Saturday was my first race of 2010 – the Calgary Roadrunner’s St. Patrick’s Day 10K. This was my fourth year in a row doing this race. I like the route through the University of Calgary, seeing everyone dressed in green, and the Irish stew and beer at the end of the race. Plus I keep hoping that one of these years I’ll win my weight in beer!
The weather seemed pretty indecisive on Saturday morning. It was about –2C and sunny, but just as I was trying to figure out what to wear I saw a few snow flakes floating around in the air! I opted for tights, a long sleeve and a short sleeve shirt. I also brought along a vest and an extra long sleeve layer just in case.
I met up with my teammates and we headed out for a quick warm up – just a simple 5 minute out and back, followed by a few quick pick ups. I decided that I’d be best off just wearing two shirts otherwise I thought I may get too warm on the race. By now the flakes had stopped and it was back to sunny but very windy. It wound up being the right choice for me though! As I headed back to the start line to chat with my friends Keith came up and said hello. Keith, it was nice to finally meet you! Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to chat as the race was about to start.
If I made one mistake at this race, it was right in the beginning. I didn’t push my way to the front, and instead I started far in the back of the pack. I then started the race too slow and had to push my way up along the crowded first few kilometres of the race. Eventually I found my space and I settled into my pace. Honestly I didn’t look at my Garmin too much, I just ran. I was afraid to push the pain barrier and ran just below the line between comfortable and uncomfortable. Oh well, it was what it was! I felt like my effort was pretty steady throughout the race, but next time I’d like to try and push things a bit more.
I had no visions of setting a PR at all, I just wanted to come in under and hour. I feel like I haven’t been that speedy lately, so as long as I came in under and hour I would figure that I hadn’t lost too much speed. I crossed the line in 58:29. Mission accomplished!
Chip Time: 58:29
Overall: 441 out of 653
Women 30-39: 65 out of 117
After grabbing my stew and a beer I hung out to watch some of awards and wait for the draw to win my weight in beer. Sadly it was not to be my year again though! Maybe I’ll have better luck next year? :) All in all it was a great day racing with friends!
14 comments:
Good race and good times. :) I was hoping I'd read about how you won your weight in beer! Hee-hee!!
Woo hoo - great job! And HOLY COW! A race where you can win your weight in beer...? Sign me up. Seriously... :)
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, my weight in beer! Okay the 2010 race season has begun.
There need to be more races where you win your weight in beer...
Congrats on a good race!
Nice job! That weight in beer thing might convince me to take a road trip :-)
Congrats on the 10K and meeting your goal! Too bad about the beer... one of these years luck will be on your side. :)
Congrats on a wonderful race!
Yeah, but it's *green* beer. And if I could get past that, drinking THAT much beer would blow my IMC plans out of the water.
Great way to start out the year!
I found that I could not look at my Garmin much during my 10K. I think it's probably better not wearing one for short races like 5Ks and 10Ks, actually.
Sounds like it was a great race to kick off the season. Hope the stew was good:)
I can't ever decide if I need to start at the back or push to the front, it seems to change based on the race!
2011 is totally your year to win your weight in beer!
Nice job on the race!
Nice job!
Mmmmm.... stew & beer sound like a good way to celebrate too.
solid 10k, especially for starting further back and getting caught up a little. :)
win your weight in beer! what a fun prize... i hope you win one of these year's -- soon!
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