This past Sunday I raced in the Yorkville 5km. The last time I did this race was 2011 and my goal was to go under 21 mins. My previous PB had been 21:07. That year, I did 20:07 and was quite excited and happy to have cut off so much time. Since that race I have tried at least 2-3 times to go under 20 mins, always missing by 10-20 seconds which in a 5km is like 20 mins in a marathon! It’s a big differential. My goal for this weekend was to not have a “2” in front of my time. I did not even care if it was 19:59.9999. I just wanted that “1” in front. I did a bit of a taper for a couple of days before. Not huge, but cut back to one training session a day instead of my usual 2 on most days during the Mon-Fri week. And cut back on the time I was running and cycling. My legs still did not feel totally sprightly, but I guess it was enough to hold off any big fatigue.

Race morning it was windy, coming from the north but temperate. I arrived early as usual, got a great parking spot and walked to the start and just hung out inside a building until 30 mins before the start. I did a 15 mins or so warm up , realizing that when I need to run fast I need to be well warmed up. Being a Masters athlete too it does take the body time to warm up to speed! I then stood at the start for about 15 mins then did a few more strides when the race organizers said we could cross the mats if we wanted to warm up more. I got a spot close to the front as they also said that prizing was based on gun time not chip time. There is one girl who always beats me in races and I was looking out for her and did not see her until well…..5 mins before she then stepped to the start! So I thought, forget about winning age group, but go for the time goal.

I had my virtual partner set for 3:58/km. The gun went off and I took off and stayed ahead of my virtual partner and at the first km I heard someone call out 3:42….Yikes…..oh well I said, just keep going. Actually my first km was 3:36!! I managed to pass one other Masters woman about 3 km in and just tried to hold on, and stay ahead of my pace. As I approached the last few hundred meters I heard someone call out to someone else, “You can make sub 19:30 if you go hard”. I went as hard as I could and came in at 19:34. I was so happy!!! I knew I did not win my age group, but was good enough for 2nd (the winner came in at 19:07,…she is so fast) and was 11th woman overall. Here is a picture after the race:

Overall it was a great race and I was really happy with how it all turned out. Now time to change the focus back to Half Marathon training. Scotiabank Half is in 6 weeks or so.

In other news, I am officially a Brand Ambassador with Mizuno. I am really excited about this relationship. I love their shoes and apparel and am happy to be able to write articles on a regular basis for IRUN magazine and the Mizuno Run club associated with the magazine. So look out for that to come soon.

Mizuno is so great and has looked after my shoe needs for the last year or so. And as of today my 10 yr old has them too. Thanks to Mizuno for keeping her outfitted too in such great shoes. Here she is sporting her new Wave Musha:

Well that’s it for now…keep on running, biking, swimming or whatever you do to keep fit! Fall is coming and it’s time to get out there when the temps are cool and there is no snow on the ground!!