St Albert Road Race: race report

So it was NOT in my plan to run the 10 miler this year...the weather can always be hit and miss, it's rolling hills and a lot of REALLY fast people usually race it. BUT I was chatting with my friend Lisa on the last possible day to register for this event and the conversation went like this:

L: are you running the 10 miler?
J: No, not this year.
L: well, what are you doing on sunday?
J: running long
L: how long?
J: about 1:30
L: so about 10 miles?
J: ok i'll sign up. PS. you just cost me 70$
L: see you sunday!

I signed up thinking I would just go out and run hard and have a good time. The course was going in the reverse direction from what I had ran it in the past so that was going to be new and exciting...and I knew I wouldn't have to deal with a horrible uphill 5km loop at the end of the race.

Race day: beautiful running weather, +10, sunshine, no wind...perfect for a spring race.

I met up with Lisa before the race, hugged it out, did the bathroom routine, then went our separate ways for warm up. She actually had a plan for race day as she was training for the Vancouver Marathon so I left her to it and put my tunes on for an easy jog and some ABCD drills in the parking lot. We met up just before the race start for a picture (see below) and a last minute "am I dressed too warm? Should I lose this?" conversation. We re-assured each other, hugged, and said, "catch you on the flip"

 

 

My race was relatively uneventful. I ran as hard as I thought I could given the terrain and how my body felt. Mostly, it felt calm and comfortable...not so comfortable that I wasn't pushing hard...but no indication of IT band or piriformis pain. (Turns out, racing in warm weather is kinda my thing)

 

My wonderful race Sherpa (I mean, husband) was on standby for pics and general Sherpa-ing. Turns out Lisa really did dress too warm and needed to ditch her beautiful Team Betty vest (seen above). That's what a good race Sherpa is for...collecting pretty clothes from sweaty friends. I have to give Colin kudos for this picture...the elusive 2 feet off the ground run pic...only to be ruined by some dude. Might I add that I look super relaxed after the first 5km?

 

 

As I said before, the whole race felt great, there were some poorly placed signs for the 10km that made me feel like I was way off the mark with my pacing and how I should be feeling at this point in the race but I was reassured by garmin that I was right where I needed to be. The last 2 km or so was relatively downhill into downtown St Albert and I began to push...hard enough that I needed a few minutes at the finish to make sure I wouldn't fall over. And then it was done.

 

 

Minutes earlier...a lot of minutes earlier...my speedy friend killed it and it looked something like this:

 

 

And then she went to Vancouver and got herself a BQ. On her birthday. (CONGRATS GIRL!)

 

I'm glad I ran this race because it was a huge confidence builder for me, I had battled some interesting niggles this winter and I'm relieved those are behind me.

 

*sidenote: 3 days after this race I sprained my ankle badly during a cross country race I had no business doing as I was SO fatigued after the 10 miler...but that's another blog*