I raced! (Guelph Lake 5K)

Post-Race, post-awards.

Yesterday, I decided to test out the ol' body at the Guelph Lake 5K. It was my first race in months and, more importantly, my first race since starting iron supplements and starting to turn this lovely anemia around. I'm likely not quite fully recovered yet, since it's only been 2 months, but I feel good; I must be very close.

So, back to yesterday. I raced. I raced a 5K and it didn't go badly! It was perfect temperature, but it was windy. I'll take that over hot and humid weather! The course is a loop of rolling hills through Guelph Lake Conservation Area (campground), starting and finishing near the main beach.

I was happy to see my final result of 21:28, which is actually my second fastest 5K, and to see that I finished 3rd place female. It's nice to know that I can run like myself again.

Now to keep working hard to prepare for ENDURrun, which starts in less than 2 months (a very scary thought right now)!

Guelph Lake 10K

This morning, at 10am, I ran the Guelph Lake Conservation Run. The course was nice, a little hillier than I’m used to, but nice.

When I went to bed last night, it was raining. When I woke up this morning, it was raining. Luckily, it stopped before race start and only spit a little during the race. It started up again about an hour after the race.

I finished in 53:14 as per my Garmin and 53:47 as per the timing chip (there was no timing mat at the start). I finished 4th in my age/gender group. It wasn’t my best race, but as I said earlier, the course was nice.

Lessons from today’s race:
- I need to do hill training
- I need to make sure my shoes are not too tight (my right foot went numb and I needed to stop to loosen my laces)
- When re-tying my shoes, I need to make sure my sock does not bunch under my foot (I could feel a fold or something under the ball of my right foot the whole rest of the race after adjusting my laces)
- I should definitely pay more attention to what I eat the day before a race (went out for dinner last night, enjoyed my food, but it didn’t like me… I felt ill last night and didn’t feel fantastic this morning.. I actually had a moment in the race where I started to think about what to do if I need to vomit. Luckily, the feeling passed)
- If the weather is above 10C, even if I feel very cold before the start, I do NOT need to wear a jacket (I brought my jacket thinking I would wear just the vest portion and leave the sleeves in the car, then when I got there, I was cold, so I put the sleeves back on and started the race. About 2 km into the race, I needed to take off the jacket and tie it around my waist)’

So, there were mistakes made today, but I still had a good time. I would definitely do this race again.