Happy Canada Day!

Well it's Canada Day and what does that mean......that's right my 15 km race this morning. I got up bright and early as I couldn't sleep (does this happen to anyone else before races???). Left my house and took the train to the Legislature grounds where it was being held and got there about 40 minutes before the start, which was good because I didn't know where I was going. Turns out that the 5k and the 15k were starting at the same time and I was near the beginning of the line, where the 5 K'ers were mostly. But I didn't realize this until I started out at a faster pace than I had planned on. I figured I would stay with them for a bit and see how I felt and surprisingly felt really really good all the way through the race (well almost). At the start of the race we went down a big hill to get to the mostly flat course, and subsequently we had to go back up that hill to finish off the race. I passed a couple of people going up and was really pushing it and for a brief second thought I was going to have to stop and either walk or collapse, but I could see the finish and pushed through it. It felt great! My wife and 2 kids (Blake and Emerson) were waiting for me and it felt pretty good to see them, my son (2) had a maple leaf flag tattoo on his face and was pretty excited. I thought that anything under 1:30 was ok, but really wanted to be around 1:23-1:25, I surprised myself with my final time.

Total Distance: 9.28 miles
Total Time 1:17:06
Lap times (1 mile laps):8:07, 8:25, 8:11, 8:21, 8:33, 8:18, 8:10, 8:14, 8:17, 8:58 (final 0.28 mile)

About 1 min/mile faster than I was training, but like I said I felt really good right from the start. I kind of settled with a couple of guys who were at this pace and it stuck with them. I'm a little disappointed in myself as I slacked off on the training but am still pretty ecstatic about my time, next training I will try some speed work (thanks for the advice)!!