Race Report: Ottawa Race Weekend

Joy here...Ottawa is abuzz with activity this weekend for Race Weekend. The entire city comes alive as elite runners and regular folks lace up their shoes and head out to run in the streets of the city, and the rest of us line the streets to cheer them on.

Heading to the start line...

Usually we're in Malaysia at this time of the year, so it's pretty rare to be able to participate in the festivities, much less run in the races ourselves.

But this year I signed up for the 5km race. I'm probably as unprepared for a race as I've ever been.

"If you're consistent with your training," my coach said, "then you can aim for under 25 minutes."

Of course, I wasn't consistent with my training. As my last post makes clear, I'm not in good shape, and I'm not ready to do a running race.  But, well, race day appeared, and I had signed up to run, so, well, um, I showed up to the start line as planned.

With no other plan except a half-baked plan to aim for under 25 minutes, I headed to the start line after warming up.  There was a chill in the air, but the sweat of the bodies crammed up at the start line kept me warm (and assaulted my olfactory senses with the BO of thousands of bodies). The air horn went off, and we all started running.

Under 25 minutes, under 25 minutes,
under 25 minutes...

I knew full well that I had to keep consistent. While I may not pay attention to my coach and be consistent with my training, I have let him drill it into my head that I have to start slower than I finish, and keep my ego in check for the first half of any workout I do.  So while all the keeners at the start of the race were off like foxes fearing the braying of the hounds, I had to keep myself conservative.  I let them all pass me and tried not to take it personally.  I looked to my Garmin, but with thousands of runners all running around, with their own Garmins and devices pinging back and forth to satellites overhead, my pace wasn't showing up consistently.  One second it would say I was running 4:28min/km, then I'd look down and it would say 5:08min/km, and then 4:12min/km, and then 6:28min/km. Every 200m or so I would get a ping from my Garmin saying that each 200m was taking me around 1minute.  If that was correct, then I was on pace.  So I kind of used that as a vague gauge and just tried to run based on how things felt, but running on "feel" has never been my strong suit.

This would be my test.

I ran, sure I was slow. I ran, being passed by kids and their parents. I ran, just trying to be consistent.

I turned a corner past the halfway mark and ran past The Man and some of our friends cheering, and then I saw another friend from the running group and waved in her face (she later told me: "you looked awesome!").  And then, before I knew it, I was at the 4km mark, and just started running faster.  I started forcing my breathing to be faster and I started counting in my head...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9...And then I saw the clock overhead at the finish line, and as my eyes began to focus, I saw 24:38...I was under 25 minutes, but I still had meters to run.

So I sped up, willing those damn legs to move faster, finishing the final 200m at a 4:26min/km pace and in 53 seconds (rather than the 5min/km and 1 minute per 200m I had averaged throughout the rest of the run).

My Garmin pinged that I had finished my 5kms, ringing the tone of completion, and I looked down to see beautiful digits:  24:52.  But then as I passed under the finishing banner I could tell that the clock ticked over the 25 minute mark.

Post-race bananas...doesn't get any better than this!

I finished and waited up for my friend's daughter (also a friend) to finish her 5km race so that we could get our post-race bananas and walk back together and meet up with her parents and The Man.

And after we high-fived and enjoyed the post-race buzz, I looked up my results and realized that even being out of shape and inconsistent with my training, I still finished in 22nd place for my age/gender (top 3%) and to 10% of the overall 5km racers.

More important than all that data, I was absolutely dead on with my pace throughout the race, and I finished faster than I started.  So all my work on this over the past year is starting to pay off, and that, well, that's motivating (which is something that I've struggled with).

Maybe it's time for me to sign up for another half marathon...

Over and out,
Joy

Run Stats:
According to my Garmin:  Ran for 5kms in 24:52 for an avg pace of 4:58min/km.
According to Sportstats Official Timing:  Ran for 5kms in 25:05 for an avg pace of 5:00min/km.

It's not about weight loss, until it is...

Joy here...One year ago at this time I was the fittest I had ever been.  We were nearing the end of 12 months based in Malaysia, and without winter and Seasonal Affective Disorder, I was able to workout consistently year round.  I felt great physically and mentally (and I say so here).

I didn't look too bad either (here I am spring 2014).

We lived in an apartment with floor to ceiling windows over looking the jungle; we were able to see our friends every week; I had access to an amazing gym and trainer around the corner from where I lived; I had a membership at another posh gym for those times when I needed a swim or a treadmill; I did great bike rides at least once a week; a tropical fruit stand was at the end of our road every day; the grocery store knew me by name and would order anything and everything I might want (including gluten free items); and, well, I was happy.

Fast forward 12 months.

We're now just coming out of what seems like the longest winter I've ever experienced. I've not been consistent with my workouts, and I've drank much more, much more regularly throughout the winter than I should have.  I have no access to a gym or trainer, and am hanging onto my running coach by the skin of my teeth.  I'm sure he thinks I'm a loser, because I miss more workouts than I actually hit.

I've said may times on this blog before that I do sport not about weight loss.  For me, sport is about feeling good, being sharp mentally, and overcoming challenges.  Sport is so much more about the mental side than the physical for me.

Looking a little different now, spring 2015.

Or at least that's always been the case.

Now I find myself, for the first time in my life, thinking about the physical more seriously, and thinking about weight loss.

You see, in the nearly 12 months since we've been back in Canada, I've gained about 12Ibs and lost pretty much all my muscle tone.

It's snuck up on me bit by bit, and as I grapple with trying to be consistent with my workouts, I also find myself having to try and lose weight too.

I truly see why the weight loss industry represents a multi-billion dollar business.  It's hard to lose weight, and you feel like crap about yourself, which makes you a perfect target for savvy marketing.

But I reminded myself that I'm supposed to be focusing on the mental side, not the physical side, right?

So mentally, my challenge right now is to overcome negativity and this hole that I've dug myself into and just move forward.  There's no magic to it, and there's no point in beating myself up over backsliding.

As Ottawa's Race Weekend descends upon us this coming weekend, and I'm going to be running a smooshy and out-of-shape 5kms, I just remind myself that you gotta start somewhere.

Here I am with my Mile2Marathon training crew in Ottawa.
Can you spot me?

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

~ Confucius

Over and out,

Joy

Tiptoe through the Tulips

Joy here...Each May the snow has finally melted and it seems as though spring may have arrived in Ottawa, and to celebrate this annual event that no one ever really believes will come Ottawa puts on the Canadian Tulip Festival.

I'm not even kidding.  The great Canadian tulip festival.

It's happening right now.  So happening.

So, of course, being the good little Ottawan (Ottawinian?) that I am (cough, cough...sarcasm), I went out for my run and ran towards the tulips.

And, you know what?  They were actually pretty beautiful.

It is very easy for me to be down on this town.  It's small and parochial.  Its winter makes me want to kill myself and others.  I miss my friends and family.  I miss the vibe and energy of a big city.  And, well, I could keep on going and going with my oft-repeated list of the things about Ottawa that just don't really float my proverbial boat (and you can read my post about Ottawa as a celebration of mediocrity), but what I should say is that when a whole town comes out to enjoy tulips, brings their kids out to look at flowers, drives into the city from the 'burbs on a family outing to celebrate gardens, and generally gets together over the banishment of winter, even my cold and shrivelled anti-Ottawa heart has to find something pretty special in that.

As much as I wished I could diss all those people milling about the spring buds just barely beginning to open and promise so much more than cold winter, I just couldn't find it in myself to do so.

So as I ran, feeling every bit as out of shape as I am these days, I took a moment to stop and smell the tulips. To stop and enjoy the moment, and while my life isn't exactly where I'd like it to be just yet, it's moving in the right direction, and knowing that, I can give myself permission to take a breather amidst the flowers and allow myself a moment to enjoy the present.

The present with tulips.

The present with running.

The present with sunshine.

And, you know what?  That present is pretty darn good, and so as I turned around after frolicking amongst the flowers and headed home for the latter part of my run, I was feeling pretty darn good. These tulips have been gone all winter, but the festival is on, and they're putting on a good show now, and that's all that matters.

Making friends with spring!

Over and out,

Joy

Run stats:
Ran for a total of 38mins for a distance of 6.93kms at a pace of 5:29min/km.