Umm… I Ran a 10K!! (10K Race Recap!)

I know, I know… the race was 4 days ago – where have I been? Where’s this recap?

I apologize.  I don’t know what’s gotten into me this week, but over the past few days, I had just lost that ‘urge’ to write! 

I RAN A 10K!!!!!!!!!!!

There’s something very SURREAL about running your first 10K race down the longest road in Canada, with approximately 13,000 other runners, for the most amazing cause – to help send kids with cancer to camp.

Thanks to the incredible fundraising efforts by all involved, the Sporting Life 10K was able to raise approximately $1.2MILLION for Camp Oochigeas. And $875 of that came from me and my fundraising efforts! (thanks again to everyone who donated through my fundraising page!)

Now as for the race… holy cow!! there aren’t enough words to describe that experience.  Remember, before this morning, I had never run more than 6.15km at a time. EVER!  

Now I will take you back to Sunday morning, 5:30am – C and I awake to the alarm with this sense of excitement and nerves in our stomachs!  We get dressed, and get some peanut butter/banana toast into our systems – me with a glass of plain milk, C with a glass of milk and whey protein.  By 6am we headed out the door on our way to his parents’ house as they were so kind as to volunteer to drive us to downtown Toronto for the big race!  It was about 6:30 by the time we were officially ‘on the road’ and away we went!  Just before 7, C and I decided we really should have something else to eat, so we both had a Clif bar. mmmmmmmmmm!  Next thing I know we’re driving down Younge street! At 7am!!!  Never in my life have we made it to Toronto in 30 minutes lol!  Guess that’s what happens when you go so early in the morning – before all the traffic.  When we hit the police barriers – where Younge was closed for the race, we said our goodbyes and C and I started our walk down to the start line.

Coming into this, I knew there was going to be a lot of people, but I guess I never really thought about or realized what a LOT of people was going to look like!  By the time we were in our starting corral, all you could see ahead and behind was a sea of people!!!! I really wish I had kept my camera with me, but I was afraid that it would bother me having to carry it through the run. Next time for sure!

The wait at the starting line seemed to take forever! …although I don’t blame them with 14,000 runners to get through.  By 8:31 it was finally our time! (the first corral started at 8:00)  Off we went!  With this being only my second race, and my first with C by my side, there couldn’t have been a better feeling at that moment!  It was so awesome being able to talk to him and look and see him right beside me!  We just kind of went with the flow for the first bit then we finally got our groove!  I couldn’t believe it when we saw the 4K water station.  I remember looking at him at that very moment saying “We’re there ALREADY?!”

Despite having a very MAJOR stitch in my stomach around the 9K mark – (I honestly thought at that moment that I was going to have to stop because it hurt THAT BAD!!!! With the AMAZING support from C I managed to pushed through though and kept going!) – the whole race went off without a hitch and I could not BELIEVE that we were actually running a 10K! 

So without further ado…

I am now very proud and excited to report that I ran my very first 10K in 1:04:05.1!!!! with NO WALKING!!  I still can’t believe that I actually did it! This time 4.5 months ago, I still hadn’t even started  C25K yet!!  And having C by my side the entire time was just icing on the cake.  I can’t believe how fast the time seemed to fly.  The feeling of accomplishment as I crossed that line was incredible! 

So glad I decided to go ahead with this race. It’s definitely going to be an annual thing for C and I for years to come!

As for now, we’re just going to stick to some 5Ks and work on our speed.  Perhaps another 10k will be in our future come the fall! 🙂

….still can’t believe that I actually RAN 10K!! wow!

Yes, I do have pics!!!

What I wore on my back

Approaching the finish!Our First Medals!Our First Medals!

Our First Medals!

 Something more:

• My Operation Beautiful mission was an EPIC fail. So bummed that it didn’t work out! But with getting a ride to the race, we just never ended up anywhere where I could have posted the notes!  They remain in my purse though and I hope to post them soon!
• I’ve been following a really cool blog the past few weeks called Run Sarah. Sarah is a fellow runner out in BC and writes a great blog about running/nutrition/life. I love it!  Sarah also happens to be having a giveaway right now – check it out!