My Downtown 5K Race Recap

   As had been my plan, I went for a 5K training run this morning.
   I normally run a variety of routes in my neighbourhood but this time I decided to mix things up and head downtown. I also normally run by myself but this time I'd arranged to get together with a few other people. There were about 250 of them and we all wore paper thingies with numbers on them. 

Me, while I was still looking
forward to what was about to transpire!

   Yep I ran a race.
   This morning I ran in the second installment of the London Honda Road Race series---the Downtown 5K. Most of the races in this series have a 10K component but not this one. This meant a larger field than normal as a lot of the people who might otherwise have opted for the 10K did not have that option. Lots of race energy going on!
   It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining, the snow was all gone and the temps ended up being in the low teens. Pretty well perfect for running.
   I started the morning off with a toasted PB and banana sandwich, a cup of coffee with honey and a fistful of ENERGYbits. I've used ENERGYbits about four times at this point and the jury is still out, unfortunately.
   

ENERGYbits---ten down, twenty to go.

It was a beautiful drive downtown to Victoria Park and I passed by scores of people out running, there was just this kind of vibe going on today. About a third of the way there, I realized I'd forgotten my Garmin. Unfortunately, I'd timed things out to the last minute more or less and had no time to go back and get it. This kind of screwed up my "strategy" for the race, which had been to 10 to 1 run/walk ratio. I know, seems kinda

My Injinji socks--great for running!

extreme for a 5K race but lately, in training, it's been doing the trick. The last thing I wanted to do was to be checking my phone for time or, God forbid, set a timer so I just decided that I would give myself walk breaks at something close to the 2K and 4K intervals.

The Boer War monument in Victoria
Park. Pretty impressive, actually.

   I got there in enough time to pick up my bib and still be able to stretch. While I was stretching, this young lady walked up to me and introduced herself as a Western (the local university) journalism student. She'd been there interviewing racers as part of a project and asked if I had the time to answer a few questions.. Didn't have a problem with this so she started asking me questions about how regularly I raced and what motivates me to run, those kinds of things. A very pleasant young lady.
   Then, unfortunately, the race started.

The crowd at the starting line.
I'm ALREADY behind...

   About half a kilometer in, I knew this was not going to be a fun race. I felt tired, fat and slow. I had no real plan for the race and it showed. I basically ran til I felt tired and then walked til I didn't. People were passing me left and right and suddenly I had the real fear that I might finish last. My emergency "strategy" had gone right out the window. I found myself thinking I must be an idiot for signing up for the series of races if this was what I was going to have to go through every time.
   Realistically of course, I was fully aware of why I was having difficulties. Because of the winter, the training opportunities were way down and when you couple that with all the over-indulging of the holiday season and it being my birthday this past month then it was kind of a recipe for disaster. I just need to train and eat like I should and everything'll be fine!
   Later on, they posted the chip times and I came in 243 out of 254 and dead last in my age group. The good news was I didn't need to stick around to see if I won anything!

Some of the post-race aftermath.

   Oh, there was one bright moment. With about forty yards to go, a young lady tried to "chick" me. Now, I have no idea whether she even knew or cared what "chicking" someone meant and for all I know she was just running  her race and trying to get a better time. I have, however, been passed by a young person in the last few yards of a race before and I vowed back then that I wouldn't let that happen again so as the young lady passed me I turned on the jets, beating her by a second. It was actually kind of funny because when the race announcer realized what was happening, he got all excited and declared, "That's right, it's not a run, it's a race!"
   Although, for me, like I said, it was just a run...