London Runner Track Meet 1:17:14

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

I got to bed just before midnight last night but woke up bright and early. …5:30. ugh. I tossed about in bed for a bit but gave up trying to go to go back to sleep. I did a 20′ run after breakfast at a very easy pace and felt a bit bagged. I rested during the day as much as I could to  have the energy to race. I got in about 40′ of singing  before heading over to the U of Western track. It was only a 10 minute walk so that was convenient! I bumped into Derek as soon as I got there and then saw Brandon shortly after that. It was nice to see people I knew and I got to meet Brandon and Chantelle’s parents.

I did  a warm-up on the trails around the track and then headed into the in-field to do some strides. The announcer started announcing the runners in the race and when he said my name, I heard this huge cheer coming from the stands, The cast from show had come to watch and cheer me on!. It was then mentioned I was singing in the opera in town and I guess because a certain tenor was singing out loud, he guessed that the cast had come and mentioned that too. It was pretty funny!  The race had eight women lined up, few of whom were hoping to run sub-17 minutes, myself included. I got myself a bit boxed in off the start of the race with two girls between me and the two leaders. I spent two laps trying to get myself tucked in there  but finally settled in. I was hitting 80″ laps and I felt pretty relaxed right up until the 2km mark. The girls got a small gap on me and as I moved into the third km I chickened out and let my pace drop a smidge…enough to open the gap a bit more. Now I was struggling trying to stay focused on my own. Maybe had I hung in there, it would have been painful but running on my own was just as painful. I went through 3km in 10:06 so still on pace to run sub-17. It was about here I got a side-stitch for about two laps…that provided me with some fun entertainment. I saw with the last km ahead of me that I wasn’t going to make it under 17 . I could hear there was another runner coming up from behind with two laps to go so I got my focus back and dug in to hold her off but just barely. Results are here: http://www.londonrunner.ca/page.php?content=RCLDS

It was a really good experience running this race. All eight women ran under 18 minutes which is a pretty good field for a low-key twilight meet. I was hoping to run under 17 minutes and was kicking myself afterwards because there were some women up there to pull me along. For where I am in my training right now though, it is a decent time.

I got to chat briefly with Hilary Stellingwerf, our top 1500m female who was as warm and friendly as ever. I also got to see her race the 800m. What  a lovely runner! I did a cool-down with Courtney and Rachel and had a great little chat before heading off to a pub with my entourage from the show. They had a pretty good time apparently. I heard them cheering like mad every time I went by them which helped out a lot. Thanks you guys!