Race Recap: Minto Run for Reach 10k

I am training for the National Capital Half-Marathon which takes place May 29th, 2011. This weekend, I ran my second 10k on my path to the half-marathon.

The detailed recap of Sunday’s Minto Run for Reach (and the hours leading up to it):

This week was a recovery week in my training for the half-marathon so it was perfect for keeping my legs “fresh” for Sunday’s race. Saturday morning  I realized I had forgotten to go get my race kit from the Running Room. I headed to the Glebe store to pick it up only to find out I had to go to City Hall instead. One extra stop (and parking fee) later I managed to find the pick up location. The kit included the usual bib number, a decent navy blue race shirt, a toothbrush and toothpaste, Tim Horton’s coffee, a pen, and some other promotional material.

In the afternoon, I made my natural sports drink, and prepared my latest pre-run breakfast so I could just zap it in the morning. It’s 1/4 c of dry Bob’s Red Mill oat bran cereal with a tbsp of raisins, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and cinnamon. I boil it in a small pot with 2/3 – 3/4 c of water for about 2 minutes. I top it with 1.5 tsp of sunflower seed butter. It reminds me of a heartier cream of wheat.

I made a concerted effort to drink more than 3 L of water on Saturday. We were invited to a friend’s for dinner so I had no idea what my pre-race evening meal would be. It turned out to be smoked salmon on crostini as an appetizer and ahi tuna steaks with grilled veg. The raspberry chocolate sugar pie for dessert provided the pre-race carbs (YUMMM!).

Got home, put the boys to bed, laid out my outfit, and climbed under the covers.

I woke up on race morning at 6:30.  I quickly got dressed, had my breakfast and headed right out the door. I ran out of caffeinated Nespresso capsules yesterday and shipping takes two business days, so I had planned a stop at Bridgehead for my pre-run caffeine.

It was fantastic leaving without a hat and mitts!

I arrived at City Hall at 7:30. I picked up my chip, finished my coffee and headed out for my 2.5 k warm-up. I added a couple of strides (little 25-50 m sprints) to try to wake up my sleepy thirty-seven year old legs.

I then ran inside sipping a bit of sports drink, checked my jacket (LOVE the bag check), and headed back the start. I ran into my friend Pete who was running the half-marathon. Chatting with him for a minute prevented me from getting the pre-race start jitters.

As the horn went off, Pete and I wished each other good luck and we headed across the “beeeeeep”. I turned on the Garmin and the iPod and kept telling myself to “stay slow, stay slow”. I ran with another guy for the first 3 or 4 k. We were running exactly the same pace. And then he slowed a bit so I let myself go ahead. When I started to see the faster guys at the turn-around, I really wanted to speed up. So I did a bit. But I was still holding back.

My favourite song came on just before the 8k mark and that gave me a boost. Finally, when I saw the 9k mark I started pushing.

Saw my friend Shanna (Pete’s wife) and her kids just before the finish. It was fun to have them cheer for me. I look forward to my guys joining me at a run; the one car family thing is somewhat problematic for this…

I stuck to my race plan this time! And it worked. And I felt strong and relaxed throughout. What a difference a month makes. Oh, and the weather, the training, and the absence of ear/sinus issues probably didn’t hurt.

girl in background on left side of photo passed me while I slowed down to smile for the camera…

Last time I crossed the finish and heard the time, I was mad at myself because I didn’t break 50 minutes. This time, I was proud and happy, but then I questioned whether I could have done better because I still felt like I had gas in the tank. I ran another 2.5 k to complete a total of 15k (to count as my recovery week long run) and added in a few hills to get rid of that extra energy.

I went into City Hall and grabbed a cup of coffee and half a banana from the Vittoria Trattoria (event sponsor) table.

From the race result website:

45 Liisa Ottawa ON Chip Time: 48:44; Pace 4:55; Category Place (Women 30-39) 5/31, Gender Place 8/90

Next up:

May 29th, National Capital Half Marathon

And then: June 19th, Alterna Do it for Dad 10k for which I am fundraising and raising awareness for men’s cancers (prostate and colorectal) – click here if you’d like to donate in support of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. The funds from this event are earmarked for cutting edge robotic surgery technology.

I’ll end this post by praising my training plan which, knock on wood, will continue to help me improve and stay healthy. I also want to send a shout out to those who are encouraging me and coaching me – Mathieu at Greco, and Donna, Jeanette, Sherry, Jean-Pierre at Elation Centre. All the advice is working (so far) and really helping me to enjoy the process! Imagine that – as usual, the experts know best.