Sporting Life 10 km 2010

My expectations for this race, my first back at it after having baby number four, were fairly low.  Given that Gabriel isn’t even 7 months old and the bout of extensor tendonitis I suffered in March, I knew my running wasn’t exactly where I was hoping it would be.  My two longest runs topped out at 9 km and speed work, well, hasn’t even entered into the equation yet.  Add in the fact that I caught a cold from the kids and I certainly wasn’t expecting any miracles.  Nevertheless, I had set a goal of 55:00 which I thought was quite achievable on this primarily downhill 10 km race that heads down Yonge Street, right through the heart of
Toronto.

Woke up in good time, extracted myself from the clutches of a certain baby boy in my bed, got dressed and had my oatmeal and coffee.  I had coerced a good friend and her sister in running this race, even though they were woefully undertrained.  They drove over to my place and we all cabbed it to the start line.  Luckily the weather was holding out.  They were calling for thunderstorms but it was just muggy and a pleasant 18 degrees. 

We were nice and early so we walked, chatted, used the facilities at Starbucks and finally located our corrals.   I headed off to the 49-55 minute corral and situated myself near the back, considering my goal time.  Soon enough the gun went and the elites took off.  Five minutes later, my wave started and, along with 12000 of my closest friends, I started to run. 

The first half of this course has some serious downhills so I knew it would be virtually impossible to stick to any pre-determined pace so I had decided to simply go by feel and if my breathing was just under control then all was good.  First couple kilometres I knocked off in 5:10 or so and I was feeling strong.  Skipped the water station at 4 km since I knew I was already well hydrated and in the groove.  I passed through the halfway mark at 25:46 still feeling strong with my quads no worse for wear.  At this point, we were pretty much in the downtown core and my Garmin signal was coming and going so I just relied on my splits to stay on pace.  I knew satellite coverage is spotty amongst the buildings so I had taped a pace band to my watch to help with the mental math.

Somewhere after the 6 km marker, fatigue was starting to show it’s ugly head.  I knew I had gone out a little too hard and that I certainly wouldn’t be negative splitting this course, especially since the last 4 km is flatter.  I briefly stopped for a gulp of water at the next station and soldiered on.  The next few kilometres were a suckfest.  Oh my god, 10 km races hurt as much as 5 kms but last twice as long!  Checked my watch at the 9 km marker and saw 48:00.  I knew I had it in the bag for beating my goal but being the competitive moron that I am, pushed hard for the finish.  To borrow a line from Coach Troy of Spinerval fame, anybody can suffer for 5 minutes!  As we turned the corner to the finish line, I sprinted the final 200 m passing lots of poor souls in the process, resulting in a nearly vomit inducing victory!  Done.  Finish time, 53:31.

Walked down the long chute, got my food, medal and headed to the agreed upon meeting place to wait for my friends.  Oh and wait I did!  They were quite slow, taking an hour and a half to finish.  This included another mid race stop at Starbucks to use the facilities (my friend has a porto potty aversion) and another stop to throw up!

All in all it was a fun race.  Honestly, I love racing and have missed it.  I was convinced that I wouldn’t like this distance but I think I do.  It was a good way to dip my toe back in and prepare me for my olympic distance triathlon in a couple months.  Here are the official stats:

53:31

4185/11913 OA

1304/6684 Female

167/960 F35-39