I’ve been working hard at my running goals the last few months and have signed up for a few races. I also have a few on “The List” waiting for when I can afford to pay their registration fees. Some of my goals this year are to:

1. Run 5k under 30 minutes. More specifically, under 29:16 minutes – April 10th 2014

2. Run 10k under 60 minutes.

3. And run my second 1/2 Marathon. Preferably under 2:33:56

The last few months I’ve been “working” at running 5k under 30 minutes and trying to get a PB/PR and have been successful over the last month.  {29: 39, then 29:34, more recently 28:54 –> goal accomplished}

I signed up for the ATF 5k a few weeks ago knowing very little about the event. I didn’t sleep well Saturday night, not sure why but just couldn’t relax and fall asleep. I was up once with Hilary at 1:25 AM and then woke up just after 7am with Lilly snoozing beside me. I have no idea what time she crawled in bed with me so I guess I slept hard 🙂

We got up, had breakfast: bagels with peanut butter, banana’s, a little OJ for me and milk for the girls. Since my husband is away working, my Dad came down to hang out with the girls while I ran. They were all going to come to the run but it was supposed to be rather cold and raining buckets so we decided they would stay home. They ended up playing outside with Grandad for an hour {thank you}.

Flat Piper was ready the night before:

But was real Piper ready?

I got dressed and put everything I wanted to bring in a plastic bag. Plastic bag? I know…I just couldn’t find the right bag to put my “stuff” in. I left the girls and went down to run 1-2k on the treadmill to warm up my legs and then realised I left my key’s upstairs. So much for trying to make a clean get-a-way. Poor Hilary struggles sometimes when I leave her, but apparently that didn’t last long.

As I got to the event, I saw a few youth “warming up”. Oh dear lord I thought…what have I got myself into. I heard music pumping at the start area and I decided to go register/get my bib. I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I really knew nothing about the event. It was a fundraiser for the Rehabilitation Centre and they were raising money for a new Wheel-chair accessible van.

I got my bib and went back to my car to stay warm. A few other runners trickled in and then it was time to head to the start. There were about 15-20 of us running! This is by far the smallest run I have ever participated in…my nerves went through the roof. Young kids, middle-aged adults and 1 senior plus two-wheel chair athletes. Oh My!

The 5k run/walk was open to all abilities. It was great to see Ben at the beginning, he worked in our office a few years ago as an Rec. Intern. We chatted and I took his photo to send to him later. It was time to line up so the group of us gathered at the start behind the youth…off went the horn. My Green Garmin just caught the signal as the horn went off.

I started running with a lady named Mardi – we were behind the youth and then I moved forward a little with a guy named Wes or Wesley (60+ winner), we chatted a bit and then I decided I was ready to move my legs a little faster on the incline/hill.

I was running fast. My Garmin kept beeping at me “ahead of pace”, then “on pace” and back to “ahead of pace”. It was flat and fast. I didn’t want to stop at the water station or drink any water but the volunteer made great efforts to have the water ready for me, so I took it.

At the 1/2 way mark, my Garmin was reading a little ahead of 2.5k but I just kept running anyway. I turned around and started making my way back. Between the 3.5 and 4k mark I slowed down a bit and then pushed it during the last km.

I was breathing hard at this point but the end was in sight……FOREVER! I could see the RED “Running Room” arch and it looked so far away. Just a little before the finish line my watch beeped 5k and read 28:00. I kept running strong through to the actual finish line. It read 28:24….I’ll take both, thank you. I forgot to actually stop my Garmin until a few minutes had passed so I don’t have my Garmin finish time but it said I ran my fastest 5k to date!

{5:33;  5:31;  5:39;  5:45;  5:36}

It was a fun little event, too bad that more people didn’t show up but I am hoping that if they do it again, the word will get out. Great little course, fun volunteers, nice little running community – what more could you want in a running event.

When I got home and started stretching, both of my girls where “stretching” too …it was awesome!

Anyone race this weekend?

Does your Garmin/tracking device ever give you a different distance then what you are racing?

Ever been in a race with a wheel chair athlete?