Carlene, Jacquie and Kens Excellent Half-Marathon Adventure Web Site!
May 15/02 Carlene: Nordion 10K PR!
May 13, 2002 Recovery period
April 29 Off
April 30 Easy run, 3.2K
May 1 Off (see Skating)
May 2 Easy run, 4.2K
May 3 Off
May 4 Bike, 45 min
May 5 Easy run, 4.2K
Run 11.6K, Crosstrain 45 minutesMay 6 Long bike, 70 minutes
May 7 Off
May 8 Club run, 5.5K
May 9 Off
May 10 Walk 30 minutes
May 11 Race 10K, new PR 57:20
May 12 Walk 45 minutes
Run 15.5K, Crosstrain 145 minutes*********************************************
Well, my recovery from my half marathon PR was going well and so I decided to throw in another challenge a 10K race. My legs were finally feeling more like normal and I thought the 10K would be a nice treat.
The Nordion 10K is part of the Ottawa race weekend (http://www.ncm.ca). There are a number of races including 2K, 5K, 10K, half-marathon and marathon. There are also inline skate races. This year the event drew 17,080 racers and raised $500,000 for breast and prostate cancer research.
This was my first time running this 10K but I have watched it before and knew it would be big and quite busy. I registered on Tuesday and headed down to the race expo on Saturday. The expo was bigger than it has ever been. There were 5 major running stores represented as well as vendors like Timex, Powerbar and The Stick. There were also many races there trying to attract entrants. It was electric. I did some shopping and bought some great stuff including a Canada Flag singlet and matching race socks.
I returned home hoping that my husband wouldn't mind my shopping spree. I showed him my purchases and then changed into my running clothes. I was ready to go. This race is unusual because it starts at 6:30 pm on a Saturday night. Steve, a friend from the running club, picked me up and we went down together. We were early and had time to check out the whole start/finish area and decide where we would meet each other afterwards.
Soon it was time to line up. The crowd was huge. At 6:15 the 10K inline skate race started which made a bit more room for the rest of us. My plan had been to locate the 55-minute pace bunny and try to stick with him. Of course in the mass of 4000 runners I couldn't find him. Steve and I picked a spot as far back as we felt we needed to be and waited. When the race started we quickly became separated. I passed many walkers who had started ahead of us. UGH!
The kilometre markers along the course were hard to find. At one point I saw the 55-minute pace bunny but was unable to catch him. Around 38 minutes into the race I coughed and suddenly had bile in my mouth. YUCK!!! I did a shoulder check, moved over to the side and walked/drank for a minute. I determined I was fine and got moving again. The Gatorade at the next water stop got rid of that foul taste which was good. I was dragging along wishing the race were over when Steve caught me. I told him to go on ahead and not worry about me. I spent the remaining 2K trying to catch him and the rest of the people in front of me :) Steve finished in 57:07 and I was 36 places behind him with a time of 57:20.
Luckily we found each other quickly in the crush after the race and headed home without incident. I finished the evening off with Harvey's take-out and watching movies at our best friend's house. It was a perfect finale to a great day.
Well, now it is onward to PWC and the 1/2 marathon. Given that this will be my third race in a month I am trying to keep my expectations reasonable. I would like to run 2:10-2:15 for the 1/2. However, if I happened to have another perfect day like I did in Kentucky I would try for another 2:06. It would have to be absolutely perfect though... I am not as rested as I was for Kentucky and so doubt it'll happen. I think I'll be too busy having fun to worry too much about the clock.
Thanks
Carlene-30-
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