Always Give It Your All - Mississauga 10km Race Report

Those of you that have been reading this blog since the beginning know about my last experience with this race - you can read about it here.  I vowed not to have that happen again so this time I didn't run out to the start line.  I don't think my legs would have let me run the 13km out after riding 75km that morning anyway.  Instead,  I had G drive me out to the start nice and early.

We got home from our ride around 1:00 pm and I stretched, showered and made some scrambled eggs (thank you Burnbrae Farms!).  I encased myself in compression and sat my butt down on the couch.  I can't sit still for too long so about half an hour later I was up getting my race attire ready.  I pinned my bib on my WTP singlet and laid it out on the kitchen counter.  I took the envelope with the timing chip in it and put it off to the side with a mental note to make sure I put the chip on my shoe before we left.

I puttered around a bit more then sat down again.  This time I was really tired so I told G I was going to have a nap and asked him to set an alarm.   I napped for about 30 minutes and woke up feeling incredibly groggy and out of sorts.  I contemplated having a shot of espresso but decided against it.  Instead I had 2 cups of almond milk with a scoop of vanilla protein powder and a teaspoon of espresso powder.  YES.  Jet fuel.  I gathered up a few more things and threw them into a knapsack.  I grabbed my Garmin, ipod and sunglasses and told G I was ready to go. 

We got to the race start with roughly 40 minutes to spare.  We parked in the lot behind the Tim Horton's at Lakeshore just east of Clarkson.  I hopped out and went in to use the facilities.  I then went and did a short warm up run.  My legs felt heavy when I started out.   As I went along they started to feel a little better.  I got back to the car, shed my warm up jacket, took a Roctane and had G snap this little gem.  Nerd Alert!

I kissed G goodbye and ran off to the start of the race.  There was still at least 10 minutes to the start but the start line was jammed full!  I had to duck and weave through so many people to try to get close to the front.  There were also a ton of kids as there was a school relay.  A lot of them had situated themselves up at the front so it was difficult for me to get too close to the start line.  I wasn't too fussed though as the road was wide and I knew from last time the the crowd disperses pretty quickly.

I stood in the start corral and listened to Rod Black introduce the young girl that was going to sing the national anthem.  She was adorable and did a great job.  After the anthem, Rod chatted a bit more with the crowd about the weekend races.  I glanced down and my shoes to make sure my laces were ok when I suddenly realized I was missing something.

I didn't have my timing chip on my shoe.  I had left it at home on the kitchen counter.  YOU IDIOT (insert Jeremy Clarkson voice here).

I felt my heart sink.  I've always heard no chip, no time.  I whole slew of curse words went through my head.  I thought about throwing in the towel right then and there but then I thought no, you're here to see what you can do on tired legs so shut the eff up and run.  If it doesn't count it doesn't count.  Suck it up.

The gun went off and I crossed the start trying not to get too caught up in everything.  It's a downhill start so my first km was sub 4 minutes.   As the pack thinned out in the first km, I was joined by a guy on a bike.  I could see another guy on a bike just ahead of me.  He was with the girl that was in front of me.  So 2km in and I think I'm in second place.  Kilometer two was also a sub 4 minute km.  I knew there was no way I'd keep that up so I tried to slow myself down.  10km is a long way to go when you're going hard and I knew that if I didn't pace myself now I'd seriously pay for it later.  The guy on the bike stayed just up in front of me.  It was like dangling a carrot.  It actually kept me focused.  I had no idea where the 1st place girl was and I didn't really care because all I could think about was the fact that this entire race was probably not going to count.  I was so mad at myself.

At about the 4km mark I was right beside the guy on the bike and I asked him if I was indeed the second place female.  He said yup.  I said I didn't have my chip and he said just tell them your name when you cross the finish line.  I thought oh ok, that makes sense.  But I still thought that it wouldn't matter.  But I kept running hard.  4:02, 4:05, 4:06.  I could see the 1st place girl just ahead of me.  Probably about half a km ahead.  At about the 7km mark, I started to struggle.  My legs were feeling the 75km I rode that morning.  They were also feeling the lack of speed work.  My Garmin beeped and I saw 4:15.  Yikes.  I picked it up again and got even closer to the first place girl.

We went running through this lovely neighbourhood just before we got into Lakefront Promenade Park and there were tons of people cheering.  I ran by a family that yelled "Go on, you can get her, you're so close!"  I actually laughed and said No, it's ok. (WTH??) I was still convinced that it wasn't going to count and that if I passed her, I might be called a cheater - because there was no record of me crossing the start line.  I kept thinking about Rosie Ruiz.  I know, I have a bit of a flare for the dramatic.  And it's not like I was on track to win the Boston Marathon but still. 

As we came into Lakefront Promenade Park I got within a few hundred meters of the first place girl.  I could see her just ahead of me.  I couldn't tell if she was struggling or not but I didn't care.  My normal killer instinct was nowhere to be found.  I let my mistake get the better of me mentally and I threw in the towel.  Had I not forgotten my chip, I know I would never have given up the way I did.  I would have turned myself inside out to catch her.

I came running down the path towards the finish and I saw G and yelled I forgot my chip.  I heard him laugh and say Oh well.  Nice.  Just before the finish line I saw Nicole and Sam who were cheering wildly.  I smiled and said the same thing to them - I don't have my timing chip.   You can see me saying something in this shot, ha ha.  So not flattering but then again most running photos aren't.

Thumbs up - thanks for this Nicole! 

I heard the announcer say Here comes the 2nd place female!  I crossed the line and kept walking.  I was incredibly pissed off and not sure what to do with myself.  It was even caught on video (see below, ha ha).  People told me I wasn't far behind the first place girl and this confirmed it.  I know had I dug deep I could have made up the gap. 

I walked through the finishers chute, collected my medal and thought I might as well go to Sports Stats and tell them I didn't have my chip.  I made my way over to the booth and explained everything and they reassured me they had my time down.  They had me in the system already since they register your chip, name and bib number when you pick up your kit at the expo.  They told me to stick around for the awards.  I went from mad to happy in 2 seconds.   My official time was 40:51.  Just over a minute off my 10km PR from 2013.  Considering my lack of speed work, I'll take it.

Of course there had to be a photo op with the Burnbrae Farms banner.  A huge thank you to them for giving me the opportunity to do this race.  I hope I did you proud! 

I got a bit of a lecture from G when I told him everything.  He said that you should never give up just because you "think" something to be the case.  As usual, I let my thinking spiral down to the worst case scenario situation. All because of a little black chip.

I've definitely learned my lesson.  The next race I do that has those chips, I will make sure the first thing I do is fasten the chip to my shoe.  I might not be so lucky the next time.

Anyone else forgotten something important on race day?

My Big Phat Crazy Weekend

Monday.  You are always such a slap in the face.  Especially after a most excellent weekend.  The sun was shining, it was finally HOT and I got my first bad tan lines of the season (yay for perma shorts!).  I could have easily kept that party going but alas, I'm not independently wealthy so I have to work now so I can play later.

I had the Mississauga 10km scheduled on Saturday even so that meant I had to get my race kit on Friday night.  I ducked out of work a bit early so I could get over to Port Credit.  Made my way in and out of the expo fairly quickly even with a stop at the Burnbrae Farms booth.   I grabbed my swag bag and headed home.  The folks at the Mississauga Marathon know how to do a swag bag right.  Look at all the goodies!

I was exhausted so I hit the sack early.  We had planned on a 3 hour ride for Saturday so we were up and out the door by 7:30 to meet the gang for 8:30 am in Inglewood.  We couldn't have asked for a better day.  My legs felt pretty crappy but the fabulous weather and company more than made up for it.  We ended up riding 75km which was more than enough for me.

My 70.3 World Champion Friends!

Happy Socks and Post Ride Treats

We got home and I showered, stretched and had a bit of a nap.  My legs felt heavy.  I also wasn't sure what to eat so I had some scrambled eggs mid afternoon and then just before we left for the race, I had a scoop of protein powder with some almond milk.  I figured I needed something in my stomach.  G dropped me off at the start of the race, I did a warm up, took a gel, fought my way through the crowd to get to as close to the front as possible and then we were off.  I'll save the full race report for another day because there is a good story in it.  But suffice to say, even though my legs didn't feel great I still managed to pull off a sub 41 minute 10km and I ended up as second place female overall. Pretty pumped about that.   Of course this is how I celebrated.

Sunday I got up early, skipped my swim and hopped on my new road bike to ride out to the Mississauga Marathon race course so I could cheer on some of my friends and a couple of my athletes.  Nicole was running the half AFTER running a 15km "warm up" (coach's orders) and Mike was doing his first marathon.  I found Nicole and Sam just before the 16km mark.  Both of them were smiling and happy, which was awesome to see.  I saw my friend Kiki as well who decided to race last minute.  Gotta love her.  After I saw that crew, I got back on my bike and rode out to Clarkson & Lakeshore to about the 22km mark of the marathon.  I was hoping I'd see Mike here but then figured it might be better for me to go further down the road so I doubled back and rode into the subdivision that was part of the route.  I saw the men's leader who had a huge lead on the second place guy.  I then saw Emma who was the bike marshal for the 3rd place guy.   I rode along and eventually came to the aid station just north of the 28km mark.  I sat here and waited for Mike.  I didn't have to wait too long.  He came motoring along.  I took a picture and let Caitlin, his fiance, know that I just saw him.  I sat there for bit longer and then decided to ride down and see if I could find Mike.  I found him again just before the 25km mark and I rode with him for a while.  He hit the turnaround so I turned around and stuck with him on and off along here.  He went into the little park and I rode up Clarkson to my original position at the aid station.  I waited here for him.  As soon as I saw him I could see he was struggling a bit.  I kept him company all through the subdivision.  He had to stop and walk a bit so I rode ahead.  I kept Caitlin in the loop with texts every so often.  I stuck with Mike from 30km almost right to the finish.  He had a tough go of it but he finished and I'm really proud and happy for him.

So this weekend was a BIG one.  As was my week for the most part.  I think I pushed myself a bit too hard this past week so I'm going to take a recovery week this week.  No high intensity anything.  I have a massage scheduled on Thursday night that can't come soon enough.  This is how my week went down:

Monday:  Pilates
Tuesday: 80 minute trainer ride with power sets, 45 minute weight workout in a.m.  10km run in p.m.
Wednesday:  2200m swim
Thursday:  OFF.  I was still wiped out from Tuesday's workout, ha ha.
Friday:  2100m swim
Saturday:  75km ride,  10km race, 2km warm up, 2km cool down (14km total)
Sunday:  43.5km ride

Total time:  12h 4 minutes

I keep having grand plans of getting out and doing a long run of 19km but I haven't been able to make that work yet.  I"d like to get at least one 21km run under my belt before race day.  And I need to start getting more bricks in.  Even if it's just 10 minutes off the bike.

How was your weekend?  Who else raced?

Some Eggciting News!

Happy Good Friday!  Those of you that follow me on Instagram may have seen these pictures.

Well, I'm eggcited to announce that the wonderful folks at Burnbrae Farms have graciously sponsored me in to the Mississauga 10km on May 2nd.  That is my third race on the schedule and one I definitely want a re-do at.  I ran it in 2011 and due to some bad timing on my part, what would have been a PR and an age group win, didn't happen.  You can read all about that adventure here.

Burnbrae Farms is a Canadian business that has been in the Hudson family for over 120 years.  If you ask me, that's pretty impressive as far as family business legacies go.   When they approached me about this ambassador opportunity,  I jumped on it.  Eggs are a major part of my diet.   I eat eggs for breakfast pretty much every day and I often snack on hard boiled eggs.   So needless to say, this is a match made in heaven for me, ha ha.  I'll be cooking and baking up a storm this weekend thanks to the folks at Burnbrae! 

My pre-ride breakfast this morning!

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of their Easter weekend!  How are you celebrating?  

The Race That Almost Wasn't

The alternate title to this could also be "Every Second Counts".    Because realistically had I gotten myself ready a little bit faster, I would have been a happy camper instead of sorely disappointed.

On Saturday night, I ran the Mississauga 10km.  I was scheduled to do a 25km run with a 10km race pace segment so I figured I'd run out to the start of the race, which was 13.2km from home, run the 10km and then do a 2km cool down.  It was a perfect plan.

Sue, my favourite partner in crime, was also going to do the race so my wonderful husband offered to pick her up and drive her out to the start line.  Knowing this, I packed a bag with stuff that I didn't want to run out with, but would need to race with.  Like my race bib.  And my GU Roctane and my Saucony sleeves, just in case.  I loaded up my fuel belt with a couple of bottles, some money, a couple of gels and my phone and headed out the door.  I gave myself an hour and 20 minutes to get to the start.  That would be a very nice leisurely pace and a good warm up.

I ran along Lakeshore at a nice easy pace.  It was actually a nice evening, despite the rain.  Not too cold and hardly any wind, which was great.   When I hit Port Credit, I noticed that traffic had started to get quite bad.  I then noticed the police redirecting traffic up Stavebank Road, which meant that you couldn't cross the Credit River on Lakeshore.  Hmmm....not good.  I called Gary and gave him a heads up.   I figured it wouldn't be too hard to find an alternate route.  Boy was I ever wrong.

I got to the start line with about 15 minutes to spare.  I called Gary right away to find out where they were.  The answer I got was not what I wanted to hear:  "Um, we're not sure, we got redirected".  Awesome.  He asked me to look up the nearest cross street on my phone because he didn't have his GPS with him.   So I hung up and tried to do that but my GPS didn't seem to want to work.  I called him back and told him as much as I could about where I was and he said he'd call me as soon as they arrived.  So I got in line for the porta potty, figuring I was going to miss the start anyway.  I get out to see the crowd filing into the starting corral.   I start pacing as I'm getting antsy.  And cold.  I was quite damp from my run over. 

The countdown to the start begins and I watch in dismay as everyone jockeys for position.  At this point I was ready to just say screw it and go find a pub.  The gun goes off and I start walking away from the start line towards Clarkson as I figure that's where Gary will be coming from.  I am watching an old man get into an altercation with a police man about not being able to drive to his street when my phone rings.  It's Gary and from what I can tell they're almost there.  Great only 5 minutes late so far.  I am somewhat comforted by the fact that I'm seeing other runners tearing towards the start line.  Apparently several other folks misjudged the traffic as well.  I finally see Gary and Sue and I start peeling off my fuel belt and jacket.  Gary tries to help me but I snap at him to drop my bag and let me deal with it.  I grab my race belt, stuff my jacket and fuel belt into my bag and start rummaging around for my sleeves and gel.  I get the gel and start eating it, Sue says she is going to use the porta potty so she runs off saying she'll meet me at the start line.  I finish my gel and start running only to see that the start line is in the process of being torn down.  CRAP.  As I get closer I see they are pulling up the timing mats.  CRAP CRAP CRAP.  I yell "one more runner coming" and they stop.  At this point I have no idea if my timing chip is activated or not.  I assume that it is since I crossed the line as the mats still looked like they were all down.

I then start running like someone who was being chased by rabid dogs.  Heart rate?  What's that?  Oh right, it's redlining right now.  I didn't care.  I just wanted to catch up to the tail end of the pack.  I quickly caught some walkers and then gradually started picking off some of the back of the pack folks.  I caught Sue and she said she didn't make it to the porta potties because she saw them tearing everything down.  I chat with her for a bit, wish her well and take off again.  By the 3km mark, I had made a good dent into the group.  I was still running a whole lot faster than the folks I was running with so that was a bit frustrating.  Nothing I could do about that except do my best to get around people without running them over.  That proved to be a challenge on the bike paths so I spent a lot of time running in the grass.  I figured that once I caught the larger part of the group that I'd ease off a bit but that never happened.   Not really the way I had planned on racing that's for sure.

I started to hurt a bit around the 8km mark.  I looked at my watch and I had hit 8km in 37:14.  2 seconds slower than what I did at the Harry's Spring Run off.  Not bad considering I had run 13km TO the start of this race (vs. 8.5k to the start of the other one)  AND I had been fighting to get through folks for a large portion of the race which slowed me down in some spots.  There was an aid station just past 8km so I grabbed some Gatorade which was just what I needed.  I figured I knew exactly where I was going as the race course is run along the same route I do my long runs on.  Little did I know there was a little out and back on the bike path around the Marina.  ARG.  That slowed me down a lot as there were people coming in and people going out on this one little path so we had to run single file.  I felt like I was jogging on the spot at some points.  Eventually there was a break and I managed to get around the pack in front of me.  I knew that once I got out of that little loop that I was almost done.

I didn't think I had it in me but I started to run faster.  I saw Gary with the camera and I waved.  Only about 500m till the finish line.  I pushed harder.  As I came up to the line I looked at the clock and saw 57:14.  I looked down to stop my watch and it said 46:37.  Holy crap.  That was a P.B. for me for 10km.  Nothing like starting a race 11 minutes LATE to get the adrenalin pumping.

I had hoped that my time had gotten recorded properly.  I saw the results posted but never bothered going to check them. 

I went to find Gary and cheer Sue on.  We found Sue and headed back to the car in the rain chatting about the race and both of us hoping that our times would get recorded properly as Sue had a P.B as well.

I get home, shower and stretch while Gary decided to pull up the results and check.  "Well that's odd" he says.  "Your gun time and chip time are exactly the same but Sue's were recorded properly".  CRAP.   Now I'm annoyed.  Obviously the timing mat had been disabled by the time I had crossed it.  All because I decided to stand around and have my gel.  Had I just grabbed everything and ran, I would have made it.  To make matters worse, Gary then proceeds to tell me that my time would have gotten me first place in my age group!  Ok, now I'm REALLY PISSED.  So if he had actually been on time, I could have been on the podium.  Sigh.


Nothing I can do about it at this point so I have to look to the positive.  I ran a PB with a 13km warm up.  And, as a friend of mine so eloquently put it:

"Think about the gift you gave to the woman who thinks she won your age group, because she would have been number two officially, and now she is happy. You really DID win, but she won't know, so you can both feel like winners."

That and I know I can bust it on tired legs which is going to come in handy in a couple of weeks time!

Squashing the Specter of Self Doubt

After 13 years of running you'd think that I'd have this whole confidence thing down pat. Well, I don't. I have doubts. And I have them often. Although to my credit, I have gotten better over the last year or so. I do see that my hard work is paying off but....yes, there is a but.

But what?

Really there should be no but. I put in the effort, I train hard and I eat well. I am seeing results from this. Why do I doubt in my ability? I have tried very hard to answer this question. I think I expect so much of myself that I worry that maybe, just maybe, I won't live up to my own expectations so I start to doubt that I'll actually be able to do what I set out to do.

Silly, I know.

How do I stop this? Well, today I just went out and ran. I was supposed to do 20km but that turned into 21. I haven't done a long run since April 22. That's over 2 weeks. Between recovering from the Good Friday 10 miler and getting a cold, there was no chance for a long run. I was apprehensive when I walked out the door today. It took me a little while to get into a groove and the constant wind blowing in my face at about 25km/hr didn't really help either. But I chugged along nicely once I warmed up, hoping of course that the wind would be at my back when I turned around. I actually ran 21km because I didn't realize I had passed the 10km turnaround point. I was feeling really good. Sure enough when I turned around, the wind gave me that bit of an extra push and my hear rate dropped nicely. I felt good until about the 1hr 25 minute mark. My legs were starting to feel tired and sore. Not surprising. I soldiered on. At about 1:35 in I was starting to get sloppy. 5 minutes later I figured, ok, I'm going to push the pace home. Wow. That was HARD. I got to a point where I just couldn't make my legs go any faster. BRUTAL. I pushed as much as I could, up my street back into the wind. I was 1.5 minutes faster on the way back.

I didn't really finish strong but, I finished. And considering it's been 2 weeks since my last long run, I can't really complain. I pulled a 1:54:20 21km out of the blue. I'll take it.

Next week I've got 25km scheduled with a 10km race pace segment. Good thing I've signed up for the Mississauga 10km next Saturday night. I'm going to run 13km out to the start and hope that I can hang on to 4:45 km's for the 10km. We shall see. Getting that race / run under my belt will definitely be a step in the right direction to squashing that nasty specter of self doubt!