Living up to RunnerGirl name

2011 INVESTORS GROUP THANKSGIVING MEMORY WALK & RUN

October 9, 2011
Calgary,AB

OVERALL 10K RESULTS
RESULTS BY WINNING TIME CANADA - WWW.WINNINGTIME.CA

732 Carol WHYTE                21/38   136/239  F4049  Calgary AB         1:03:44.06  6:23

Boo-yah!!!!  Still jumping around!  This is HUGE for me!  Fastest time EVER!  First negative split EVER!!  Wow, wow, wow! 

Okay, so it was a good run today!  LOL!

It's been a good, but crazy week.  Boot camps have been usual torture, although I thought I'd give Josh a day off on Thursday, as it wasn't just wet and cold, but pouring down rain.  Sadly, two others showed up, so he had to stand out there for them.  I stayed at the office and did the "let's move desks after 10 years of collecting junk and crap" workout.  Put the movers to shame...you want pythons?!?  Check out these guns, boys!!!  Could explain my single status...must ponder that.

Friday boot camp was good too, as the rain had stopped and a fair sized group of us showed up, despite the long weekend.  It was Tabata-Friday, with loads of lifts, squats, sprints and whatever else Josh could throw at us.  Lost at WW too, but not quite what I found the week before.  No worries...I will get rid of it and it's little friends too, in no time.

Back to today's run.  It was the Alzheimer's Memory Walk & Run, and I did this last year for the first time.  It's a simple out and back course, and last year I PR'd at 1:07 even.  Today, after a breakfast of steel cut oats, vanilla Greek yogurt and raspberries, I got down to Eau Claire, deciding today's race would be what it would be.  I challenged myself not to walk, but to treat it like a tempo run, although I really wanted a personal best.  Found a couple of friends (GDH, from run club - a gazelle in making and JDC, from WW, also turning into a gazelle, fresh off a PR for her Half, last weekend) and after a bit of warm-up aerobics, we lined up.  I let those two go ahead, as I was not ready to attempt a sub-60 (yet), and found my spot in the crowd.  We were off!  I found my groove, and after checking that Mr. Garmin II was working, I locked the bezel and turned the face away, so I wasn't obsessively looking at it every five seconds!  Just ran how I felt today.  The weather could not be more perfect...overcast, but no rain or drizzle, a bit of a breeze, but that would turn into a tail wind in the last 5k, and cooler at 12C.  Just the way I like it (Toronto, are you paying attention?!).  I passed marker after marker, and then began to pick off my co-runners, one (sometimes two) at a time.  Including the two young ladies who moved away from me at the start, to "get out from behind from the slow people" - eat my dust, be-otches!!  My breathing was great, my hip, which was a little stiff this morning, was totally lose and fine, and I just ran.  Very Forrest Gump of me...

Hit the halfway mark at 32 minutes (oh, so close to crushing the 30-minute 5k) and thought, okay...just keep going like this.  Little did I know, I was in the midst of a perfect negative split.  Passed even more people, and then finally poured it on when I was close to the finish...even had a sub-6 minute k for #10!  Who am I?!?!

Found GDH at the finish line (49 minute finish...dog!) but totally lost JDC...she did come in sub-60, but couldn't find her anywhere.  Maybe she didn't want the pizza/cinnamon roll lunch that was served afterwards.  Something about running 10k on a beautiful fall day that makes pizza taste AMAZING!  Or I was just really, really hungry!  Hung out, chatted with more friends, before making my way home.

Can't believe it's 4pm already.  Wow...  Trying to decide what to have for dinner (Mom and I had our dinner yesterday, sharing a little chicken, scalloped 'tators and veggies), and then to plot out my week before I fly east.  Would like to get my house in a somewhat presentable state, as P. across the hall will come in and care for George while I'm gone.  And have to figure out what to take...not sure what the weather will be like, and I'd love to get away with only taking carry on. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and remember to be thankful for what you have. 

Later,