Second 10k, New Personal Best! (Race Recap)

Following my poor race at the Twilight run, I managed to do a 5k and a 7k run.  Both were evening runs as the sun was setting and finished at night.  I felt good about both runs.  I also had a soccer game in which we were short handed, so I didn't want to over do it with the running.  I was registered for the Winnipeg 10&10 and decided to run the 10k.  One, I felt I wasn't quite ready to jump to 10mi (or 16k) quite yet as in my training had not exceeded much more than 9k in my regular runs.  Two, I wanted to improve on my 10k and get a more reputable time. My Twilight run was 1:20, but ideally wanted to get below 1:15.

Friday I picked up my race kit.  It included a bib with the race chip on the back, a shirt, a sample granola bar, a map of the course with a schedule of events and instructions and a pamphlet of Manyfest.  That is a collaboration of various festivals assembled along Broadway with the likes of Food Truck Wars, Farmers' and Artisans' Market, Performances, the race itself and many other attractions.

I was disappointed in the shirt for several reasons.  As you can see in the pic, there's a tear in the logo, which was the result logo being printed on a crease in the shirt.  Upon smoothing out, the print tore, revealing the fabric of the shirt underneath.  I was too lazy to return to the Running Room to ask for a replacement.  In the future, I'll inspect the shirt before leaving, as this is the second time I've had problems with my race shirt.  The last time being given a women's L rather than a men's at the MB Marathon.  The print itself seeped through the porous fabric causing it to become sticky on the inside, thus sticking to my chest.  Definitely cause for concern for possible nipple chaffing.  The shirt also has a funny odor.  I'll throw it in the wash to hopefully remedy the last two problems.  Ed and Bryan both wore compression shirts under their race shirts to prevent the sticking.  I figured it to be a warm day and only wanted to wear one layer, so I wore a different shirt.

I went back to my regular routine of pre-race carb loading and cooked spaghetti the day before.  For Twilight, I ate too heavy, too close to the race and wanted to remedy that.  I made the sauce with chicken breast, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach and mango. 

Morning came and I got up at 7am for the 8:30 start time.  The 10mi race started at 8:00 which Steph, Ed and Bryan were running, so I went alone. I then ran into Janelle at the starting line who was also running the 10k.  My shoes of choice were my 2 toned Air Pegasus, right foot volt, left foot teal.  The race commenced and I started out at a reasonably quick pace.  About 10 min in, I could feel my lower back start to feel sore.  I pushed through it.  Due to my quicker pace, I ran continuously for only 15 min and then fell into 4's and 1's.  Normally I prefer 10's and 1's, but today I could not do so.  Further in, my legs began to feel tired, but I had to ignore them and ran on.  The good news was, my back loosened up from running and the soreness faded.  The route was a there and back course with 5k, 10k and 10mi turnaround points.  The 10k course only had 2 water stations, well technically one, since they were the same one at the 2k mark and again at the 8k mark.  I think they could have used one more, probably at the 10k turn around.  But then again the Twilight Run only had one drink station at about the 6k mark.  To me, it felt like I was running mostly uphill to the halfway point.

I reached the turnaround point and started my return.  At about 5.5k into my race, Bryan ran up to me and nudge me on the arm.  I briefly picked up my pace to keep up and chatted with him before allowing him to continue on while falling back into my own pace.  About 200m later, Ed ran up beside me to greet me.  I again picked up my pace briefly to chat before returning to my pace and letting him run on.  Now on my return, it again felt like I was mostly running uphill.  Over the course of the race, several volunteers complimented me on my footwear as I ran by with the likes of "I love your shoes" or "I like your style".  These comments did give me bursts of energy to run just a little bit faster for a brief moment.  I reached Broadway, I was pretty much running alone, a volunteer had instructed me to cross the street as other volunteers had stopped traffic.  It was the the final stretch going downhill down Broadway past Osborne.  I passed by two other runners before crossing the finish line.  Glancing at the clock, it read 1:34, meaning I finished in about 1:04 (30 min difference in the 2 start times).  I accomplished my goals of beating my previous 10k by about 16 min and also getting below 1:15.  I'm very pleased to have replaced my previous 10k PB with whichever time my official time will be.  (*Edit - official results posted, finished with a time of 1:05:32*).

I received my finishers medal, which will mark my 5th piece of bling.  It is a very nice medal and one of my faves so far, just behind the Fargo medal.

I then got water, a piece of banana, a Subway sandwich, cookie, yogurt/granola and a vitamin water.  Bryan and Ed were waiting further up and partaking in some recovery treats of their own.  I ran into Janelle and Sana, whom I didn't even know was running.  I apparently spoiled the color of our race shirt by posting it on Facebook.  The previous year had been white and this year was blue.  Going forward, I'll restrain from posting my race kit until after the pick up time has elapsed.  We waited for Steph to finish and chatted a bit.  Soon after, we decided to head home and shower before returning to experience the Food Truck Wars. 

Next up, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Half Marathon on October 19, 2013.