Race Report
- What? Furry Friends 5K
- When? June 2nd, 2019
- How far? 5km
- Where? Oshawa, Ontario
- Website: https://www.furryfriends5k.ca/oshawa
- Strava activity: Furry Friends 5K
Goals
| Goal | Description | Completed? |
|---|---|---|
| A | Top 3 | Yes |
Race Photos
Training
I have not been training as much as I would have liked. I gave up in a 650+ day run streak last year because of some plantar fasciitis, and I’ve just been sliding since then. I’d like to blame my 14-month old daughter, who doesn’t go down until 10:00PM, and then usually wakes up once in the night because she can’t find her pacifier, for the fact that I haven’t been getting out as consistently for my morning training runs, but I have also been just plain lazy as well. I try to run 10-15km per day. I don’t do anything specific in terms of speed work, or hill repeats. I figure I need to work on losing the 30-odd pounds of padding I’m carrying on my gut, before I start focusing on specific training activities. I try to run with Tesla most days as well. I do listen to what she is telling me in the morning. She knows where the turnarounds are for our 5k and 10k loops, so if she doesn’t feel like doing the full 15k – which is becoming more common in the warmer weather, since she hasn’t blown her coat yet – she will let me know, and I’ll drop her off at home before continuing my run.Pre-race
Pre-Race
Woke up the morning of, and went about my usual pre-race routine: muesli with yogurt for breakfast and a coffee. I got Tes her breakfast too and made sure she peed before getting into the car. Tes slept most of the drive down, and I kept my eyes on the rain clouds as we drove through some mist. My wife and daughter were supposed to come see the race, but my wife decided that If there was a good chance that it’d rain, they’d say home. Fortunately for Tes and I, the rain held off, and it actually cleared off towards the end of the race. We got to the race site, I changed into my running clothes, Tes had a, what turned out to be a race-critical, pre-race poop (more on that later), and we made our way to the little expo, and got our registration. After stashing our swag bag in the car, we spent the remaining time before the race talking to other runners (me), and sniffing other dog’s bums (Tes). When the MC called all of the runners to the start line with about 8 minutes before the run began, Tes and I went right to the front – I learned last year that Tes takes off like a bat out of hell at the start of races. I learned this the hard way when we nearly clotheslined some poor girl that happened to be in front of us. Excited to be at the start line, Tes spent the remaining time before the race started barking at me.Race
Race
The race started like all of my runs with Tes: she nips at my hip and then takes off at full speed, dragging my fat ass behind her. At the Burlington FF5K last year, I actually set a 5K PR in no small part to Tes pulling me for the first kilometer. Over the course of the first kilometer, the lead runners took their places. The dog-runner pair I recognized as the winners from last year pulled ahead of me fairly early, and I knew there was no catching them. A little before the 1k mark, a couple – she was running with the dog, he was running solo – passed us too, but I pushed a little to keep them within striking distance. At the 1K water station, Tes tried to stop to get a drink, but I encouraged her to keep going, and we passed the couple on a short downhill, before getting passed again just before the 2.5K turnaround. Here I let Tes stop for a couple seconds to get a bite of water, then we took off back towards the finish. Passing the 3K mark, the lady with her dog was far enough ahead that I didn’t think that I’d be able to catch them before the finish, but then a smelly miracle happened: Tes and I came around a corner to see her dog pooping on the side of the trail! Huzzah! We sped past them, and kept our pace up. The last kilometer was nearly constantly checking over my shoulder. They were close, but I’d be damned if I was going to give up that advantage. Pushing to the end, we finished in 22:17 – good enough for 2nd place in the person-dog division, and a decent time based on my lack of training, but a long way off from my PR.Post-race
Post-Race
Post-race we wandered back to the car where I got changed, and Tes had a bite to eat. We waited at the finish line for some people I knew from one of my running club, then to get our division award.What’s next?
What’s Next
Caledon FF5K on June 9. Clearly that’s already passed by the time I’m posting this. Race report for that, hopefully I’ll be able to write up soon.
