Harry's Run

What a beautiful day for a race. The sun was shining. It was cold and breezy (not my preference for a run of any sort--I'm a warm weather gal). My pup was there to view her first race. And my right foot felt fine prior to the event.

I did a gentle run prior to warm up my muscles and elevate my heart rate. I set my Garmin305 to run 8K in 48 minutes. This would be a reasonable pace post recovery from Around the Bay. My goal was to keep a steady pace and not reinjure my foot. The course had rolling hills which I tackled confidently. The last hill just before the finish line had a steep incline and was lengthy. I could hear the runners' laboured breathing around me, despite my iPod's wonderfully distracting rhythms. It was here that I could feel the weight of my legs as I lifted them with a drill-like cadence. I finished in 48:39.7. I was pretty much on target and was happy with my performance.

It was wonderful seeing running partners (hey Joanne B, Neil, Chuck) gathered at the finish line with a sense of accomplishment on their faces. Good memories of past training days...of our Second Cup lattes after those 8:30am long runs every Sunday...of speed work with Ken at the track. I loved those times.