Fairhaven: a love affair continues

Oh beautiful, beautiful Fairhaven, we have had a love affair that has lasted a good many years haven’t we. Ah, the memories, the moments, the romances we’ve had. It’s an affair that’s extended well beyond the short-lived toe shoe craze of mine that first put you in my sights.

Your history, your old-time architecture, your boutiques, your food, your village greens, your marinas, every visit is ripe with wonderfully new discoveries. And so, my beauty, it only seemed natural, don’t you think, I run a race on your very personage 😀

FAIRHAVEN WATERFRONT 15K:

• 8 a.m. BG before: 10.4
• Carbs: breakfast 2.5 hours earlier, full bolus
• Temp. basal: none
• Time: 1:24:04
• Distance: 15 km
• Average pace: 5:38 min/km
  
• Average cadence: 86 spm
  
• Fuel: @30 minutes 2 shot blocks @60 minutes 2 shot blocks
• 10:15 p.m. BG after: 9.2

11th in my age/gender category, not too shabby. But next time, I crack the Top 10!!!

Going into Saturday’s race I wasn’t sure how I would fare:

1) Because it was in the United States, about a half hour across the border, and because it was on a Saturday, which meant no Big Ring (he works Saturdays), Little Ring and I camped out at my parents’ house the night prior, which meant neither of us had the greatest of sleeps.

“Hey! This isn’t my bed!”

2) The drive to Fairhaven took longer than we had anticipated, which meant we didn’t get to the start until about 20-30 minutes beforehand. And I still had to pick up my race bib and hit the loo. The LONG cue for the washroom left me with just 2 minutes to spare before the gun start, which meant no pre-race warmup, no pre-race sprints, not even a pre-race Little Ring good luck kiss!

“Mamsy! Mamsy! I’m all puckered up, where’d you go?”

3) And then there was the start of the race. Approximately 800 runners relegated to essentially a bike lane. Good grief! Anyone who tried passing was pretty much ensuring a face plant into the cement! Mind you, that only lasted about a mile. The crowd thinned out pretty quick, but with still enough racers around to feel like you should be competing.

4) I have not run this kind of a distance in well over a month and a half and I was unsure how my newly healed body would fare. And so, going into this race I made the choice to have FUN. I wanted to push myself, but not so much that I’d be miserable or disappointed. I wanted to run like a kid and finish with a smile. And by golly, I DID!!!

I kept a fairly steady pace, I kept the negative thoughts at bay, I was consciously aware of my foot turnover, speeding it up every time I felt it slowing. I smiled and thanked as many of the volunteers as I could; I waved at the kids rooting; I applauded the cheerleaders. And I took in my surroundings, I noted the beauty of the heavy fog on the water, the hidden bike shop edging the homeward-bound trail, and the phone booths. Seriously, I think I passed at least three – Superman would still be relevant in Fairhaven!

And being so close to home, you’re likely to run into FAVOURITES!

Strategy wise, I took two 1-minute walk breaks every 30 minutes, which worked perfectly for me. I also opted NOT to test my blood sugars on the race. Normally for runs beyond 10 km, I test, especially when I’m taking in fuel. But because I was starting with higher blood sugars, and because I’ve experienced those kinds of numbers in previous runs, and because I know my body, I figured my blood sugars would drop down to a respectable 5-6 mmol by the first 30 minutes, which wouldn’t require any insulin for the 2 shot blocks I was taking in. I had hoped to maintain that BG for the next 30 minutes so that the next set of blocks wouldn’t shoot up my sugar level, but unfortunately, the experiment wasn’t perfect. The post-race 9.2 reading was higher than I would have liked.

Overall, I kind of really loved this race! I loved the atmosphere, loved the location, loved my cheerleaders (Moms and Little Ring!!!) loved my results, and most of all, I loved loving this race the entire way.

“Hey mamsy! Here’s some banana, you earned it!”