It’s taken me way to long to put this post together…not because I didn’t want to but our vacation got in the way. So … here you go!

Friday June 27th I left work early (booked the afternoon off…I didn’t play hookey) and picked up the girls. We drove to Halifax (really – Dartmouth) and picked up my race kit. Red t-shirt, bib and sunscreen! That’s it. I was actually really pleased that they didn’t give me another bag to try to figure out what do to with it after the race. The sunscreen was AWESOME – though I forgot it on race day and had to ask a volunteer for some 🙂

We had a family dinner {pasta} and birthday cake for my sister-in-law {yes, I totally had some}. We got the girls bathed and in bed later then normal but  we were on vacation so it was ALL good.

Saturday June 28th

I woke up at 5:30 am before my alarm went off at 5:40 am. You see, my Dad was going to look after Hilary while Lilly and my mother were coming to the run with me. When Dad woke me up, Hilary had been asleep beside me…HAD being the important word. So, he climbed in bed with her and they slept until 7am apparently. After that she snuggled with my sister until 9 am – totally taking advantage of being on vacation and taking advantage of snuggle time with everyone! Good job Hilary.

I got Lilly up at 6 am and she was ready to go with in minutes! She was excited to eat breakfast in the car – ha ha – I made it something big and special the night before so she’d be excited about it in the morning. Worked like a charm.

6:40 am – We left the house and drove over to Dartmouth (25 minutes in no traffic), parked the car and walked towards where I thought the start line was. Nope, I was walking towards the finish and desperately needed a port-a-potty. So we turned around and made it to the start before the port-a-potty’s were even open!

7:30 am We met up with Krystol and took a few pre-race photos 🙂

Pre-Race with my big girl:

Just before the start of the race they played “Oh Canada”. This was the first race I’ve been at that they did this – it was because the run was a Canada celebration. It was still pretty cool. I had my necklace on backwards and quickly turned it around so that my girls names where facing outwards. Finally, I was ready.

There wasn’t any organization to the start line so we just jumped in a random spot. Mistake number 1. It was like running through a very narrow sea of people in red…we could hardly move. Dang, I thought. After dodging a few people here and there, Krystol and I were off and running at a good pace.

First Km: 5:25 (fast past for me)

1-6 km The first 6 kilometers of the race were actually pretty good. It was super hilly but I was ready for it, mentally and physically – or so I thought! We were in and out of the shade which was refreshing and awesome. Main roads, through a subdivision and then into Shubie Park.

Hills, Hills and more hills. I was doing okay until 6.5km and took some water/walked a few steps. Mistake number 2. Don’t STOP for water…water is fine but don’t STOP running. Krystol was running strong.

We started up one steep hill and this is where things went wrong for me. Mistake number 3. I walked AGAIN instead of pushing through the hill. The distance between Krystol and I grew a little more here and for some stupid reason, I took more walking breaks then I really needed to. It was all a head game from here to the finish line. Dang! I even thought that I should have been listening to music to push me through the mental game that was now taking place in my head.

Around the 8km mark, I started to feel better on the flat part of the course but wanted to give up as the direct sun was pounding down on us. The last two kilometers were on a trail/main road and was fairly flat until the end. I walked more and more (bad Piper) and then pushed it up the last hill…..

All I wanted to do was puke but still had to turn the corner and make it to the finish line which looked like it was miles away! It was slightly downhill so I pushed it and sprinted to the finished line. I managed to finish behind Krystol by 2 seconds.

She got a PERSONAL BEST and was aiming for a sub 60! She rocked it 🙂 Oh, and then a 1/2 hour later she ran the 5k race too!

My stats:

22/87 Division Total (F30/39 Division)

59:04 Gun Time

58:28 Chip Time

? Garmin Time – I totally forgot to stop my Garmin!!!!!! Bad Piper.

I have to admit I was completely happy with my time but not with my running. I felt strong and steady for a long time and then it all just got to me. In the end, I had a lot of fun and would totally do this run again next year. I loved having Lilly at my run. She got to see so many people running/walking and some swimmers too! I want to expose her to as much as I can so she wants to lead a healthy and active lifestyle too.

Next steps: My plan was to run and have fun this summer as I start mt  training for the 1/2 Marathon in October (Valley Harvest) and two races in  September (Tartan Twosome 5k and 10k – Maritime Race weekend)…then things changed……

Yes I’m going to leave you hanging…. 🙂

Any one race this past weekend?

Anyone do a Canada Day or 4th of July Run last week?

Can you guess as to why I’m leaving you hanging on my next steps?

 

And more