I love racing

Ok so it wasn't the distance I originally intended to do . . . but it was a PB.

I was scheduled to do the Mississauga Half Marathon but due to IT band injury that doesn't seem to want to go away, I dropped down to the 10km. I was a little disappointed originally but got over that. Decided I would do my best but not to the point of hurting myself. There was no point in healing my injury, dropping down to the 10km and then pushing so hard that I re-injured myself.

The worst part of the Mississauga 10km is the first 3ish kms of hills, so I wanted to make sure I took my time on those, so I kept it slower. By the 5km mat/time I realized I was behind my intended time and was going to have to push it for the 2nd half. So push it I did. I ran hard, I took no breaks  . . . only slowed down through one water station for a few gulps, was going along at a great pace and then we hit the penninsula . . . narrow path that fits 2-3 people max and I got stuck. Arrgghh . . . it was frustrating. I couldn't get around for 3/4's of this path. So then once I did, I hit the ground even harder trying to make up for lost time. Not the best move, even as I was doing it, I kept telling myself - take it easy, leave something for the end . . . So as I rounded the little "bay" and headed towards the finish I was pushing really, really hard. Kept checking my garmin knowing I had only 1-2 minutes and I would miss my goal of under 1 hour.

For the first time ever in a race, I actually felt like I assume one would feel if they had to puke from exertion. I have never gone that hard. I now know what that feels like. I did drop my pace just a little because I was afraid I wouldn't make the finish which was only a few hundred metres away at this point.

And before I knew it I had crossed the finish line - garmin read 59:40. Woohoo! Slowed down, caught my breath and did a mental systems check - all good. Felt good, stretched a bit while I waited for my friend. It was a good race. 

We didn't bother to wait around in the line up for food. Figured we would stop at Tim's since that's where we were parked. The walk to the van was good. Legs felt good. Much better than trying to walk that long walk after the half marathon - lol.

So when I got home and checked my chip time on line, I found out it was actually 59:16. Very happy with this time. And as always, my thoughts are . . . . wonder how much faster I'll do my next 10km . . . "when there's no hills" or "when I'm fully healed" or "when I've trained properly", etc, etc.

I'm sure we all do that . . .