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Tuesday 15 April 2014

Run For Retina - Race Report

The forecast was for rain, and the highway was wet as I drove to Jen's place to collect her for the race.  She was walking her dog.  She takes such good care of that dog.  Off to Tim Hortons for the traditional bagel with peanut butter. It's the food you need for the struggle to come. I unpacked my new shoes and put them on.  This was my first time wearing them.  

"Do you have Gu?" I asked.  

"Yes, of course."  She showed me her handful of them.  

"Any extra? I'm out and didn't get any at packet pick-up."

"At the house."  There was time, so we went back to her house, and she got me some Gu packs.  Like me, she buys them by the carton. It would have been nice of me to ask for them when we were here the first time.  Off to the starting area.  Traffic is light, and there's some free parking on the street. In the municipal lot, you would have to pay the Sunday rate.

"Where's my fanny pack", Jen asked, looking around the back seat. It's not there.  I looked under all the seats. 

"You carried your wallet in hand into Tim Hortons, so I know it wasn't abandoned there." I offered. "Do you want to go to your house to look?"

"Yes"

"We don't have time."  It was a rhetorical question, meant to find out how important the pack was.  Maybe we could come up we an alternate strategy.

"Oh!  I remember."  She opened the lid of the shoe box.  "I was being organized," she giggled.  There was the pack and her Gu, in the shoe box.  
Jen 5 minutes before the start

It was chilly but not bad. We wouldn't be shivering, or have to carry extra clothes. There's not a big crowd, so we didn't show up until just 15 minutes to go.  There was hardly a line at the porta-potties. The race start area apparently was under water just a week ago when the spring runoff peak flow went through.  A couple muddy patches remained.
Me 4 minutes before race start

Our course began by heading north a couple kilometers, then turned around to come back.  The 5 km race uses this northern leg.  We then headed west along the river, using the same course as the 10 km race.  The river scenery was lovely.  The trees haven't begun to sprout, so it felt like late autumn, with them all bare, and the ground covered in leaves.  The sun came out as we made it back from the north leg, and continued until turn around in the west end.  Fine spring weather. Local charities love this course.  There's no need for police to be stopping traffic.  We go underneath bridges where each of the streets meet the river, and through a tunnel under the railway embankment. 
Jen adjusts the fanny pack

For the first time, I listened to music while running with someone.  It's a long way, and I feel much better when running to music.  I mostly used only one ear, pulling the headset of of the one on Jen's side.  

Normally I don't concern myself with race times. How did Dr. Seuss put it, "They run for fun in the hot hot sun."  Today, Jen said she wanted to go for 2:30, which I thought was possible for her.  I figured about 7 min/km, and checked my phone for our time at each marker.  We started off slow, and were several minutes behind schedule by 5 km, so we picked up the pace.  We had no washroom breaks;  that would have ruined us.  After turn-around on the west leg (about 13 km) I began to nag regularly to keep moving, keep the pace, keep the legs turning over.  She held on to our necessary speed finishing in 2:30 plus a few seconds. Good job.  This bodes well for the Mississauga Marathon in 3 weeks. She's much better prepared than last year for the Good Life.

1 comment:

  1. Great to see both you and Jen running strong. Good luck in Mississauga!

    ReplyDelete