29 and under 29

Good thing for friends! As the running season wound down, my friend Steph tried to convince me to join her in the MEC Race 7 Half Marathon. Ha! For those who have been reading these (rare) blog entries, you'll know why I immediately declined.
But maybe... I thought. Maybe a 10k is a good goal. THAT will get me out training more.
Only it didn't. I sat inside and ate chocolate and thought a lot about going out for a run, but the thought never seemed to transfer to reality.

Along came a blessing in the form of another friend, Leslie, who happened to invite me to run in the 5k distance of the same race.

At first we negotiated between the 10k or the 5k, but in the end I was happier to run the shorter distance with her. Thank goodness!

It was a gorgeous day. I sent the champion Steph off on her half marathon with a cheer, then lined up for the 5k with Leslie.


We chatted happily the first half of the race. Unfortunately, in my over-exuberance of wanting to catch up with Leslie, I also got a bad stitch. Rats! While I kept up the conversation, I also focused on breathing deeply to try and break up the stitch. No go.

By 3k I stopped chatting altogether, and I'm happy to say my stitch started to disappear. Unfortunately, I was doing my typical wheezy breathing that stems from my [exercise-induced] asthma. It was par-for-the-course for me, but I'm pretty sure I started to frighten my poor friend. She diplomatically suggested we slowed down. Slow down? Ha! I was in my wheezing glory! This was the grit of the run, where I buckled down and huffed my way to the finish line. Slow down, my foot!
"I'm...fine!" I rasped. "This...is how...I sound...when...I run."

Leslie didn't seem reassured. She politely asked if it would be okay to run ahead of me.

In the true spirit of running, I never hold a grudge for those who want to speed on ahead. I will admit to just a little jealous that she was going to kick my butt in the race, but then, most people do!
Instead, I focused on my A-Goal, which was sub-28.30 (this A-Goal was developed during the course of the race...I was hoping for sub-27 or sub-29, and settled for a middleish ground).

Off sped Leslie, with me labouring behind her.

 No, the clock ticking 1:48 is not actually for my 5k race time! That's the marathon timekeeper.

Final Time: 28.28min

I hung around for a bit after the race to cheer on Steph, and was delighted to run into Rachel and Tucker who had also come as support (Rachel having run a PB in the half marathon the week before!).
Steph finished with her own amazing PB.

Among all these speedy champions, I still felt pretty happy. I may have been a good 5min off my own PB in the 5k, but hey, I did complete my last 5k as a 29 year old in under 29 minutes. It has a nice ring to it. I'll take it!
Sounds like a podium finish to me...for all involved.

 Steph, myself, Rachel and Tucker celebrating the day