Monday, August 22, 2011

A Mid-Summer Night 30km Race Report

On Saturday Night I competed in my second Mid Summer Nights Run...Last year I rocked it in 3:09:53 and this year I was hoping for a 3:03:00..

We drove down to Toronto on Saturday after a really nice morning where I could sleep in!! Love sleeping in...

The night before we went to a local Spaghetti Place and I stuffed my face!!! So good...this was a good strategy for me as I knew that with a 5:30pm race start it would be tricky for me to eat before...I drove down with Catherine and Lindsay and we had a great time as usual...My brother and Sister-In Law were actually away this weekend so we were able to crash at their place which was awesome! We hung out there and took our time getting ready and headed down to the race start...we picked up our race kits and then chatted with friends (Lot's of local London Runners: Angela, Amanda,Madeline, Meghan, Kellie, Erin, Camille, Scott, Rebecca and Gillian).




Here is a Map of the 30km Run

Right before the Start I saw Marlene and I know there were a WHOLE bunch of other bloggers there as well who I missed...Next year we need a BIG BLOGGY meet up!!!


So before the start I had told my former Clinic Instructor and Friend Rebecca that I had thought I wanted to do a 3:03 and if feeling up to it potentially a 3:00h...She is an amazing pacer and decided to take on the task of helping me get there...We lined up with the 10min Run/1min Walk 3hour pace bunny...We started off with him but he started his walks at a different time...we ended up getting thrown off and she restarted her watch and we stayed with them for about 10km....At this point we were feeling steady and strong and pulled ahead slightly...

The heat and humidity were tough...but I felt REALLY steady we ended up catching up with the 3hour continuous pacer...I have no idea of what was going on but most of the Pacers were well off...This is probably due to the fact that the course was measuring short by 500m-600m...ugh...

Anyway...The first 10km went by easily...we hit the 15km mark and Rebecca took a quick pit stop and encouraged me to go on...I was NERVOUS...she was great company for the first half and I had fun catching up with her...I soon passed the 3hour continuous pace bunny and tried to hold on for dear life...

With Rebecca I was consistently taking walk breaks every 10mins....After Rebecca left I only took walk breaks at the 3 remaining rest stations...I had one or two GU chomps the entire time...I had a water belt with G2 but my stomach was having none of it...It didn't want anything...I was starting to slow down because of the humidity by the time I left Tommy Thompson park there was no breeze...As I headed into the Leslie Spit and into Ashbridges Bay Park I thought the route would be changing as the km markers were so off..this began to make me a little confused like many others...I decided to just keep focusing on my Average Pace...I was steadily at a 5:56/km for the first 23km but had dropped to a 5:58/km for the next bit...after completing the loop and knowing I only had 3km left I was desperately trying to keep and hold that pace for a strong finish...I was totally going to bonk as I could not take in as much water and Gatorade as I should have...

about 100m before the finish Rebecca caught up to me and said she had been running behind me and was there "just in case" but kept telling me how strong I was and that I was going to have a "2" as the first number in my finish time...

Chip Time: 2:55:50
Race adjusted time would be about a 2:58:50 to a 2:59:59 soooo........SUB 3HOURS!

I cannot tell you how ecstatic I was...I know the end I let my pace down a bit but I did not have good nutrition during the run and my walk breaks weren't consistent...I am so happy with this run...I PR'd by 9mins and am feeling more confident about Chicago...It makes me really believe that I created a great training plan and am having some success this cycle despite the heat and triathlon training...I am so lucky to have great friends...I was also pumped for Lindsay who pulled out a huge PR and for Catherine who completed her FIRST 30km race...


The 3 of us after the race with our HUGE Bling and awesome race shirts :)




Me, My pacer Rebecca, Gillian and Lindsay


I might actually have to order my race photo...I am pretty happy with this one:



Happy Running....Only 47 days until Chicago Marathon


4 comments:

  1. CONGRATS! It was a fun race and I wish I could have met up with everyone.

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  2. Congratulations on a great race. It was a tough night to run and you ran a PB. Awesome. There were a lot of bloggers I didn't get to meet as well!

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  3. Yeah girl! You totally rocked it out! Way to hang on for that sub-3!!

    Is that Costco purple? :)

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  4. Congratulations! That's amazing!!!

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