I didn't really know how to tackle this weekend in a post so opted to jump on the 5 Things bandwagon.
1. Turkey Dinner - I love my mother's turkey dinner! She decided to cook ham last weekend over the Easter holiday since my little brother was away still at work in Alberta and he would have missed out. Yeah, my brother loves Mom's turkey too :) What could be better than a big family dinner with no reason to it other than a shared appreciation for turkey and each others company.
2. Early Birthday Present - Surprise! I have known what Brian was getting me for my birthday for a while now, but had no idea it was going to be an early arrival. I got a new iMac for my 40th BDay! I'm pretty excited about this since my old Mac was from a University recycle program and was seriously losing its mind as well as causing me to lose mine. There's going to be a bit of a learning curve but I should survive. I have great technical support;)
3. Oliver 10km - Race #4 of the Interior Road Running Series
5:30am Sunday morning I hit the road on the way to Oliver in the south Okanagan for a 10km run along the channel. Weather was amiable, overcast skies for the most part and about 8 degrees around race start time. It was the wind that made conditions less than perfect. Let's face it though, a head wind on the way out is a tailwind on the way back so it seemed as though race times were not suffering.
A field of 180+ runners came out for the event from throughout the Interior of BC, some of whom no strangers to competition and running fast. I'm always amused on an out-and-back course to see where I will be when the lead runners pass by me making their way to the finish. On Sunday that was 3.8km into my run, the only thing shielding my pride is that the two top finishers were both former Olympians! That was a crazy fast lead pack of runners.
I started my race conservatively, not getting caught up in the initial rush of energy at countdown. Did a bit of jockeying around to find my place in the pack where my pace felt right, then settled in at about 4:45/km and attempted to keep it there. For the first 5km I managed to keep it there and felt good at this Happy Pace, then we hit the gravel road on the return and my per kilometer time jumped up +5sec/km. I'm not complaining that's just the brass tacks of this race. I practiced some new running efficiency techniques while I was out there having fun and found at the finish line I was well within a PR for the 10km approaching the line. Wow. Another PR this year already. These times are going to get really hard for me to keep improving upon.
My new 10km PR 47:59 I'm feeling pretty good about this run. Even Monday evening I felt confident about going for a recovery run with Elise and not worried that it would turn into a walk back to the Starbucks to drown my aches in mocha.
Two thumbs up to the Oliver race volunteers out there cheering and providing direction/refreshment to racers and even though I didn't win one, it's still a great idea to give bottles of wine to AG winners in place of medals!
4. Trail Running Clinic - Who should take a run clinic? Anyone that runs! Especially if they want to do it more efficiently and with less wear and tear on the body. Thanks to Dirty Feet organizers Phil & Grace for having this informative session, I do feel that it helped me run such comfortable race in Oliver (even though it was on road).
5. Wine Tasting/ Reward - After my stellar personal performance at the race I treated my self to a wine tasting at Misconduct Winery in Penticton on the way home. Their wines are among my husband and my favourites out of the Okanagan region. Brian has been seeking a bottle of their red, The Big Take for a while now but local shops seem to be sold out, lucky for me it was available for tasting while I was there. Yum! Did not disappoint. I left gleefully with a bottle of red and a bottle of white (Misfit), one for my left and one for my right.
2. Early Birthday Present - Surprise! I have known what Brian was getting me for my birthday for a while now, but had no idea it was going to be an early arrival. I got a new iMac for my 40th BDay! I'm pretty excited about this since my old Mac was from a University recycle program and was seriously losing its mind as well as causing me to lose mine. There's going to be a bit of a learning curve but I should survive. I have great technical support;)
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| My new iMac |
3. Oliver 10km - Race #4 of the Interior Road Running Series
5:30am Sunday morning I hit the road on the way to Oliver in the south Okanagan for a 10km run along the channel. Weather was amiable, overcast skies for the most part and about 8 degrees around race start time. It was the wind that made conditions less than perfect. Let's face it though, a head wind on the way out is a tailwind on the way back so it seemed as though race times were not suffering.
A field of 180+ runners came out for the event from throughout the Interior of BC, some of whom no strangers to competition and running fast. I'm always amused on an out-and-back course to see where I will be when the lead runners pass by me making their way to the finish. On Sunday that was 3.8km into my run, the only thing shielding my pride is that the two top finishers were both former Olympians! That was a crazy fast lead pack of runners.
I started my race conservatively, not getting caught up in the initial rush of energy at countdown. Did a bit of jockeying around to find my place in the pack where my pace felt right, then settled in at about 4:45/km and attempted to keep it there. For the first 5km I managed to keep it there and felt good at this Happy Pace, then we hit the gravel road on the return and my per kilometer time jumped up +5sec/km. I'm not complaining that's just the brass tacks of this race. I practiced some new running efficiency techniques while I was out there having fun and found at the finish line I was well within a PR for the 10km approaching the line. Wow. Another PR this year already. These times are going to get really hard for me to keep improving upon.
 |
| Races bring us together |
Two thumbs up to the Oliver race volunteers out there cheering and providing direction/refreshment to racers and even though I didn't win one, it's still a great idea to give bottles of wine to AG winners in place of medals!
4. Trail Running Clinic - Who should take a run clinic? Anyone that runs! Especially if they want to do it more efficiently and with less wear and tear on the body. Thanks to Dirty Feet organizers Phil & Grace for having this informative session, I do feel that it helped me run such comfortable race in Oliver (even though it was on road).
5. Wine Tasting/ Reward - After my stellar personal performance at the race I treated my self to a wine tasting at Misconduct Winery in Penticton on the way home. Their wines are among my husband and my favourites out of the Okanagan region. Brian has been seeking a bottle of their red, The Big Take for a while now but local shops seem to be sold out, lucky for me it was available for tasting while I was there. Yum! Did not disappoint. I left gleefully with a bottle of red and a bottle of white (Misfit), one for my left and one for my right.
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