Tochi's Hut

Since my painful, but memorable Terry Fox run last fall, MrMonk and my sister have conquered both the 10km and half marathon.  Their sheer awesomeness gave me a certain sense of pride that I was able to play a small part in their successes.  It is not everyday that I can say this blog inspired someone to greatness.  :)

However, after my Terry Fox run and seeing MrMonk and my sister taking it to a whole new level, I was left with a certain urge to prove myself in a real race.  Talk about peer pressure, eh?  But this is the positive kind, so it’s all good.  I researched the local 10km races and discovered that the HBC Run for Canada race was happening in two weeks.  Two weeks!  That was surely NOT enough time to train!  However, I finished in 53 minutes last time (and spent 4 weeks nursing my knee tendons), so I knew I had it in me to run all 10km, maybe, just maybe, in under 50 minutes.  MrMonk managed to do it in 49:59, which was totally hc.  Then one day, I saw on the following slogan on someone’s t-shirt: “Decide. Dedicate. Succeed.”  That slogan really resonated with my philosophy.  I began doing some practice runs and forked out my $50 deposit in preparation for this… one… day…

This was it, baby, the day I have been waiting for the past two weeks.  I left home at 6:45am, arrived at Ontario Place at 7:10am and waited 15 minutes to get into the parking lot!  Good thing I had picked up my race pack the previous day.

At around 8am, everyone had gathered behind the starting line.  Some guy was trying to squeeze his way closer to the front, when one of the other runners asked him, “Are you a fast runner?”.  The embarrassed look on that guy’s face was priceless. 

The course starts from Ontario Place and snakes westward along Lake Shore Blvd for 5km, until just past the intersection with Windermere Ave.  After which, the course turns backwards along the Martin Goodman Trail to return to Ontario Place.

The horn blasted off around 8:11am and away we went.  I didn’t start that far back from the pack, but the first couple hundreds meters were a tedious navigation through the mob of slow people.  Once we got out of Ontario Place, the crowd was spread out enough that I was able to get up to my racing speed.  A lot of people were passing me at this stage. 

For some reason, I missed the 1km marker.  I had been running for over 5 minutes, so I should have seen it by now.  However, I knew I was running faster than my comfortable jogging pace, so I should be good on time. 

Finally, I saw the 2km marker.  Checked my watch and it was 9:33.  Not bad, though at the speed I was going at, I was hoping to be on pace for the 4.5 min/km.  Not to despair, I was almost 30 seconds ahead of the 50 minute goal. 

The blonde athletic looking lady passed me at this point, and I decided to pick it up and use her as my wabbit.  During a race, the biggest problem for me was to focus mentally.  If I think about how dry my throat was, I tend to uncontrollably want to vomit.  I’m not sure if that’s a natural reaction to try to get more saliva into my mouth.  So, I kept my eyes ahead on the course, and given the Sound of Music musical posters on all the lampposts, I tried to recall the various song from the show.

Passed 3km and 4km without too much problems.  Just after the 4km mark, I saw the first runner coming back with the police motorcycle escort in front of him.  He would have been approaching the 6km mark.  He was a black dude, Kenyan looking too.

I was quite looking forward to the 5km mark, as that was where you turn around and start heading back.  Finally hit the marker at 26:13 into the race.  At that water station, I grabbed a cup, only to find that it was not water, but orange Powerade.  I tried to take a sip, but ended up splashing it all over my lips.  This Powerade better not be sticky!!! I tried to toss the cup back into these giant garbage cans on the side of the road, but ended up hitting the rim.  I totally suck!!!

The return stretch was harder.  The run was slowly taking a toll on my body.  Each breath was getting shorter and more desperate.  There was an uphill portion after the 7km mark.  I tend to like hills, because the incline gives me the extra motivation to run faster.  Once I got past the top, I started feeling a cramp on my right torso.  Crap.  I did not need this now.  Slowed down my pace a bit, and concentrated on my breathing again.  3 steps inhale, 2 steps exhale.  The run to the 9km marker took forever.  After a while, the cramp went away.  The 8km to 9km stretch was probably my only 5 minute plus kilometer.  Once I got to 9km, I wanted to make up the time, so I focused on my breathing and gradually picked up speed.  Once I got through the last turn, and could see the 200-300m stretch to the finish line, I went into turbo mode and sprinted straight towards the finish line.  I was hoping one of the people would start sprinting too and race me to the finish.  I heard some guy from the crowd go, “holy cow, look at him go!”  Maybe he was talking about me.

I was totally zoned in onto the finish line, passing numerous people along the way.  Here’s me barreling down to the end..

In the seconds approaching the finish line, I tried to time my step so my right foot, with the timing chip, will cross first.  However, my legs were in fully autonomous mode, and I didn’t even have time to plan my steps.  Ended up flying right over the mat with my left foot first.  My right foot followed and didn’t even touch the mat.  All of a sudden, I wondered whether I needed to stomp on the mat to register my time.  Do I need to go back?   lol.

Got my timing chip taken off after the race and had my 10k medal given to me by one of the athletes going to the upcoming Olympic Games.  After that, I finally checked my watch and saw 47:52.  I forgot to stop my watch after I crossed the line!  I was quickly informed that unofficially, I finished in under 47 minutes!  Wow wow wow.

My official time ended up being 46:50.2 (gun time), with a chip time of 46:38.2.  The results were beyond my wildest expectations.  Before the race, I was not even sure if I could finish in 50 minutes.  This time placed me 173rd out of 1599 total runners, 151st out of 727 males, and 30th out of 138 in my gender/age group.

Replenished myself on the free drinks and food and sat around before watching the Kid’s 1km run.  Our future Olympians were so cute! 

This race was a lot more competitive than I expected, and in no time, the first couple runners were returning.  I’m not even sure if I could run 1km that fast.

Got back to my car and fired off a “:)” to MrMonk, as I had promised.  Saw his quick reply, “HCORE!!!!”.  An hour later, I get another text “holy shit!!!! HARDCORE!!!!!!!!”.  LOLIRL.  The results must have been posted.

What a rewarding experience.  It feels awesome stepping up to a personal challenge and coming away with the results that I did.  I have no idea how I’ll be able to overcome this new personal best next time.  My legs are sore, but in due time, they’ll recover.  I walked away from this race with an awesome technical shirt, a medal, a great sense of fulfillment, and most importantly, a new challenge time for MrMonk to beat!  I hope this one won’t fall as easily as the last. XD