Race Report: AstraZeneca 5k

JUST A LITTLE RACE RECAP :)

The day started out in a very hectic way in our house (one twinner had a semi-rough night and we were all dragging)...so we didn't actually hit the road until almost 8am! (The race started at 9 and we are outside of the city).   Suffice it to say - CRAZINESS! We parked downtown, found out the nearest c-train station no longer existed, ran to catch the train at the next stop over and I arrived at the start line 2 minutes before the race started!   At least I got a warm up in when I ran from Bridgeland LRT to the starting line!

The race itself felt pretty comfortable.  It was MUCH smaller than the mothers day race and way better organized.   The course ran out of Bridgeland, over to the zoo, a loop of the island and then to the turn around point and in for a finish.   There were a couple of hills (and I am feeling them now) and the last hill that curved up to the finish line was the first point in my running career where I feared I might throw up, but there were great highlights too.   First - the rain pretty much stopped during the run.   I had a couple of drops fall on my glasses but it wasn't a downpour or even enough to really wet my jacket.   and right before I hit that hill at the end, there were a whole bunch of kids lined up for high-fives and as I held my hand out, it gave me some energy to kick it to the finish.

I came in as the clock was reading 32:20.   My garmin said 32:05 so I knew I was faster than my Mother's Day time.  When I finally got home and tracked down the results, I had come in at 31:54 - a new personal record AND that I came in 15th in my age group (which made me pretty happy).  Best of all - I got my first medal!   Never in my life have I ever had a medal for any sport.  Sure, it's just a finisher's medal...but it means I got out there and did it...and it feels amazing!