It's a Celebration

It took 2 races in Ottawa, and returning to the Toronto Zoo 4x (2010, 2011, 2012, & 2013), but I finally did it! I finally got to break the tape as the Canadian 10k Champion

First thing on the Calendar after Worlds was the Canadian 10k Championships. I had come back to training after Moscow feeling pretty strong. I did a little Cross-Country race in Nashville for fun, and ran the marathon portion of a Rev3 in Ohio as a solid training run. Then, like the fool I sometimes am, I decided that I did not need any help moving some items from Georgia up to Chattanooga, and tweaked my left quad the weekend before the Championships. I will admit that I was a bit concerned, but was able to get in touch with Ron O'Hare, one of our top notch Canadian physios in the Toronto area and had him work on it the Thursday before the race.

It was a rainy and grey day for the 10k race, but true to form the Canadian Running Series crew had everything under control. I knew it was going to be a tough race with Krista, Natasha and Loudmilla all lining up to join in the fun. My plan was simple, get out and get a gap on the more straight part of the course and hope to maintain it until the end. I was pleased with how my quad felt during the race, and was quite surprised when I realized that I had actually extended my gap over the second half of the course.  After finishing everywhere from 2nd to 5th, I finally pulled off the title, and my Mom was there to see it! 

The weekend was capped off with some celebrating down here in Tennessee at the Titans Football game followed immediately by a Nashville Predators game... the perfect "man day" as my brother put it.

My Zoolander Appearance

So I’m only a few weeks away from Chicago and things seem like they are going pretty well… training wise anyways.  Last weekend I raced in the Canadian 10k Road Race Championships and took fourth behind Megan, Dayna, and Malindi.  No complaints here!

I felt like it had been forever since I had raced, and it felt great to get the cobwebs out.  I had a bit of tummy turmoil to deal with the two weeks leading into the race, but was able to take care of it before lining up to race on Saturday.  Not quite the best prep for a race I have had mentally, but some things just end up being out of our control eh?

I was pretty happy with how the race went out, aside from having to dodge a pack of men who decided to position themselves between the lead three women and Natasha and myself.  We went through 5k fairly quick, and then things got a little bit more hilly and quite full of turns. Needless to say that I felt a lot like Zoolander in the second half of the race… “I can’t turn left.”  I do think my training these last few months has made me pretty strong but I am definitely lacking that pep in my legs to take off and go on a course that zig-zags through the zoo. 

I did have a lot of fun rooming with my Chiba roommate again, Natasha, and got to meet a lot of the B.C. team.  They were a great bunch to do my shake out run with.  Si Si was able to make it for my race, and warmed up with Natasha and me, mouth full of chocolate and all! What a riot!

After the race, Si Si and I headed back down to London to see the fam for a bit… Holy geeze is my nephew Madden getting big!  Then we headed on to Michigan so I could see some law school buddies and she could go hang out with the boy (side note… if you have to pick between the puppy and the boy… always pick the puppy).  It was nice to throw back some beers and be done with the stresses that were weighing on me these last few weeks.  Now to just keep pressing forward until Chicago! “Just keep swimming” … err… I mean running ;).

I think I am adjusting to my double life as a runner and lawyer.  To be perfectly frank, life here in Chattanooga isn't exactly how I pictured it during my last year of school, and it certainly isn't always how I want it.  But unlike some, I'm not going to dwell on it with stubborn anger.  Time to dig in and run!

As a side note, I received a lot of feedback on my last blog about my on again off again relationship with my boyfriend, Mr. Running.  I’m glad that so many of you understood where I was coming from! If we can’t laugh about our twisted relationship with running, then why even bother doing it?