Who is going to drag me across the finish line?

This was my punishment for being too cocky: running a 10k race.

Since crossing the finish line at Race Weekend, I’ve been dragging my feet when it came to running the 10K Barrhaven Run for Roger's House. I found the 5k on Race Weekend to be difficult to complete. How was I going to run 10k? I can’t even remember when I signed up for this race, either. It must have been done in an fit of euphoria after finishing a good long distance run. Damn those endorphins.

The day before race day, I contemplated switching from the 10k to the 5k. I was even going to ask to make the switch when I picked up my race kit. But since the line was so long, I didn’t get a chance. Volunteers were rushing to hand out kits to people standing in line. Obviously, it wasn’t a good time to ask. Then I thought about not running at all after reading the course wouldn’t be closed to traffic. When darling daughter woke up Saturday morning and we discovered her dotted rash turned into massive red welts, I thought there was no way I could possibly run when my child was suffering. Turns out she wasn’t suffering at all. No major illness. The rash continues to be an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin. According to the doctor, if it isn’t bothering her, she’s fine.

Out of excuses, I decided to put up, shut up and run. If I was going to run a 10k race in June, Saturday was the day to do it since it wasn’t too hot or too sunny.

I put the following plan into action: survive and cross the finish line upright on my own two feet. Since I wasn’t running with anyone, having someone else drag me across the finish line was out of the question. So it was all on me (and my Sauconys) to get it done. I also told myself that I would take a walking break at the 5k mark to refuel and get some much needed water in me. I’m starting to learn, and appreciate, that walking breaks may be helping my running in terms of improving time.

As the air horn sounded the start of the race, me and about 350 other runners were off and running. By the time I hit the 1k mark, my pace was a bit too fast (six minutes). At the 2k mark it was back to my normal pace time and at the 5k turn-around point, I was on target at 33 minutes. Lately, I’ve found that the second-half of my runs turn into crap, so a walking break was needed. Once I found a good place to start walking, I got out the fuel gel (which was disgusting) to replenish my electrolytes. I had a three minute walking break, got to the water station, got more water into me, and dumped about three cups onto my back. It felt glorious.

At the 7k mark, I was still on target, but things got a bit iffy at the 8k mark. I took a small one minute walking break before getting back to the task at hand. Once I got to the next water station, I walked a bit to get water into me as well as to dump more water on myself before running to the finish line. I was glad to see the giant blue arch marking the end of the race route.

My official chip finishing time was one hour, nine minutes and 25 seconds. Not bad. I’m not about to complain. I did it. I finished what I set out to accomplish and that is good enough for me. I’ll worry about improving my time at a future race. I’ve also decided that I won’t be running any more races until the fall. But I think I may have talked dear husband in running a 5k next weekend. It will be nice to cheer from the sidelines for a change.