Quebec City 10 km run

Man, I have been falling behind on blog posts again! Since I have reached my fundraising goal training has taken centre stage in my life! I won't post all of my training outcomes since they are quite long now but I did want to tell everyone about our awesome Quebec City run last weekend. While in Cuba Jen mentioned that there was a Quebec City run in the beginning of May and since I didn't want the half-marathon in October to be my first official running race I thought the 10km would be a perfect way to introduce myself to the wonderful sport of running. First of all, wow, what an experience!! I have competed in triathlons before so I knew the awesome energy you experience from being in a long distance event - people are awesome and cheer you on, fellow tri-ers push you to continue and the thought of eventually crossing the finish line after all your hard work compels you to move forward. Therefore I will admit I was quite excited that I would "only" be doing the run and not also a swim and bike (that will follow in June in Ottawa when Georghia and I attempt the Olympic distance tri!). I have learned all about rookie mistakes, so my goal was not to start out too fast, die half-way through, and then be unable to finish. Therefore I started the first km or so running slightly behind Jen since I knew she would be a good pace buddy. However, after about km two or three I couldn't contain my energy anymore (and my ipod chose that vital moment to play a great song) and I sprinted ahead. This strategy worked well until about the 5-6 km mark when I looked down and saw my heart rate was an astounding 186 bpm. I must emphasize the highest I have ever gotten it in training sessions (running UP mont royal) was 180bpm. Therefore I KNEW I would not be able to sustain that heart rate for another 5 km. I was right. Around the 7 km mark I wanted to die. I felt exhausted. My lungs couldn't fill with air fast enough, my legs felt like mush, and the desire to stop and sprawl on the grass was overwhelming. This was when the mental fight began. Its very interesting how fast you physically deteriorate after your mind has decided its too much. I almost felt panicky. I had to force myself to focus. Kristin, this is ONLY 10 km! Think of the marathoners! They would find it hilarious you are struggling through a 10 km. I knew if I started walking it would be the beginning of the end. Therefore for the next km I repeated over and over and over in my head, Kristin Anne Dawson you will NOT walk, you can run slow, but you WILL NOT walk. No walking. Keep running. Then I started to pressure myself. You think THIS is hard?! Imagine running for your life. Would you stop running and say I'm tired? I don't think so. You have to keep going. You have to keep fighting. I must point out those sneaky event planners decided it wasn't worth marking the last 1 km. Therefore after I saw the 2 km mark I thought I was running the longest km of my life. It went on, and on, and on, and on. When I saw the finish line I wanted to cry. I almost thought it was a mirage - too good to be true. When I finally crossed the finish line I wanted to hug the people cutting my timing chip off of my shoe. I DID IT!!! I had won the physical and mental battle. It felt awesome. I was hooked. I may have to add more races now! Oh ya, my finishing time was 52.33. Not bad for a first try I don't think.

Info from sportstats:

http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?racecode=46164&first=Kristin&last=Dawson&city=Saint-Leonard