The Race

Back in high school, we had an event every year called the "Olympiades", sort of an Olympics day, and I usually skipped it. I wasn't much for competitive sports, as a rule. But my senior year I decided that, not only wouldn't I cut class on that day, I would sign up for the toughest event there was, the 2400 meter run.

I trained for weeks to prepare, and actually ended up winning a bronze medal. Of course, there were 5 of us in the race to begin with, and 2 dropped out after about 1600 meters. I walked the last 300 meters, heh.

Fast forward 17 years, and high on my recent fitness success, I decided to sign up for the 10km race of the Montreal Marathon. I knew the half-marathon was waaay beyond my reach, but the 5 km race seemed to easy somehow... I hadn't run since high school, but I thought : Just stop dreaming about it and "wouldn't it be cool if"-ing about it, and just DO it.

And today was the day. The weather was perfect (not TOO hot), and at precisely 8:45 AM, 2733 of us began our race.

I wish I could describe the feeling of running your first race. Even when you're really not racing it to WIN it, it's still exhilarating. I'm so accustomed to running on my own, only hearing my own footsteps, my own breathing. But this morning there were THOUSANDS of us! It took about 2 km before the crowd thinned out and I could really focus on my own pace and breathing.

I know you're all wondering how I did, if I accomplished my goals...

1. I finished the race :)
2. I did indeed finish the race without stopping to walk :)
3. And I did indeed finish within 60 minutes.

Wait... that's an understatement. According to Sportstat, my race time was 52:43.3, and my "chip time" (actual time from start to finish) was... 51:37.2!!!! 60 minutes? Pshaw! I finished 19th out of 284 women in my age group (30-34), 100th out of 1413 women, and 501st out of 2733 participants in the race. Not too shabby for my first time out, if I do say so myself.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!