Race Report: 5km Blackburn Hamlet Running Race

Joy here...At the end of August I discovered that I had given myself a wee bit of a stress fracture in my left foot.  Now a stress fracture is a teeny tiny little fracture that in and of itself is no big deal, unless you keep running on it, turning it into a serious fracture and major injury.

My stress fracture was in my baby toe - small metatarsal
of my left foot.

I was lucky to have caught mine early enough (well, actually, it was my coach who wrote: "Stop running!!!!!").  Because of catching it early, I was able to prevent it from worsening and take a brief 4 weeks off running, before trying to get back into the swing of things.

Of course, after taking the time off, it also meant that my motivation suffered (is suffering, continues to suffer...).  And the month of September had me hopping between Winnipeg and Ottawa and Toronto nearly every three days or so.  And on the back of that crazy month, we then got on a plane to head to Kuala Lumpur for a mere 6 days, and are now getting ready to hop on yet another plane for London for another 6 days.

Participants milling about the start/finish.

But since life doesn't just sit still and we can't always sit back and wait for some magic, perfect moment to train or race or run or be fit or, well, do anything, then we better just get on with it.

And in the spirit of just getting on with it, less than 2 days after returning to Ottawa from our whirlwind trip to Kuala Lumpur, I headed out on a cold October morning to participate in a local 5km run to raise funds for cancer research.

I haven't been able to train consistently, and I didn't run at all while we were just away, I figured that I might as well just get out there and run and have fun.

I mean, I can easily run 5kms these days, so it's not a matter of distance or endurance.  My issue would be making sure that I didn't get out there and get caught up in the race atmosphere and decide to run to hard or too fast and end up injuring myself.

Hamming it up for the camera!

So I charged up my trusty Garmin, headed out to the start line, warmed up under a clear blue sky in +4C temperatures with a brutal wind, and got ready to go.

We all gathered around for a photo and some speeches at the start, giving the race a real community feel, and then after the countdown, we were off.

I ran slowly and comfortably, following a few people ahead of me showing me the race route; otherwise I would have had no idea where I was going or what I was doing.

I made sure to keep my pacing in check, not going faster than around 5:40min/km for the first 2.5kms and then letting myself speed up at the 4km mark, but making sure that I still kept well within my limits.

The Joy of prizes!

And before you know it...the start/finish line appeared before me, and I ran right through it, only to learn as I was patted on the back by the organizers waiting there, that I was the 2nd placed female and 5th placed runner.  There were even prizes for me!

So I stretched and stuck around to gather my gift certificates and accolades, and then drove myself home with a sense of accomplishment.

I'm pretty happy that I just got on with it, and I intend to just keep on getting on with it no matter what my crazy schedule throws my way!

Over and out,
Joy

Race Stats:
Ran for a total of 5kms in 27:20mins with an average pace of 5:28min/km.

Living Off the Beaten Path...

Joy here...I've not been a regular blogger of late, and there are lots of reasons for that.  There are reasons of busy-ness; there are reasons of travel; there are reasons of injury; and there are reasons related to just plain old laziness.

Getting used to our Canadian basement gym...

However, some of my lacklustre blogging habits of late are related to my lacklustre training habits of late, and these are both related to my readjustment to returning to Canada.

You see, while living in Kuala Lumpur for a year, even though we travelled - a trip to Australia, one to Cambodia, an overnight to Bali, a few days in Singapore, and two trips back to Canada - we were, for all intents and purposes pretty stationary.

...again.

Since returning to Canada, it has come to my attention that such a way of living is really not what I normally do.  Normally I'm often away.  I've not had a mon-fri "job" for 12 years, and I've been self-employed for 3 (or 4 if you want to be really technical).  And while I love the flexibility of the life that I've worked hard to create for myself, I will admit that it's waaaaaaaay easier to have a regular eating, sleeping, and working out routine if you have a regular weekly routine.  If, however, in any given week you could be in a different city (or even different country), stuck on conference calls or in meetings at all hours of the day and night, hosting or attending any number of meet-and-greet/schmoozing scenarios on any (or all) evenings, and/or sneaking time to visit with family and friends both in your city or in other cities you may be passing through, then you might find it hard to have regular workouts.

This seems to be the case for me these days.

And, to be honest, I've stopped lamenting it, stopped whinging about it, and even stopped worrying about it.

Because I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm living the life I've chosen for myself; I'm juggling and balancing all sorts of interesting and creative things; and I'm happy.


And at the end of the day when Frost wrote:

He expressed what I feel right now.  I may not have taken the well-travelled road with a standard job, a couple of kids, a 2-car garage, and a nice, settled life, but the choices I have made have made all the difference.

Are you living the life you want?  Have you chosen your own path or let someone choose it for you?

Over and out,
Joy