! |
The crowd of runners in the first wave was HUGE. It was soooo hard to find Papa. Next time he is going to have to wear a big funky costume or something. We just started yelling, "GO PAT!" at all of the runners rushing past. Of course, many men (who I can only assume are named Pat) turned to look our way, but not Papa (that I could see). I was certain that he was on his way, and that he would have a great race!
After a quick trip back to the car (where I changed into warm clothing--I really hope no one saw my nearly naked clothing change...I tried to be discreet) Steph and I headed to the nearest Tim Horton's to get some hot liquid!!
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| Janice and I, trying to elbow into a good cheering spot |
I couldn't help but check my phone to see my sportstats.com finish time and placement while we walked to our cheering spot. I had shared my goal of being in the top ten of my age group the day before, so I wanted to see just how I did.
Well. I was ninth female OVERALL! yahoo! And, FIRST female in my age group! double yahoo!
That meant I had to go to the "awards" tent to claim my extra medal! 5km + 2 medals = awesome!!
Here are the official numbers...
Time 5km: 20:30
Overall: 84/6488
Gender: 9/4100
Age Group: 1/559
We cheered our hearts out for all of the runners (oh, so many runners) that passed by (while engaging in some chatting too--I'm not going to lie). All of a sudden, Steph spotted Papa! He was going to finish this thing!! (and in a really good time, too!! 136:57)
He was happy to finish, and felt really great.
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| Sharing the lovely sign our boys made for Papa |
He vowed that he won't do a race when he has to rush into work again, as it takes all of the fun out of celebrating afterwards! Good idea!
As you probably know...the Marathon that day had some historic record-smashing, and I am so proud of the notable Canadian women that smashed the record!! What an inspiration Krista Duchene and Lanni Marchant are to women's running!
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| Look at those smiles! (source) |
But it is a true story. Remember when I won the International Bridge Race? I bragged about Lanni in my blog post about it back then, too. I am really stretching the miles out of this, aren't I??
After a wonderful race day such as that, I can't help but lace up my shoes and head out for a run! I am eager to see what the next race holds!
Happy Running!
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