This was my first running race of the year. I signed up on a whim, a week before. My intent was to run it to try out my pacing for the Mississauga half marathon three weeks later. It’s been a bit of a rough month in my household. We’ve had some bad strep infections and a six year old in a full leg cast from a March break ski accident. Things were looking up when I registered and naturally, as if the fates were mocking me, the next day the wheels fell of the cart. Another bad cold had hit me. In addition, bad timing on my part, but my hormones were all over the map due to finally weaning my youngest child. By Thursday night I was a mess. I’ve never not run a race I’ve laid down cash for. I’m too cheap. So I prepped my gear and set my alarm clock for the Friday morning race. I figured I would assess how I felt in the morning.
When I awoke, I felt lousy but since the baby was up too, we headed down for breakfast. After I ate, I felt marginally better. I knew the race course was two loops, so I thought, worst case scenario, if I feel like I’m dying after the first loop, I could always call it a day. So off I went. On the drive there I started feel feverish. I’m pretty stubborn and will train through many sicknesses, but will not exercise if I have a fever. So here I was heading to a race planning to break my golden rule. I wasn’t terribly thrilled with the idea.
Nonetheless, I parked at the GO Train station, and waited for the shuttle bus. Turns out I was at the wrong lot and ended up waiting for a while but in the mean time had a nice chat with another runner. Upon hearing my scratchy voice she was convinced I was nutty. A bus finally showed up and took us and a few others to the school and start line. I checked my bag, used the washroom and headed out to the start line. No time for a warm up really, I ran for a few minutes. Gun goes and we’re off.
My original intent was to maintain my half marathon goal pace of 9:00 min/mi until the last 3 miles when I would see what I had left, if anything. First mile went off okay and kept an ambitious 8:49 pace. Second mile I was still managing to hold 9:15 but that was it. Mile 3 and I was done. By that point I was struggling to maintain a 10 minute mile which isn’t much faster than my easy long run pace . I was sick and it showed. I saw a few Team Running Free athletes out there and shared some passing words of encouragement. As I passed by the cheering crowd at the finish line after the first loop I ended my day. One spectator yelled, “No, don’t stop, keep going! You can do it!” No, not today I told her. Ain’t gonna happen. And so I have my first ever DNF. Which, really, is too bad. It was a lovely run course and a well organized event. I’ve already decided, as long as the fates allow, I will be back to finish next year.
