Well, guys! We did it! Laura M and I ran the Mercedes Benz 10 K Sunday morning in Oakville after being picked up in a Mercedes Benz at 6:00 AM!! Ouch!
Great to have Laura with me! Great to have a friend to share the experience with. Laura was a real trooper as she was not feeling too well this weekend and had not run since the previous Tuesday! Way to go, Laura!
Plus, having Tania there was an extra bonus! She is SO supportive and positive!
We got there at about 7:00 AM or so and the race started at 8:00 AM. We were nervous and I was feeling a bit weak (despite having eaten oatmeal with blueberries that morning).
A bright and beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. The first 3 K were warm up for me as I was stiff and a bit sore from training; looked at my watch at exactly the 3K marker and it said “8:14 AM” …great …right on track for time…let the next 4 K slide by maintaining the same pace…stopped twice because I have a bad habit of going a bit too fast all of the time and then wanting to stop to check my pace…and drink Gatorade at the two water stations.
Passed 7 K and prepared myself mentally for going really hard from 8 K to finish…..then…I basically sprinted the last 2 K…really hard on the last 1 K…..passed lots of people that had been ahead of me the whole race and a lot of them were younger men and some boys that were about 18 – 22 years of age!
THAT made me feel really great!
Finish time: 49:07!!
hahaahhahahahahhahaahhaha………………..
(indulge me my puffing and preening…I’ve earned it !!)
Aleks’ time was better than anticipated and I believe she said “I feel like I’m on cloud nine” with an official time of 49:33.3
Just to put Aleks’ time in perspective (not that we aren’t already blown away by it!), she placed 9th out of 102 in her age category, 43rd out of 622 women overall, and 214th out of 1, 128!
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Congratulations Aleks – you were outstanding!
Aleks is a free running spirit and she is very difficult to coach…don’t worry, she knows that already! The blog above gives you a clue to the root of the issue, “looked at my watch at exactly the 3K marker and it said “8:14 AM” …great …right on track for time”. Does Aleks wear or own a digital watch? No.
Aleks runs by feel and she runs fast all the time. I adapted my coaching methods and communication to fit her style. We talk about how the pace ‘feels’ not about the specific time. She uses her running partners to add some data from their GPS units.
It was critical that Aleks get this single race in prior to the marathon. It helps the coach establish her true fitness level and calculate appropriate marathon race pace for her debut in three weeks.
Well done Aleks – that is fantastic!!!! Way to go!