Sunday's Run

Right, a few people have asked so here is what went down at Sunday's race

Yvan, J-G (Yvan's Brother) and I leave our house for the race...shotgun start was 7:00 a.m. Yvan wanted to be at the race grounds by 6:15 a.m. to do a dynamic warm up, pee, get race jitters over etc.We left the house at 6:35 a.m. because someone was running (pun intended) behind (hint - it wasn't J-G or me)

As we headed down the street that leads to the grounds for parking we realized everyone else was also trying to get in the grounds at the exact same time as us, so we parked about 10 blocks away and ran to the starting area.

Dynamic Warm-up was done en route and we got many funny looks as we side-stepped, lunged and windmilled our way to the race area.

Now, we had gotten up at 5:15 a.m. in order to eat (half a banana with yogurt (Rana) and one egg with toast (Yvan) and to properly hydrate (2 glasses of water, 1/2 glass orange to keep cramping at bay and 1/2 cup of green tea for me and coffee for Yvan) so we had to pee prior to the start of the race....apparently so did the other 2000 people running or walking as they were all standing in line at the port-a-potties.

Now if you read my post last year when we ran this race you know that I didn't get to go to the bathroom before the race started and hence had to pee the entire time I was running...I wasn't about to do this again. So, I got in line! Yvan found a bush somewhere (men are so lucky)...J-G also got in line with me. Yvan wished us well and then hightailed it to the starting area as he wanted to be pretty far up in the pack....J-G looks at me and said "How is it the we were ready on time and late because of "you know who" and "you know who" is getting to start the race on time.

Countdown to gun is on - we are still in line for the potties....gun goes off...we are still in line for the potties....everyone slowly starts their race....we are still in line for the potties.

Lucky for us the event is done with chip timing (a small chip is laced onto your shoe, you step on specially designed mats that activate your chip as you leave the starting gate....when you finish you step on a mat coming in and your chip is activated again and your race results are sent to a computer) so you can leave whenever you want and still get an accurate time for your run.

Eventually we made it into the potties (separately of course) and then off on our run.

J-G and I were running 10K, while Yvan was running a Half Marathon and there was also a full maraton but those people aren't wired quite right I say.

Mom and Dad L ( Yvan and J-G's) parents came out to cheer us on along the route.

Here is J-G waving at G & Y

Here I am - completely oblivious to them (in blue shirt)

Me still completely unaware - I had my ipod cranked really loud and was in "the zone" LOL

some girl taps me on the shoulder and points in their direction but I still didn't clue in and then she yells at me - someone is cheering for you and waving like crazy! I did finally turn around and see them and wave!

Yvan coming into the finish - he started about a minute after the gun went off so his time is actually a minute better than what the clock shows as that is gun time. Get it?

Yvan and I eating some post race goodies

Yvan and J-G

All three of us - do not mock the hair I have - it was humid and I was sweaty and my hair was crazy!

Yvan finished his half marathon in - 1 hour 50 min and 39 seconds

Jean-Guy finished his 10K in - 52 min and 49 seconds

Slow-moe-Joe a.k.a Rana finishes in 1 hour 10 min and 30 second. Not bad for having only two training runs under my belt this year.

Here are some of my thoughts as I was running.

"Am I crazy? I must be crazy! Why else would I be putting myself thru this?"

"I think I am going to puke."

"Oh boy - I think I am going to fall over."

"Are we there yet?"

"Why is that guy always trying to pass me - no way MR.! NO WAY!"

"WTF - it is Sunday - I should be in bed, sleeping, not torturing myself!"

"Are we there yet?"

"I can do this, no I can't, yes I can, no, no I can't, yes, yes I can..."

"Oh thank GAWD! There is the finish line...why is it so far away?" Why don't they run towards me with it?" "Oh gawd, please let me get there without falling over or puking on myself..."

"o.k. 100m to go - you can do this"

At the 100m point my old sprinting days kicked in and I ran like speed racer to the finish line and passed a whole bunch of people and yelled - "ha ha ha suckas....bet you didn't see me coming!"

I jest - I didn't yell that. I just limped over to the medical unit and got an ice pack for my aching knee!

It was a great morning - our running community is fantastic and the volunteers and supporters along the route are really inspiring.

Oh and I didn't need the Kleenex after all :)