This past Monday I ran a 10k race with two good friends, it was a holiday here! One, my running buddy Krystol and the other is an old friend of mine, Lynn. We went to high school and university together and have remained great friends since then. Both friends are rock stars; mama’s to two children and are what I would call amazing role models.

Lynn has been running for a while now and I have always said “let’s do a run together”. The only problem is she lives in Ontario and I, in Nova Scotia. We’ve joked over emails and the phone that one day we’d run together but then reality snuck in and we managed to do it 🙂

With her family still in Nova Scotia and vacation time at its prime, she asked if I wanted to run a 10k while she was home, I said yes of course! Even though my original plan was to take the summer off from any races and just run/train for the half, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

Monday morning I woke up at early o’clock to get ready for the run. I left the house at 6:01 to meet Lynn and make our way to the run in Porter’s Lake, about 45-50 minutes away. It was a small run with just over 200 people registered and took us along a gravel trail. We arrived around 7 and hung out in the car before hitting up the porta-potty – hello…runner’s best friend! We spotted Krystol and her family and went back to my new car 🙂 and dropped off our bags. Yup, I said new car…the last one bit the dust.

After a few announcements we did a warm up and this time I did not forget to start my Garmin. They had a clock but it wasn’t official chip time…so I went with my Garmin time 🙂 Oh, and don’t be jealous of our warm up picture below 😉

In no time we were off and running. Krystol was on the left, me in the middle and Lynn on the right. The weather was grey and raining but it was perfect for an August run. We dodged puddles and had soakers within minutes but were running at a comfortable pace. It was all good!

The kilometer breakdown:

1 – 5km: The first 5 km’s were great. We all had a good steady pace, were chatting away, enjoying a little rain and having a great time. Just before the 5k marker I thought I was on track for a new PB and picked up the pace. I quickly realised it wasn’t going to happen and backed off…heck I still had another 5k go to.

Then came the turn around point at the 5km marker.

5 – 7km: As we ran around the pylon on the gravel trail and it felt like everything changed instantly. I felt like I hit a wall! My legs were heavy and I wanted to walk between kilometers 5 and 7. I kept thinking in my head that Krystol and Lynn were good to go so I should be too.

There were many times when I wanted to ask if they wanted a walking break but I didn’t…nor did they ask. The conversations moved towards one word answers and maybe even a few “uh-ha” … mumbles. It was hard going for all of us.

7 – 9km: We seemed to settle back into a more manageable pace with our breathing under control. I kinda felt like it was getting warmer out however it could have just been the humidity. I said when we crossed the main road, I’d pick up my pace to finish strong.

9km: All three of us picked up our pace a little more around the last kilometer marker. As we came upon the main road we had maybe 100m to go and I could see the clock ticking away at the time. We picked up the pace and sprinted to the finish….this was the longest sprint of my life {even with soccer}.

1 km: 5:40

2 km: 5:44

3 km: 5:35

4 km 5:38

5 km 5:46

6 km 5:48

7 km 5:59

8 km 5:57

9 km 5:54

10 km 5:24

I was SO close to a 10k Personal Best and missed it by 7 seconds! Lynn and I finished in 57:24 {Garmin time} and Krystol about 10 seconds behind us. Lynn could have easily left us in her dust a few kilometers back but she didn’t and Krystol got a new Personal Best by almost a minute! Way to go ladies 🙂

What an awesome run!!!!

Do you run with friends?

Have you hit a wall in a 10k race?

Road running or trial running during a race?