London Runner Track Meet

I apologize for the lack of posts once again. Shortly after the opera closed here in Victoria, I was on the road once again and this made updating difficult. I spent just over two weeks in London Ontario. Pacific Opera Victoria brought the show we did in Victoria (Die Zauberflöte- The Magic Flute) to London where we performed six shows with Orchestra London. We rehearsed there for about a week to get accustomed to a new stage and accustics at the Grand Theatre and then did four performances spread out over about two weeks. I was able to continue with my training with Jon giving me my schedule and feedback via eamil. I found out that there was a twilight track meet scheduled between shows so I was able to do it. I ran on the track for the first time since the Black Press 5000 a couple of weeks ago and the wo went well so I was looking forward to a good race and to see if I could better my time.

I did  a warm-up on the trails around the track and then headed into the in-field to do some strides. The announcer started announcing the runners in the race and when he said my name, I heard this huge cheer coming from the stands. The cast from show had come to watch and cheer me on!. It was then mentioned I was singing in the opera in town and I guess because a certain tenor was singing out loud, he guessed that the cast had come and mentioned that too. It was pretty funny!  The race had eight women lined up, a few of whom were hoping to run sub-17 minutes, myself included. I got myself a bit boxed in off the start of the race with two girls between me and the two leaders. I spent two laps trying to get myself tucked in there  but finally settled in. I was hitting 80″ laps and I felt pretty relaxed right up until the 2km mark. The girls got a small gap on me and as I moved into the third km I chickened out and let my pace drop a smidge…enough to open the gap a bit more. Now I was struggling trying to stay focused on my own. Maybe had I hung in there, it would have been painful but running on my own was just as painful. I went through 3km in 10:06 so still on pace to run sub-17. It was about here I got a side-stitch for about two laps…that provided me with some fun entertainment. I saw with the last km ahead of me that I wasn’t going to make it under 17 . I could hear there was another runner coming up from behind with two laps to go so I got my focus back and dug in to hold her off but just barely. Results are here: http://www.londonrunner.ca/page.php?content=RCLDS

It was a really good experience running this race. All eight women ran under 18 minutes which is a pretty good field for a low-key twilight meet. I was hoping to run under 17 minutes and was kicking myself afterwards because there were some women up there to pull me along. For where I am in my training right now though, it is a decent time.

I got to chat briefly with Hilary Stellingwerf, our top 1500m female who was as warm and friendly as ever. I also got to see her race the 800m. What  a lovely runner! I did a cool-down with Courtney and Rachel and had a great little chat before heading off to a pub with my entourage from the show. They had a pretty good time apparently. I heard them cheering like mad every time I went by them which helped out a lot. Thanks you guys!