Julie & I before the race .... before The Hill
It all seemed so sensible months ago .... ah the best laid plans .... Goal setting is supposed to be important in your fitness regime in order to keep things fresh and to keep you motivated. It all sounds great when you're sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, while you cruise through the Internet looking for a 5K race to run in. It sounded even better when my friend Julie and stepdaughter Madie decided that they'd join me in the run - The more the merrier I foolishly thought; plus it was almost two months away and I thought I'd be a paragon of fitness by then.
Well the race was last weekend and to be honest it was a blast! OK, to be honest there were points during the race when I would not describe things as a 'blast', more like 'near death experience', but now that it's all said and done, I would plan on doing another race ... but maybe only in a month or two from now!
The race was run in the valley behind the Ontario Science Centre, which made it both scenic, as well as challenging, since we had to run down into the valley to run the paths - as Newton's (I believe it's the 3rd) Law states "for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction" - so for the run down at the beginning, it meant that we had to run up at the end. Julie and I ran together, actually let me qualify that, we jogged slowly together; on the other hand, Madie, since she had not trained and had no idea how to pace herself, actually ran the course.
There's a certain benefit to being as naive as Madie was during the race. She simply ran as fast and as long as she could. In the end, she place second, which is amazing and I hope that it kindles a love of running since she obviously has a talent.
On the other hand, Julie and I simply soldiered through the race, by using a combination of training, slow pace, determination and pride (neither one of us wanted to walk or come last). Unfortunately we were both defeated by the hill at the end. I tried conjuring up every running inspirational quote that I knew, but somehow trying to evoke The Little Engine That Could, just couldn't help me ... we both walked up the hill. Julie started sprinting at the top of the hill, which of course inspired me to do the same! We ran across the finish line with Julie about 10 feet in front of me (considering that she's 23 years younger than I am, that's pretty good for me, of course we won't discuss that she had recently gotten over an extremely badly sprained ankle, I have to take my small victories where I can).
As a goal, the race worked well. I have to admit there were days where I might have skipped a workout or gone a little easier, but the spectre of the eventual race was always looming over me!
It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty, but it was fun!
As a goal, the race worked well. I have to admit there were days where I might have skipped a workout or gone a little easier, but the spectre of the eventual race was always looming over me!
It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty, but it was fun!
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