Race Recap: A Midsummer Night’s Run

This was the hardest race I have run to date. This one, that is.

2:34 hours of 30 KM of city streets and trails by the lake.  I heard about it from a co-worker and decided to give it a go as a stepping stone before my 50 K. Probably wise, considering my longest race to date before this one was a 7 miler.

My sister was home from the hospital for the weekend and she was able to come observe. My mom came to attend to her and one of my best friends wanted to come as well.  I do so many of my races solo so it was a lot of fun to have people along.

They watched me announce on the drive to Toronto that I was not nervous, and then grow increasingly intense. I was going to DO this. This is the way I approach every race I run; not with anxiety but with a fierce determination.

I was in a rush before I left and made a grave mistake of packing…nothing foodwise. Brilliant, I know. The lovely thing about runners is they are so generous and really are a community. I had a lady overhear my remark of having no gels and she offered me hers as well as a food bar. I was quite grateful.

I drank a cup of gatorade before heading to the starting line.

I was pumped and just enjoying my music and the people. I love feeding off the nervous tension. I just love running.

The starting line.

Ok…GO!!!

I am such a newbie.

I had no clue what pace to run at the start of a race this long. I definitely learn by trial and error and I prefer to wing it rather than analyze it because it helps me to maintain my love for running by not making it a bigger deal than what it is.

I will let you in on a secret. It wasn’t easy.

I began with a 5:00 pace, and made myself slow to about 5:15.  The first few kilometers were quite crowded. About the 10th kilometer I was realising I was not running hard enough, especially when I was passed by the 2:30 pacing fairy. (I don’t normally get to say THAT in a sentence! They had the pacers dress up as fairies because of the Shakesperian theme). I began to give it a little more power.

We hit a long, boring stretch of path around this time and I took half of a GU pack. ( I took GU energy Tri-Berry. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it, as I am definately more drawn to the coffee and chocolate side of things.) I cannot explain how amazing these little things were to my performance. Within 3 Km, I felt like I was sailing. At around 16 Km, just as we were running on a gravel path around a lighthouse, I was feeling really great and I began passing people without feeling like I was overdoing it. So I continued. I ran an average 5:00 min/KM overall for the race.

I knew it wouldn’t last.

And it didn’t.

Around 24 KM, I wanted to stop. O man, did I ever want to stop. My legs turned to rubber and it was a full time job just to put one in front of the other. I inwardly swore when I saw hills and even my music wasn’t pumping me up anymore. I believe this is called The Wall, ladies and gentlemen!

I took the rest of my GU. I had been downing Gatorade the entire time. My body was buzzing with sugar and exhaustion. I rounded 28 KM and forced myself to maintain the pace because at this point, I was focusing more on remaining upright then running well. (All I can say is I will eat dinner before I run next time).  At 29 KM, I was close enough to the end that I just pushed to the end. Although I was not feeling as strong as I wished, I crossed that finish line with pride!

One of the amazing things about this race is they handed you a bottle of water the moment you cross the finish line!

An exhausted me getting a very welcome water bottle at the finish line.

I was totally done. I got my medal, grabbed a banana for later, posed for this photo:

With my best friend Rebecca and sister Jolene, and headed home to bed with my enormous finishers medal. I was tired, but I recovered quickly and felt good. I wasn’t the best runner of this race, but it was my first distance race and I felt like I gave it everything I had. I finished 120th out of 652 runners in 2:34:46.1.

Random comments:

I got my first black toe-nail from this race!

Also, some of the songs that I rocked out to on this race are:

Vous sur ton chemin- Les Choristes (So relaxing while I ran through a nature trail)
Hey- Lil John
Teenagers- My Chemical Romance
We No Speak Americano- Yolanda Be Cool
Remember The Name-Fort Minor

and 2 hrs worth of others, but that would just be ridiculous.

So just a quick moment to sing the praises of this race:

1. I am an English major, so the literary theme was awesome for me.

2. There were so many people at this race and it was so well organized. There were clear markers, many encouraging bystanders, frequent hydration stations, and a fun atmosphere.

3. The swag was unbelievable. I recieved a technical zip-up hoodie that was worth more then my race admission. The water bottle is fantastic and the medal is first rate.

4. The results were posted immediately following the race and there was clear instructions the whole way through.

I definately recommend A Midsummer Night’s Run to anyone living in the GTA.

Run Strong!