Whoop, whoop…I finally ran a race for me and didn’t get hurt! Ba, ha ha ha!

Seriously, though…I probably had one of the best races one could have after 10 months of physio (Massage & Osteopath), 4 missed races, lots of volunteering and 2 FRIGGIN’ injuries. Thank you for all your comments on the blog, on twitter, on Facebook and the text messages and phone calls I got from family and friends this past weekend. I’m surrounded by amazing and supportive people and I greatly appreciated ALL of your comments.

I’m going to try and capture it all but will do it in two posts…I know, I know….but I have a sick little girl on my hand and need to get ready for a rough night ahead of us.

Vacation!

It took me a while to get over the guilt of leaving my girls for four days. Crazy, I know! I just had this guilt over me for a few weeks thinking I should bring them with me so we could all be together for a weekend. This would have meant Lilly missing two days of school {which I’m fine with} but it also meant all four of us would sleep in the same room. Recipe for disaster for a mother runner!

My parents came to our house to take care of the girls and I left Friday for Prince Edward Island. It was about a 4.5 hour drive. Thanks Mom & Dad!

Once in PEI, Sai and I decided to go out to a British pub called “The Churchill Arms”. The food was awesome! The guilt went away and I was able to enjoy time with my husband and actually relax – like feet up on the couch relax for hours! Gasp!!!

The Expo {Friday}

This was pretty neat for someone from out of Province. It was held at the Confederation Center for the Arts in Charlottetown {Ch’town}. I had no idea where I was going once we got inside but figured it out after I saw a few other runners in front of me. The expo is small but just right. They didn’t give you a swag bag but you could get a bag if you wanted on along with any printed material along the way. There were probably 10 booths set up: Running Room, Fusion belts and a few others but I didn’t stop. I kept walking to find out where to pick up my bib and tried to convince Sai to sign up for the 5k. He wasn’t budging 😉 I got my bib and shirt and was good to go!

My cousin Jennifer works at the library so we went to visit her. You know, it’s ALWAYS great seeing your family when you are away. We chatted for a while and she suggested going to The Gahan House for drinks post race….we kept that in mind.

{Saturday}

We had no obligations Saturday, other then to find a pair of throw-away shirt. We hit up the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market, were unsuccessful at finding a throw-away shirt and couldn’t find “the right poncho” anywhere. We made my favourite vegan avocado pesto pasta for dinner and went out one last time to find “the right” poncho for my run. Fun fact: I had two of these poncho’s in my running container at home, oops!

My poor husband! I’m pretty sure he was ready to kill me Saturday…or loose me shopping. I couldn’t decided what to wear for my run as it was calling for +5C with rain but feels like 0C. WTF  – oh, and I may swear a lot in this post {sorry Mom!}. All day I’d change my mind about what I was going to wear.

I started off with this….

…and ended up in this….

The Poncho look.

Okay, I didn’t run in the sweat pants or the fleece sweater but I rocked the yellow poncho! Thankfully after dinner, Sai recommended we head out one more time to find a poncho, hair dryer since I forgot mine and sweat pants. Gotta love Wally world for some super warm and comfy pants – they were a life saver!

Pre Race {Sunday}

5:27 am I woke up but tried desperately to keep my eyes closed as I just wanted to sleep a little longer. That didn’t work, hence knowing the time I was awake. I got up around 6:10 and started my day. When Sai met me for breakfast I was super nervous. I sat there eating a cold piece of bagel with coconut peanut butter and OJ. My right leg was resting on a chair and my left leg was trembling up and down under the table. Every so often, I’d tried to control the trembling but my leg just wanted to shake. Nerves were totally settling in and I could only eat half  of my bagel. I’d later eat a banana in the car.

We arrived at the start around 8am {note – way too early for a 9am start in the rain}. The Full Marathon started in a different location at 8am and would finish with the half, 10k and 5k runners downtown Ch’town. I am SO thankful we found a poncho the night before as it was piss pouring rain when I met Charlotte, a #RunATCan friend who was running the 5k.

I was wearing my shorts under my sweatpants but decided last-minute to switch out and put on my winter…YES, WINTER running pants as it was wet AND cold at this point. I’m not sure how it happened but the rain went from piss pouring down to a light shower to nothing within 10 minutes of the race starting. As I started to walk towards the start area I ran into another twitter friend, Erin – she was running the 5k. After a quick photo, I went up to the START area and waited patiently as my Garmin caught the satellite. I was super nervous!

21.1 km

There was a little announcement and we were off running…no gun warning. I knew nobody around me, though I made sure to keep an eye on the 2:10 and 2:30 pace bunnies. I started running in my yellow poncho as it was still raining and I was cold. I didn’t want to be wet AND cold starting off so I thought I would keep the poncho on as long as I could.

As I ran with the crowd dodging puddles, pot holes and cracks on the street, I just ran at my pace not those running past me. It took a while but I managed to get into a comfortable groove. My plan was a 6:20 pace, to run comfortably and then push the last 2-5k as I could. Seemed like a good plan to me!

We ran around Victoria Park and I took in the view of the ocean and land off in the distance as the sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds. I looked around and thought…man, I’m lucky! My poncho was starting to piss me off but I wasn’t ready to part ways with it. As we entered my Aunt/Uncles subdivision, I felt comfortable and like I was in my old neighbourhood. I’ve run these streets many times on vacation and while visiting Sai and family. {Newbies – my husband works in PEI as a Paramedic}.

I ran most of these roads and knew what hills to expect or at least I thought I did. I saw a soccer field near the ocean and all I could think about was if a ball went in the water, they’d be screwed! Around 4k, I took off my poncho and stuck it in my belt….that felt awkward but I kept running. Around 5.5k I saw a water station and decided to ditch the poncho.

I felt comfortable and was really enjoying my run. At times, I thought about all my physio (and other) appointments. I thought about all the frigging pain in my hamstring I had but kept running. I ran up hills I didn’t know about and passed people – I felt really strong!

Every so often my watch would beep “behind pace” and all I could think of was “that’s okay” with a smile on my face. I literally said that every single time I saw “behind pace”. As the crowds of runners thinned out, I still felt comfortable. “On pace” would appear on my Garmin and I’d smile more….I was right were I wanted to be! I aimed for a 6:20/km pace but hoping to keep it under 6:30/km.

Okay…..sick kid needs my attention…..I’ll leave you hanging for a day now……………….

Hope you all had a great weekend?

Anyone race? PEI? STWM ? Others?

Have any snow this weekend? We did!