Not exactly as planned...better!

L to R. 3rd Lisa Avery, 1st Lanni Marchant, 2nd Krista DuChene. Photo: Rick Mannen.

CHCH news shoot with Leah in the Chariot.

Cousins, Joe and Krista after their 30 km Around the Bay race. Joe's a Tough Mudder competitor who competed at the World Championships last year. Now THAT is a serious race. His team competed for 24 hrs, taking a few short naps in tents between the 4 loops they completed!

Boy, do I love to run!
So today was my first race of the season since my return to running 7 weeks ago after not running for 2 months (Dec, Jan). The chronic tendon issue and acute glute medius pull in October and 2 broken ribs in February are nearly 100% thanks to Sherri and Patricia at Essential Physiotherapy. The cross-training I did during this time, while not running, certainly paid off today. From early February to now, my weekly mileage has been:  31, 50, 70, 81, 104 and 121 km. And I've done about 11-15 hours/week of cardio (run, bike, pool, elliptical). Today's 30 km race certainly proved that one can maintain a respectable amount of fitness by cross-training. Coach Rick and I had today's 30 km scheduled as a training run with the goal of running a decent 2:00 h @ 4:00 min/km. But, it didn't exactly go as planned. It was better. Right from the gun, I let the ladies get to it because I was going to stick to my "training run" race. But after 5-6 km, I just couldn't do it. I seemed to be settled and relaxed at a steady 3:40-3:50 pace. So, I stayed there, knowing the race didn't really start until 20 km with the rolling hills and final monster hill. But when I got to those hills, that's where I started to see a few ladies ahead. One by one, I picked the three of them off, each time making sure I passed going up a hill since that still seems to be my strength. Then, I decided after the monster hill, I would run steady to finish 2nd since I knew Lanni would be way ahead. But again, my body kicked in to run a decent 3 km at the end. I finished super strong and had a speedy kick with a big smile on my face! The best part was seeing Coach Rick after I finished, giving him a hug and saying, "I couldn't help it!". He was a-ok with it! I'm super pleased with my splits: 1st 10 km 37:26 at 3:44.6/km, 2nd 10 km 37:32 at 3:45.2, and 3rd 10 km 36:42 at 3:40.2. I knew I had a negative split because my time at 15 km was 56:18 and my finish was 1:51:40. But the final 10 km being my fastest with all the hills was really what made me know I'm in decent shape. Lanni was super speedy today, breaking the course record with a 1:44:39! You can read Canadian Running Magazine 's link for the story.
So, next on the agenda is Harry's Spring Run Off 8 km, Apr 6th. I'll take it easy for a few days then get in some decent speed and tempo workouts in order to get that personal best we are hoping for!