This past weekend, Paul and I ran our very first 10k of the season. For me it would mark my 5th run since the Lululemon Seawheeze half marathon back in August of last year. Training wise I had only done (and struggled through) maybe a 4k, 5k, 7k and another 5k over the last 2 months leading up to this run, which I had signed us up for a mere 2 weeks before the actual event. It was kind of a last minute decision but I’m so glad I signed up and am thankful for the experience! I’m definitely not much of a runner and it’s not my favorite thing to do but I am starting to appreciate it a bit more as I incorporate it as part of my kettlebell training. Plus, I need more ‘practice’ runs before this year’s Lululemon Seawheeze Half Marathon. The things I get myself into…
We drove out to Oakville the day before the run to pick up our race packages and scope out the area. Main reason being that there was no way we would have enough time to get to Oakville from Toronto by 6am on the day of the race to pick up our stuff and put our race bibs on our shirts. That’d be a bit much.
On the day of the race, we got up at 5:30am, got ready, made green smoothies, then made our way to Oakville. We, along with hundreds of other participants, parked at Bronte GO station, and had a pretty long wait for the shuttle school bus to get us to the venue. Apparently a bus broke down so they were running a bit behind schedule. It was also a pretty chilly morning, so it was a good thing we wore our jackets and pants instead of shorts. Our start time for the race got delayed til 9:15am.
Once we got to the start line in Appleby College, we began our trek. We kept to a slow steady pace of about 8 minutes per km, taking in the scenic route of city streets, homes, and the waterfront. Right from the first km, I was counting down the km’s before we finished. Although I wasn’t struggling as much as in my training, the run still felt like a shorter version of forever. We also went in the wrong direction at some point because of the lack of pylons/direction but got steered back on course. Overall we felt great and did not feel the need to stop once during the entire 10km run which was a HUGE achievement in itself. No gasping for air either. Breathing was pretty on point. That has never happened with me before. I do feel that my dietary changes over the last month have contributed to this new found energy I was feeling. But that’s a long story, so more about that in another post!
We crushed the Mercedes Benz Oakville 10k together in 1 hour 21 minutes and still had gas in the tank. It felt amazing! My next goal will be to do a faster 10k. Afterwards, we stuck around for the draw to see if we won the 1 year lease for the 2016 Mercedes GLA 250. Sadly, we didn’t win, but maybe there will be hope of winning if we come back again next year!
