Starbucks Coffee Hazel 5k

What a fun day Saturday was!  Although we missed our running gal Tanya (getting ready to leave for Paris); Enz, Beverly, Pauline and I had a great time.  Pauline (our Parisian friend) came only to support us...and take photos.  She was a bandit, someone who ran the race, but didn't register.  She also brought dark chocolate brownies (that she made) for us.  I admired them, but only had a tiny morsel to see if they did indeed melt in your mouth like Beverly claimed.  They really did!

Enz, Beverly, me and Pauline hamming it up before gun time.

The Hazel 5k had a very different energy than the Chocolate Race in Port Dalhousie.  It seemed more official and serious.  Even Beverly had some nerves going in.  Her back was a bit sore and she wasn't feeling her best.  We took some snaps and waited for the gun to sound.  The last 20 minutes of waiting were the worst because after you've visited the porta potty, there's really nothing else to do but stand around.  I just wanted the race to begin already!  I want to give a quick shout out to Cintya.  She introduced herself to me while we were waiting to begin because she recognized me from my blog.  The Hazel 5k was her virgin race and from the results, I can see that she kicked ass.  Congrats to you Cintya and thanks for coming to say hello!  I really appreciated it!

The racing gals!

It was a great day for a run.  No too warm, not too cold.  Once the gun sounded, I started out too fast.  Never a good strategy, because you tire early that way.  We ran this race using 8:1 intervals.  Unfortunately (for Pauline), we all ran different speeds, so we broke up pretty early on in the race.  I pretty much ran the whole thing without a buddy, except for Pauline who ran back to check on me a couple of times.  She must have been tired!  She was running between the three of us!

The route was really pretty, along the Mississauga waterfront.  I did not notice one professional photographer until the finish line, but apparently they were all over the course.  After viewing my photos, I'm not too impressed with the results, so I didn't purchase any.  If you are feeling so inclined, you can view them here.  Pauline got one of me crossing the finish line as well as one of me along the route.

Enroute!

And the winner is....Not me!

I had a better overall time than the previous weekend.  Maybe I'm a touch faster, but there also weren't any hills.  The medals were real nice, and afterwards we stood in line for all the food freebies.  Pauline was in luck because I can't eat any of the freebies.  So even the "bandit" made off with the free food!  Here is my official time and stats for the race.

I bettered my previous time by almost a whole 2 1/2 minutes.

Again, I'm not the fastest runner, but I'm getting better every week.  My next race is in 2 1/2 weeks.  I'm "training" now to get below 40 minutes for that 5k.  With determination and hard work, I know I can do it!  I'm still amazed that I can run any distance at all since nine weeks ago I could barely run a minute.  And prior to that, I did absolutely no exercise what so ever!  It's amazing how quickly the human body adapts.

Yesterday I ran with Enz.  She is nursing a bruised knee.  She fell during the Hazel 5k because she was cut off by another runner and lost her footing.  This happened fairly early on in the race.  I know she would argue, but I thought she kicked ass!  If I fell during a race, I'd likely have given up.  Enz got up and kept on going.  What an inspiration she is.  I know she's down on herself because she didn't have a great finish time, but the fact that she finished at all is the true victory.  Beverly also had a bitch'in race.  She has a healing tailbone to contend with and bettered her time by almost 3 minutes!  Both of these ladies inspire me to keep on going.  Thanks for the memories gals:)

Commemorative t-shirt and medal.