After finishing her first road race ever at the Moonlight Run, my friend Hayley had the running bug and we signed up for Ladiesfest 8k which took place over this weekend. Last Sunday I made the decision to drop from a marathon to a half in July. This 8km (5 mile) run was just one mile shy of my “long” run scheduled for the weekend. I use quotation marks because my long run last Sunday was 16 miles. I definitely feel like I made the right decision.
Anyway, it was an overcast morning and we set off at the top of the hill. I told Hayley how you need to lean forward into hills and let gravity do all the work for you. At the Canmore Half, I looked a little foolish because I would FLY down the hills but then walk up, getting passed by everyone I ran past. But hey! Pulling back when running downhill is the biggest waste of energy.
Because we ran down the coulee hill, my first mile was 8 minutes- my fastest ever. Who hoo!
The rest of the run was along the river trail which was flat and pretty. I couldn’t stop smiling during this race because I knew it was going to be over so shortly compared to the half I just ran. Being in such a good mental state meant I had a good run.
When we came to Whoop Up Drive hill, I tried very hard to jog up but gave up after a minute. But again, I was in a good head space that it didn’t matter. I knew that this hill was tough but that the race would be over soon so I pulled myself up just putting one foot in front of the other.
At the top I began to run again and there was the finish! I had enough gas in the tank to kick into a sprint and I flew over that finish line. I finished in 55 minutes which is my PB for a 5 mile run EVER. And while I know that’s not very fast, it’s fast for me and that’s all that matters.
I smiled pretty much the entire time and I knew I made the right decision in dropping out of marathon training. My plan after that half is to stick with 5k’s and work on actually being a little faster.
Anyone else enjoy community races?
