Honestly, my running has been pretty weak since my last blog. Since the Canadian Death Race, I have definitely dialled back my training significantly. Although this was always the plan, I also planned on stepping it up at the start of September, which hasn't happened. With that being said, I feel ready.
Since my last post, a lot has happened. Most importantly, I got married. It was a beautiful day for me surrounded by friends and family. Also, my summer vacation has ended and I am now back at work. I'm once again teaching Grade 8 and my class seems good, so far. At the end of August, I surpassed 3 years of running without missing a day. Finally, I ran 3 races, which is the focus of this post.
6 years ago Heather and I did an obstacle race together; it was the Warrior Dash. We had a lot of fun but, for some reason, neither of us have done an obstacle race since. This year, I decided to do the Hell in the Harbour Obstacle Course Race. It took place at Bayfront Park in Hamilton. Although I didn't have any expectations going into the race, friends told me that the obstacles, although plentiful, were VERY easy. They weren't lying. This was definitely a runner's course. I have no upper body strength at all anymore, yet the challenges were all a breeze. I was worried about racing only a week after the Death Race but my legs felt fine so I decided to push a little. The course was 6-7km long and I did my best to run hard in between obstacles. After the first obstacle, I found myself in the top 5 in my heat, which was the first of the competitive heats. Although the competitors were visibly in far better shape than myself, the majority of them did not appear to be runners. Within the first km, I moved up to 2nd place and seemed to be closing in on the leader. He had won the event the previous 2 years and was a really nice guy and experienced OCR competitor. I watched how he completed the challenges and tried to copy his technique to the best of my ability. Although I thought that I may be able to catch him if there were some longer runs in between obstacles, in actual fact, it was in those spots that he started pulling away. I was enjoying the challenges but struggling to maintain my pace during the short running sections. The leader, on the other hand, was super consistent and crushed the running portions. He also appeared far more relaxed and comfortable than I did. In fact, I was suffering. By the end of the race, there wasn't anyone close enough behind me to catch me and I knew that there was absolutely no way that I was going to catch the leader, so I took the last couple of obstacles easy and my sprint turned into a jog. In the end, I had a lot of fun, and I was exhausted. I woke up with a sore neck that day and went to bed with a far more sore neck that evening!
Since I enjoyed the Obstacle Course Race, when a friend of mine said that he had an extra bib for the Mud Hero Ultra event, I decided to go for it. This course was longer, on a hillier rout, and had more difficult obstacles. However, from what I have heard, these obstacles are still considered relatively easy in comparison to some OCR events. It was certainly a more competitive field and had over 2,500 racers over the course of the weekend.
This one took place at the Albion Hills Conservation Area, where I have raced a couple times in the past. Again, I went out too hard and was gassed by 3k. These obstacles required more upper body strength, which is clearly not a strength of mine. Whereas most participants had no trouble getting over the two different walls, I had a really hard time and required 3 attempts to get over each. I decided that it was not going to be my day and that I might as well slow down and try to have some fun, which is exactly what I did. I enjoyed the course a lot. I walked a few of the hills and ran hard on the descents, which felt great. At one point there was a guy running behind my that was dry heaving, and eventually threw-up, without breaking stride. I was impressed. There was a lot of mud, as the name implies, and the majority of the obstacles were easy, even for me! I completed the course in a little over an hour in 14th place. It was a good day.
My final race to report on was meant to be a 30k road race, also at Bayfront Park in Hamilton. It took place on September 8th, which also happened to be my grandmother's 96th birthday and, like we do every year, Heather and I were hosting a bbq/pool party. I knew that I would not be able to get in 30k before the party and I also knew that I was in no condition to be running a fast 30k, so I dropped down to the 5k event. I decided to try running without a watch; partially because I wanted to try running "by feel" and also, my watch battery was dead. The course was flat and the weather was almost perfect; cool but pretty windy. I started out around 20th place, and worked my way into the top 5. The lead runner, who was a very strong woman, had a good size lead by the 2.5k turnaround and looked steady. I was starting to hate running. The McMaster University Cross-Country team (men and women) were participating in the race and were all behind me at the turnaround. This sounds impressive and I'm tempted to leave it at that but the truth is that they were treating it as a training run. They ran 7k to get to the race, ran either the 5k or 10k, and then ran another 7k home. Also, they were really taking it easy. 2 of them passed me at the 3km mark and were smiling, having a casual conversation, and looked really fresh. Super annoying.
I have no idea what my km splits were but I did get passed by 2 more people (not Mac runners) in the last km. I didn't care at all- I was strictly racing the clock. I was hoping to be under 20:00 minutes but would have no idea if I was on pace until I finished. As I approached the end, I saw the clock hit 19:00 and was surprised. I finished in 19:17, which was way better than I expected. I gotta say, it lit a fire in me and now I want to do another 5k and try to break 19:00.
Now, it's time to put in some work. I've got a few 50k races in the next month (which I am going to absolutely suck at!) and have now officially started my 100 mile training for Brazos Bend (Texas) in December. If I can break 19:00 minutes in between now and then, it will be my first time doing so this year and will put a smile on my face.
Happy Trails!