A Shore Thing 10k Race Recap

Wow.....it was an early morning today!!  My alarm went off at 5:30 but in true race day fashion I was awake before that.  My ride arrived at 6:10am and we were off as the race was about 45 minutes away.  I should mention that when I woke early this morning, I checked the weather on my phone and saw this....

I was like "What the ???...a tropical cyclone...no way I'm running in THAT!"  Looking closer, it's actually for Wednesday.  Phew!!!  Because we got there early, a friend was able to tape my foot and I applied my 2nd skin.

I'm fighting a bit of heel pain after a run so
taped to see if it helped 

I wasn't sure how I'd run this race.  In May, I was able to hit a PB at 58.00 minutes on a hilly course so I thought I might be able to hit another PB today knowing that I've been doing some training.  I set my garmin's virtual pace at 5.40/km which would give me a bit of room should I need it. 

The run was on the old railway which meant a fairly flat course.  What I wasn't ready for was that this trail wasn't as well packed down as the BLT trail that I am used to.  My footing didn't grab as much and was slightly uneven....next time I'll be wearing trail shoes for this run!  This mentally challenged me right from the start as I knew my push off wasn't going to be as strong.  At first, I was running around the puddles but quickly said 'screw that' and just ran through.  I don't know what happened, maybe it was the faster pace, but at kilometer #6 I started to die.  I had to walk about 30 seconds for a side stitch and I wanted to give up so bad.  I mean, I was talking negative smack inside my head about how I sucked!!!  BAD COURTENEY!!  When I started to run again, the side stitch disappeared and I was able to keep my pace.  I watched those kilometers tick away on my garmin and with 2 kilometers left, I picked the pace up a bit, and finally pushed the final 500 meters.  This one was pure mental as I was saying the dreaded word can't more than once.  Usually I can muster a smile for the finish line photos, but not today.  I saw the camera and I was scowling I think. 

Not the face of a happy runner!

The final result???  A PB by well over 1 minute.

One thing I did notice was that there weren't any kilometer markers on the course.  The race organizer is super organized, and a runner herself, so this surprised me.  I was chatting with her after, and she mentioned that only 3 of the 12 volunteers showed up this morning.  What the heck?  Races depend on volunteers...and that means rain or shine folks...no one is going to melt in the rain!

Such a cute medal for finishing.

This was a well organized race, with about 200 participants.  Unfortunately the race competed with another race in Dartmouth at the same time which may have decreased their numbers. I think the race will draw more runners in future years if run on a different date.  A great job to the organizer and volunteers (who showed up) to a great race in only it's 2nd year!