Race Report: All about the hot chocolate

I didn’t want to come at you guys today with excuses, I wanted to be the Bionic Woman, the woman who could do anything no matter what is trying to hold her down. But, much to my dismay, I am not the Bionic Woman, I am very much human, and here I am with, well, excuses:

• I had not run in two weeks.
• I’d been battling a head cold that turned into a chest cough for just as long.
• My starting blood sugars were worrisome.
• I nearly pulled a Tom Boonen.

Yesterday I ran the first ever Vancouver Hot Chocolate 10.4 km race; my first race of the season. As I’m sure you can guess from ^^^  it didn’t go so well. I so desperately wanted to come out in a blaze of glory, personal besting right off the hop, but the stupid, evil, nasty, grrr cold demons had other plans for me 🙁

140301run7
Eek!

So, this is how the race went: I started off way too fast, which is an ongoing problem of mine, I expended way too much energy weaving in front of runners (who likely passed me later on in the run), and thought once the field spread out a bit I could ease into a nice groove.

I NEVER FOUND THAT GROOVE!

140301run5
Even my Garmin was giving me grief!

My run was a roller coaster of pacing. Too fast. Too slow. My body felt heavy, like I was pulling a stubborn donkey, my shoulder was aching, my head was completely falling apart. People were passing me, my pace was majorly slowing, I couldn’t push, I couldn’t get ahead, I was worried about my blood sugars, I had to, ahem, go number 2. (See Tom POOnen Boonen above!) I wanted to quit. And to be honest, I probably did about 7.5 km in… I kept running, but my head, my heart, my legs just weren’t in it.

140301run4
How about I  just crawl back into bed now and call it a day???

When I finally saw my boy standing atop that hill, with about .3 km left to go, had he not been wearing his clodhopper boots, and had I known he’d already excitedly jetted out for a run with a group of the other finishers just moments early, I would have grabbed hold of his wee mitted hand and trotted across that finish line with his happy, giggling face and his super excited feet running alongside me – now that would have been a happy finish!

140301run2
“Hey mama, you kinda look miserable over there, how about I join you?”

I’m not gonna lie, I beat myself up with this one a little bit. But this morning, I came to the realization it was just a crappy day. Runners everywhere, cyclists too, professionals and recreational, all have crappy days. Take Tom Boonen, he pooed on someone’s lawn mid race for crying out loud, and got back on the bike, AND won the Paris Roubaix! I, too, WILL bounce back.

140301run6

VANCOUVER HOT CHOCOLATE 10.4 KM

  • 9:40 a.m. BG before: 5.2
  • Temp. basal: -50 per cent
  • Carbs: granola bar 1 hour prior, no bolus (15g) 3 DEX 15 minutes prior
  • Distance: 10.4 km
  • Time: 59:48 (at 10 km: 57:18.4)
  • Average pace: 5:47 min/km
  • Average cadence: 87 spm
  • 11 a.m. BG after: 6.0
  • Temp basal: +30 per cent (1 hour)

And the race wasn’t completely lost. There were some positives. I was still getting over a cold, I hadn’t run in two weeks, and yet, I still got out there, I still ran, I still raced… for the most part 🙂 I also walked away with some pretty awesome swag for a first time race – a super nice technical shirt, a sweet mug (i LOVE mugs) filled with steaming hot chocolate (of which I got two sips and gave the rest to my cheer squad who very much deserved it).

AND…

I finally met this super awesome chick in person!!!

BhrBrCNCUAAusuR
Thanks for the pic Nikki!

I’ve been following Nikki’s blog – Slow is the New Fast – for about a year now and have been chatting on Twitter for just as long, but yesterday was the first time we’d actually met face to face – and completely by accident.

You know those moments when you think you see someone you recognize (in an elevator, across the street, in passing) but you’re not sure enough to actually approach them, so you stare, like stalker stare – that was me! After negotiating myself through the starting corral in an effort to find the “perfect spot,” I settled in about half way, and right away I noticed the girl in front of me. Hmm… she looks like Nikki… she’s super tall like Nikki… she has a super friendly smile like Nikki… was taking selfies just like Nikki … hmm … could it be … hmm. And then, I saw it, right there on her timing chip: NIKKI!!!

“Hey, I said, are you Slow is the New Fast? I’m Princess of Pavement!”  – and the rest is history.

And that, my friends, is the beauty of racing: friends all around!

4 thoughts on “Race Report: All about the hot chocolate”

    1. It’s terminology for my insulin pump… Basal insulin is the continuous insulin flowing into me via settings on the pump versus bolus, which is the insulin dose based on the carbs you eat. Thanks for asking!

  1. I’m impressed you did it and you STILL made pretty good time my friend.
    I sympathize with your GI distress as you know I always will.

    Next race will be better. 🙂

  2. Great job for getting out there anyway Katie… even when you weren’t feeling 100% Anyone who wasn’t running hat day was thinking to themselves that you WERE the bionic woman! How great that you were able to meet Nikki! Don’t you just love that about the running community? We know each others by our social media “handles” and recognize each other from our blogged selfies so we can make new friends in person. 🙂

Leave a Reply