My training schedule was to ru 23 km today at 6:15 pace so I decided to make a 6 km loop to the race startline in Muskoseepi Park, run the 15 km race, then run the shorter 2 km route home to comeplete my distance.
It was a beautiful morning for a run. When I left the house it was mostly cloudy and only +1. By the time the race started, the sun came out and it was blue skies!!!
After leaving the start line, I was beginning to settle into my stride when I noticed I was keeping pace with a lady who seemed much more experienced at running than I am. We soon started talking and found out that she was a trail marathon runner and was just coming off an injury so she was going to run "slow"..... During the converstion, I looked at my watch and saw that her "slow pace" was about 5:30.
As the 15 kilometers slowly counted down, I managed to stay caught up with her, for the duration of the race. She was even nice enough to walk my intervals with me!!
In the final kilometer, I discussed my homestretch strategy. Apparently, real runners are supposed to smile and sprint to the finish...even though that is a LIE!!! I do not want to smile OR sprint to the finish line, but I told her I was not going to do my best to sprint...but I was NOT going to race her to the finish line!!!
In the end, I did manage to bust out a sprint...and a grin as I crossed the finish line and apparently, it paid off!!! I finished second in my age category!!!!
After looking at the final standings, I was disappointed though....there were only 2 of us in my age category....
Thanks to Laverna, I finished the race with a 5:55 pace. That alone made my day!!
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