Where Every Second Counts

So the day arrived.

Sunday, May 20, 2012.

That date that was the sole reason for sore joints, blood blisters, the occasional 3 day limp, bruised feet, iced knees, triumphant defeats of previously unimaginable hurdles, possibly a couple of choice words while eyeing the hill ahead or realizing an undesirable number of kilometers are left in a run, and non-jersey shore fist pumps when crashing through another 'longest distance ever ran by me' goal.

The date loomed as my many injuries / setbacks threatened my success. There was no possible way I could catch up to the training schedule after my snowboarding fall and doctors orders to stay off the treadmill and out of the gym until my immune system bounced back.

Through BBM and text messages / calls to Rachel and Heidi (cousin and sister), I mentioned that I was pulling out of this years race and all Rachel said was "you have to, you're the reason I'm doing this, you have to". She's my lil cuz, and I DID forcibly request that she do this with me ..... so I kept training.

And with that, I boarded a Halifax bound plane in Calgary, just happy to be able to do it and didn't really care what time I finished in .... just kidding. I'd been pissssed if I ran it slower than 2 hours after already doing it in a training run a month prior 1:59:47. But I WAS excited to be doing this in my 'hometown' and with two other women who through the miles and time zones, we encouraged each other and literally ran through barriers, fears, physical pain, injuries and doubts.

Heres some pics:

The day before at the Expo at the Metro Centre, Rae hadn't arrived at this point, so Heidi and I were cruising around getting  free stuff. Here we're documenting our target time.

Heidi, the champion half marathoner, yawning at the prospect of 7 kilometers, she doesn't get out of bed for that ....

Rae arrived!!! And we picked up our bibs as a group.

Rae and I - who through BBM, trained together.

So ready to do this! And we all had 7's in our bib numbers :-)

Whilst waiting for Rachel to make the trek from CB that morning, we cruised around playing Bluenose Bingo - just for the chance at ... yeah ... free stuff.

Race day arrives!!! I was past nervous / anxious at this point and just wanted to get running. The anticipation in the air was almost palpable.

ahhh .... if you're a runner - invest in a Garmin. Its like running with a friend. A friend who constantly reminds you that you need to run faster and harder to beat your last time. It literally spurred me on in my long runs. Best $150 ever spent. (I'm exaggerating - there was once this dress .... )

Start line.

AWESOME sign Kenny made for Heidi. Then I got fake insulted and he added Rachel and I to it ...

Off we goooooo!!!!!

There was such a cool spirit in the city. The streets all along the route were lined with supporters of all ages and stages in life, signs of encouragement ranging from the simple Go Go to cheeky messages like “Don’t stop now, people are watching”, “Don’t poop your pants”, “Toenails are for sissies” and “If you’ve got stamina, call me”.

It was strange to be running amongst all that pomp and circumstance. I’m so used to just racing against the time of my last run, so to be running with a couple thousand others was a really interesting experience.

The parental units all the way from Fort McMurray.... well, they were here anyway ... but still amazing to have them there.

Here comes lil Heid (bib 2437, ponytail swinging)

She sees Mom and Dad for the first time since October - love this picture.

Cute little thing she is! Hard to believe I used to babysit her and carry her around like I'd been given a live doll. Now she's all mature and stuff ....

 

Just after thinking how weird it was to be amongst so many people and not know any of them, I saw Chole O'brien , of www.choleobrien.com fame, and Nate, then Kenny. Mom and Dad hadn't arrived yet (at least I didn't see them)

Okay, pleasantries over ... back to business

 Just as I was passing the Superstore on Barrington, I made a friend.

Well, a friend made me.

And I wasn’t having any of it. The Albertan in me came out in me as I pretended not to notice he was trying to strike up a conversation with me. I was on km … I don’t know, 13? I wasn’t in any shape to keep up random banter with someone I was essentially trying to beat in a race, er, run. But the trouble was, he was at my elbow. So close, that if I tried to do the chicken dance, I’d have hit him. And he was keeping pace with me, if I sped up, he did too, if I slowed down to let him ahead of me, he remained steadfast …

I’m a middle kid, I’m used to people being in my space, but seriously, people in an elevator don’t stand this close …

So I finally got tired enough of him breathing down my neck, and in the park, I booked it for about half a km, just gave it my all and shed him. And I didn’t apologize.

How un-Canadian of me.

Next sighting of Heidi is the finish line. I surely wasn't there yet ....

I started the race behind the 2:00 pace bunny (pace bunnies wear little pink bunny ears with the time they are running on them) and I couldn’t see her, so I figured there was no way I was going to make my goal. And I kept checking my Garmin, but with my combo of being heinously terrible at anything mathematics, and trying to survive the heat and the hills of this run, I’d attempt to decipher the numbers blinking at me from the screen and scrunch my face in dismay and just keep running. 

Then at kilometer 19, I saw the 1:55 pace bunny. What a happy surprise! I was going to do this in under 2 hrs, and now I had a new goal of making it under 1:55 because I was going to pass that  man-bunny and race him to the finish line.

Alas, kilometer 19 had a hill – who knew these roads I’d driven on for 9 years had hills?? (I now have a healthy respect for the hills of Halifax) Right beside the VG hospital, is in fact a hill. Go see for yourself. If you’d been running for 18+ kms, you’d really believe me. Anyway, I lost him. I could see him, but I I couldn’t catch him and his skinny running man legs.

Surprisingly at km 20, I felt defeated. And for almost the rest of the race, I was pummeled with negative thoughts, very strange. And I wanted to give up and walk, my feet hurt, my knee was shooting pain, my hip flexor was screaming at me ….

Then I rounded the corner by the police station (my terrible memory is preventing me from including street names here) and the downhill was too steep for me to speed up, my legs were about to retire on me at this point, but when I rounded the corner and saw the crowd and the finish line, it was such a crazy feeling of accomplishment.

Almost 7 minutes later, I arrive in full sprint mode, completely unaware of anything but beating that clock.

 In retrospect, I’d have taken my earphones out and just enjoyed the noise of the crowd, but I had one focus, and that was just to simply finish. And as I got closer, I could see the time and gauged the distance, checked my Garmin and decided I’d do this in under 1:56 – and had to sprint to the end. 

Haha- not going let some punk ass kid beat me! Actually didn't even see him ....

Seconds are ticking ....

Last ditch attempt .... all the training since Feb down to this very moment. What a feeling!!!
(picture by www.choleobrien.com)

Very cool to hear your name over the loudspeaker.

Race is over, re-united with parents. Rachel and Dad sharing a laugh

Celebratory phone call from Adam - well, more of a "its too busy downtown, drop by the house" call.

We made a cheeky sign for Dad and Mom to hold. (go favorite daughter go)While we were in the photo shoot, someone walked by and said 'obviously, you only have one'. LOL - how far off was she??

A job well done! So much fun and such a sense of unity to know we encouraged each other across the miles. I'd do it again in a heartbeat .... but next time, all sisters will be involved ... right?

Next stop ... Vancouver Half next year ... ???

Thats all for now ...

Later,

Lee xoxo