Race: Beaches Spring Sprint 5K Location: Toronto beside lake
Ontario Terrain: Out along wooden boardwalk, return along
paved bike path, pretty flat Entrants: 347 Weather: Chilly
(about 5C - 40F), Cloudy, rain was forecast but fortunately
it didn't.
About me: 30 F, never thought I could run (leg length
imbalance) For me, even a slow jog for half a block was hard
at the start. I started a class at the end of January
running 20-30 minutes 3 times a week starting from 1 minute
walk: 1 minute run ratios up to 10:1.
I was pretty nervous before the whole thing not actually
having run the full distance before and sometimes having to
go with lower ratios in training because of side stitches.
(I think I still need to work on breathing) A friend signed
up to run with me that doesn't run specifically but plays
quite a bit of sports involving running.
We lined up near the rest of my learn to run class but
seeing a lot of people behind me moved even further back to
avoid being in anyone's way knowing I would be quite slow.
Made sure to stay ahead of people with slash through their
race number (walkers category) The horn went off, and the
trio ahead of us were just standing around talking and not
moving. Argh. Wish I had stayed in our previous position.
Anyway with a small pack it didn't take long to get across
the start line and the pace of most people seemed fairly
slow at this point so we passed a couple of people to find a
nice space to run in at a nice pace. My friend kept
reminding me "hey you're speeding up" if I started running
faster so that I would have enough energy left for later.
I saw no kilometer markings on the course at all (though I
thought there should be some, maybe I was just nervous and
missed them) but I was familiar with the area and course so
I knew where the halfway turnaround was. Someone had told me
at the start line there would be water at the halfway. My
goal was to run 10 minutes then take one minute walk breaks
but with side stitches in the race I took my first break a
bit earlier. When we got close to the halfway point, there
was no water, only a race marshal cheering people on. I was
so disappointed since I had sprinted to be able to get some
water, and take a walking break while drinking it.
I told my friend to go on ahead at her own pace for the
second half since she was faster so she could get a good
time, so I was on my own for the second half. With more side
stitches I stopped paying attention to my watch and just
stopped to walk when I needed to (keeping walking fairly
fast) and then ran as much as I felt I could. My motivation
to not fall too far behind was 3 or so other members of my
learn to run class I saw up ahead that seemed to be sticking
to 10 and 1's. If I needed more walk breaks I would just run
faster to catch up again. I tried to run with them at their
pace to perhaps avoid the need for breaks but I found it too
slow with my long legs and so I would run past them, and
when I stopped for walking they would pass me again.
Near the end I took a bit longer walking break so that I
could have a nice happy finish. I ran all out at the end
passing the others I saw from my learn to run class (knowing
some would be in my age group that way I definitely would
not be last)
Official time: 34:20 Chip time: 33:54 Pace per km: 6:47 Age
Group Rank (18-30F): 17/23 (the instructor of my class won
the AG) Overall: 242 of 323 that finished
First place finisher was 17:07, so it wasn't a race with
really elite people, just a local race that benefitted a
local community centre. There was an associated 2k kids
race so probably some of the 5k people were parents of the
2k runners.
Its a pretty slow time but I beat my goal of finishing in 35
minutes, and it means there will be lots of room for
improvement at my next race. Hopefully next time I'll run it
right through which should make a big difference. My friend
ran the second half right through and finished 3 minutes
ahead of me, and someone I talked to from my class that had
run right through only about 2 minutes ahead. In fact my
friend had expected me to take longer so my boyfriend wasn't
really ready with the camera at the finish line as she said
I'd be another 5 minutes.