Last week I mentioned that I had entered my first 10km race.  As promised, I wanted to share my results and how it went down from start to finish….line!  My initial goal was to finish in 55 minutes, but after a few test runs I realized 57 would be more realistic. How’d I do? Read on to find out…

I woke up early on Sunday feeling refreshed from a good night’s sleep (going to bed early with Netflix on a Saturday night pays off!) For breakfast, I stuck to my favourite pre-run meal: two slices of Ezikiel bread toasted with peanut butter and coconut butter (the best combo ever!) and a handful of strawberries.

Next, I made sure I had everything ready to go: water mixed with Vega Sport Energizer (I swear by this stuff!), phone, headphones, Mio Alpha heart rate monitor, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, change of clothes and post-race snack. My husband and I made the short drive to Gyro Park and got there about 40 minutes before the 9:00am start time.  As soon as I arrived I could feel the energy.  Trail is a small town and this fun run is part of our annual Silver City Days.  It’s a small race, about 300 people but it is very well organized by an amazing group of volunteers.  It consisted of a 5km walk/run and 10km run.  There was quite a mix of people from young to old to families with strollers.

I pre-registered so jumped in the line and picked up my number.  I had time to stretch and do a little jog to get the blood moving.  It was a gorgeous day. It started out cool but I knew it was going to be hot after we got around the shaded mountain side.  They were calling for +25°C that day.After a quick pee break it was time to line up. Since it’s a small race, there is no corral, everyone just finds a spot.  I was a few rows back as I knew I wasn’t going to be at the head of the pack.  I got my music started and RunKeeper app ready and synced to my Mio Alpha heart rate monitor so all I had to do was press the button (or so I thought).“Bang” goes the gun and we’re off!It only took the first kilometer before people started spreading out.  That’s when I noticed I didn’t get my update from RunKeeper through my headphones.  I didn’t press the button! OK. Frustration sets in. I rely on the app to give me updates and coaching throughout my runs.  I find it really motivates me and now I was going on without it.  Yes, I could have stopped and taken my phone out of my arm strap and fiddled with it and got it started.  But I didn’t want to stop, I didn’t want to slow down.  I did have my Mio Alpha which keeps my pace but it’s in miles and I wasn’t sure of the conversion.  So I went forth blindly, although I did end up checking my watch every kilometer and doing the math in my head.

Can’t beat this view!

My pace was going pretty good.  I got to 5 km at around 27:30.  I was feeling great and then the heat set in.  The 6 and 7 km point was a struggle for me but once I hit 8 km I knew I had to push it those last 2 km.  I really wish I had turned on my RunKeeper so I could have checked my pace afterwards – ah well, you live and you learn!

The crowd and volunteers were great, cheering you on the whole time.  It was fabulous!  I crossed the finish line just as the clock hit 58 minutes, 58:03 to be exact.  I finished 9th out of 12 women in my age group.

Real live action shot! Sprinting to the finish line 🙂

No, I didn’t hit my goal.  Was I disappointed? At first, yes.  I’m always too hard on myself – I can’t help it, that’s just my competitive nature.  But after talking to my running friends they made me realize that it was a really good finish for my first 10km.

All in all, it was a fabulous day.  I had amazing support from my family, friends (shout out to S. Dawson xo) and most importantly, my husband who is my biggest cheerleader, photographer, motivator and holder-of-stuff. I’m so lucky I had him with me that day.

So now what? Well like my friend warned me, I’m totally hooked! I’m considering a half marathon in September. Stay tuned!