Today I was running the Alzheimer's 10km, for my uncle, but mostly for my Mom. Uncle H. did indeed pass away with Alzheimer's (had a heart attack, but didn't think to tell anyone he didn't feel good...sad) but we now see Mom teetering on the edge and ready to go over. Case in point: phone call last night at 8:30:
Mom: "Weren't you coming over and bringing supper?"
Me: "Yes, tomorrow for Thanksgiving."
Mom: "Oh, I thought that was today."
Me: "No, I told you I was coming over on Sunday."
Mom: "Well, what day is it?"
Me: "Saturday."
Mom: "Oh...so, you'll be here tomorrow then - I should write that down."
I run for Mom!!
It was a perfect fall day for a run.
Just before the horn went off at 10am (I heart civilized start times!), I ditched the jacket as it was so sunny and warm by then. I wasn't sure how I was going to approach this run today, as my running mate was running her first 10km, ever. In fact, her first race, ever!! Garrath also suggested that I don't treat this like a race with Toronto only a week out...or do, and see how the legs feel. No mixed messages there!!
We took off, and started with a reasonable 7:04 pace, but I did lose S. at about the 1.5km mark, as she stopped to catch her breath. I decided to treat this like any other race and since the legs felt good, I continued on, intending on only walking at the water stations. Came across the first station just past 2km, but since I wasn't thirsty, I ran on by. There was as much bobbing and weaving this week as there was last week, as they figure at least 1,200 showed up to walk or run. But we were on the running path, not a road, so everyone was rather squished together. Add the normal Sunday runners, walkers and bikers, and it made for some evasive running at some points.
Hit the halfway mark at roughly what I did last week, turned and headed for home. I did walk at one point to slow down the heart a bit, and once recovered (after 30 seconds) I took off again. I don't know if it's all the training but running just feels right this time around. I'm not struggling to breathe, I'm not in pain, I'm not limping! It's all good.
After catching up to the 5km walkers (who really don't know the rules of the road, as they walked in large packs, taking up the whole pathway!), I pushed my way through and turned on the guns for the last km, crossing the finish line in 1:07:00! That is a good 5 minutes off my previous PB. Yay!
Waited for S. to cross (1:19 - not so shabby for a first race ever) and then had a bite to eat (pizza was the post-race grub...hmmmm...) and, thanks to S.'s mom (my coworker), a protein shake from Jugo. Showed S. some stretches, ran into some running club members, had a chat, wandered around and came home for a wee nap on the couch.
Just getting ready to pack everything up to head down to Mom's.
Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving or Columbus Day weekends. And shout out to all the marathoners out there...Amber, who rocked her first ever, as well as my peeps from my 5-hour training group who all crossed the line, hopefully upright and smiling!
Later,
1 comment:
Thank you :) Glad you had a good run today too!
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