EPIC Canadian 5k 2017

Whoa.....that was a wet one!!!  It brought back memories of the very first Epic Canadian so many years ago when the rain was sideways!!  This year Canada celebrates 150 years so this Epic was sure to be special. 

I woke early and got all tattoo'd up.

I made sure to fuel properly the night before....a muffin and a Hersey almond chocolate bar...yum yum.  LOL

 

I met Jill at 8:15 and we were off.  I had checked out the weather radar before leaving and saw some heavy rains headed our way and made sure to pack a garbage bag for protection.

 

We arrived early and found a wicked parking spot across from the race start.  And that is when the heavens opened up....I mean it poured HARD!!  With about 15 minutes to the start, we put our bags on and walked to the start...literally walking through tiny rivers running down the parking lot/road with the amount of rain coming down.

Nate and I at the start

By this point, everyone was soaked, through and through.  As the race started...wouldn't you know the rain started to let up to a drizzle as we ran through puddles that covered our sneakers.  Jill thought it was funny at the beginning to splash me but as I tried to get her back, I think I may have splashed spectators....sorry!  The first 1.5k are pretty much flat, then there is 1.5k of uphill.  You go up, level out for like 10 meters, and then up again.  I kept telling myself that at the 3k mark, it was all downhill!  And what a glorious downhill it was!    I remembered it well from last years half.  As you begin to run around lake Banook....it's so pretty and you know the finish line is less than a kilometer away.

 

You have to run over a suspension bridge close to the finish and Jill mentioned that it bounced a lot as she ran over it....I felt nothing..LOL...I think I was just set on the finish line.

 

My chip time was 28.06 - giving me 16/129 in my age group, and 153/701 overall.  This is was my first race this year...coming back from stress fractures is hard!  I'm wondering how I ever ran in the 26's as taking 2 minutes off my time seems impossible!

A little rain never hurt anyone and runners came out and ran their hearts out today.  It just made the day even more EPIC that it happened in a down pour. Thank you to all the volunteers and organizers that stood in that rain for hours to make sure the runners stayed safe!!

 

Up next for me is the Windsor 5k at the end of the month.  So glad to be back on the racing scene cause the energy is always so positive and I get to see people I haven't seen in ages!!