The Run Aftermath

I survived. You would think that would be automatically assumed, but I honestly wasn't so sure. I had never felt so unprepared both physically and mentally for an event than I did that morning.

It was cloudy and a little rainy as we walked into the mass of people preparing for the race on that Sunday morning. Shiela and I walked up and down looking for people we know and specifically my parents as my mom was running the half marathon (and she did it in a great time!), but we couldn't find them. I did a quick little warm up run for about 50 metres, pretended to stretch a little and then it was time to go. I stripped down to shirts and a long sleeve shirt under my Hbc Run for Canada shirt. Although I knew I couldn't finish the run this year in less than an hour I still wanted to try, so I found the 60 minute pace bunny who is the guy who is guaranteed to finish at the 60 minute mark. So if you want to finish in that time all you need to do is stick with him and you will too.

The gun went off and we all took about 2 steps forward and then stopped as we realized that 2300 people couldn't all go across the start line at the same time. About 1.5 minutes later I crossed the start line and off we went. About 200 metres into the race I realized I just wasn't prepared for this thing, but there was no turning back now.

I wasn't running with anyone in particular this year and was on my own. I had my headphones in my ears, but I never actually turned on the music. I was enjoying the sounds of the run and eavesdropping on all the people talking around me who thought I couldn't hear. The run was going really well for me until I hit the 3KM mark. It was here that thoughts of walking started to enter my mind. I was feeling tired and wanted to walk so badly, but no one else around me was walking so I decided to push on.

At about the 5.5KM mark I turned to go north on Victoria and a few fans were on the corner cheering me on including Shiela. That's always encouraging and I flashed them a smile as I went by although inside I was feeling tired (see video below)

The run north on Victoria to the river is amazing as it is slightly downhill. I started to feel pretty good at this point and was actually enjoying the run. I turned down the steep road past the bridge and realized I only had 3 km left to go. I glanced at my watch and thought maybe I could finish in 60 minutes, but since the pace bunny was so far ahead of me I couldn't see him I figured that probably wouldn't happen. I was running good and then came to Saskatoon's heartbreak hill...the hill up Saskatchewan Cres. by Rawlco Radio. Last year I died going up this hill, but this year I was mentally ready. I charged up it and refused to think too much about it. As I plodded along I suddenly had some encouragement from the sidewalk. I glanced over and my dad was on his bike pedalling beside me giving encouragement. That was great as he was the one who also helped me up the hill the previous year when I was exhausted. I made it to the top and with only 1KM left to go my dad pedalled ahead to the finish to see me cross.

That last KM felt like a lifetime. I'm sure they made a mistake and it was actually 3KM or more because the finish line looked so far away. But then the guy running beside me said that we could bring each other in...so the two of us ran together that last stretch and kept each other going right to the end. And as I crossed the finish line I glanced at my watch and realized I had actually beaten my time from last year...I finished in 1:01:32.

I gave a high five to the guy I finished with and then we parted ways to never see each other again. I saw Shiela and gave her a hug. I was surprisingly feeling pretty good and a lot better than last year. My legs were starting to stiffen up already but overall I was very happy with my time and can't wait to run again to finally reach my goal of finishing in less than 1 hour.

Over the last two days my legs have been so stiff I could harldy walk. I played soccer Sunday night yet and by the end of the game my legs hurt so much and I think I pulled a muscle in my left leg. On Monday I could barely walk at all and had to walk very slowly when I did. But now, Tuesday morning I'm feeling a bit better and my legs are getting back to normal. Hopefully they are ready for soccer tonight!