Phew....that's a long title! This was EPIC race weekend here in Halifax...along with Canada Day weekend....yay to a long weekend!!! EPIC races ran Friday night (6.1k), Saturday (10k and 5k), and Sunday (1/4 and 1/2 marathon). I only ran the quarter marathon on Sunday as I'm really trying to stay off the injury list this year. :-) Come backs from stress fractures are hard!!
The race started at 8:30, so I headed over for a 7:30 arrival. It is mandatory that I greet the emcee before I race for a good luck hug!
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| Chris says he doesn't run his feet, he runs his mouth instead! |
I ran into some other BLT Runners before the race and we took a small group photo!
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I follow Chantal (2nd from left) on Instagram
and it was nice to finally meet her in person. |
We lined up for the start at precisely 8:30 with a beautiful rendition of 'Oh Canada' sung before we started. The humidity was high and I told myself just run conservatively. The last time I ran this route was 2 years ago when I was able to PB in my 1/2 marathon. I do know that all the races go up about 1.5km of incline at the very beginning...I was not looking forward to it. I kept my pace steady for the first kilometer as a little sprinkle fell on the runners. We rounded the corner to climb the hill...up...up...up. I pumped my arms and I hate to say it....but I wasn't as winded and tired as I thought I would be. Damn....those hill training runs are paying off!
Jillian had made the trek to cheer and captured me coming down the incline by our local mall.
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| I was able to make up a bit of time on this downhill. |
And then we entered Shubie park. The course takes you through many rolling hills...I remembered this from my 1/2. It's funny what we remember as I could remember exactly where I struggled during my 1/2 two years ago. I grabbed wet sponges at each water stop and put them over head to counter the humidity. I noticed as I ran....right from the beginning...that the kilometer markers they had on the course were not marked properly. This was a bit of a mind 'thing' as the marker would say 4km, yet my garmin was only on 3.7 or something like that....not one marker was correct. Anyways...at about 7km, there is this wicked steep S shaped turn....it's brutal...who puts that at 7km of a run...gah...but I didn't walk...nope....I said "Just get it done!"
I absolutely love the finish of this race. There are Canadian flags lining the last 800m or so!
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| The picture doesn't do it justice |
I crossed in 1:01:08, finishing 6th in my age class. I met up with
Heather and we grabbed some jube jubes (yum) and snow cones!!!
Heather ran 2 races, so she got a 'C'. Over
6 years, it will eventually spell CANADA
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| The medal may be almost as big as my thigh |
Every year I try to run a race at EPIC for the views and that finish line...it's like a running tradition! Now it's time to work on some speed work to try and get my 5k time a little faster!!!
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