Race Day

Just slowing down after completing my first official 5K race

Well today was the day and I did it and better than expected! I was able to complete my first 5K in a time of 26:50, which is a new personal best for me.

I felt good for the entire race. There was only one real incline and that is Massey up to Ospika; the incline starts almost right away and you are over a kilometer into the race when it levels off and then starts dropping back down to the finish. In hindsight, I think my training helped me out quite a bit because I was tackling the big incline after the 3K point in my training.

When I was about three kilometers into the race, I started counting the bodies in front of me and that is when I realized that I was in the front of the pack. Turns out I wasn't as far up as I thought I was ... I thought I was in sixth place but later discovered that there were some speedsters that had long gone ahead of my little group. If I had maybe thought this a little sooner in the race, I may have tried to increase my pace to see if I could get into medal standing. Once the race results started coming in, I found out that I was two minutes back of running a medal race but still finished 7th in my age category (19-49).

As I started out on the race course, I was very conscious of my pace and wanted to make sure I wasn't going too fast or too slow. I used a man and a lady to help me guage my pace but soon ended up passing the guy who was waiting for his son to catch up. The lady also started to slip behind me as we started our incline. About two thirds of the way up Massey I passed this one guy who had noticed earlier was running quite fast but was now just walking. As I turned the corner onto Ospika, he once again ran by, but that was short lived and I passed him again just before the water station.

Grabbing the cup of water and trying to drink while running is apparently an art form that I gave up on before drowning myself. The volunteers along the race course did an exceptional job and there were three that stood out for me. The first one was directing traffic at the intersection of Westwood and Massey who we ended up running by twice, the second was the lady at the water station who expertly handed off the water to me and the third was the lady that was using a walkie talkie to relay the bib numbers of the participants just before they entered back into Masich Place Stadium for the finishing sprint.

Sprint I did do, but not until it was too late. Earlier on the course I found myself encouraging a younger runner who I passed. He dropped off but started to turn it on again and as he came up beside me, I told him he could do it and that he was almost there. He thanked me and ran on up ahead. As I turned to the track I noticed this same runner almost throwing up. When I came up on him again, I put my hand on his back and asked if he was going to be okay. With a bit of a head nod he eased up but kept on running. This is when I started to open up and realized that it was coming easier than I thought it would. So I tried to go full tilt. I noticed that the lady on the microphone was commentating about me and apparently somebody behind me who was also sprinting to the finish. I didn't look back and I didn't ease up until I crossed the first finish line.

I slowed down to cool off, stopped my watch and also stopped my Sports Tracker app that said I ran 5.11 kilometers in 27:20 and at an average speed of 11.2 km/hr. I was stoked! I took a complete lap around the track to cool off and then went into the infield to find water and some food. The organizers also had a monitor that was scrolling times for the participants; after a few minutes I noticed mine - 542, Ron Gallo, 5K, 26:49. 26:49 ... could this be right? It certainly was although they added one second to the official race results online. Either way, this was a great time for me.

When I first signed up for the race, I told myself I just didn't want to finish last. I finished 21st overall among all 5K runners and shortly after finishing Allan Bristowe came up to me and asked if I knew that I had killed him by over a minute. Over a minute on somebody I consider to be in better shape and does this kind of stuff (Posted Race Results). Dave Branco also approached me and told me that the next one will have to be a 10K or even a half marathon. I think the half marathon is still a little optimistic, but I am totally looking forward to running in a 10K and will be registering for the Labour Day Classic as long as there isn't any Spruce Kings road game scheduled that day - Sunday September 1, 2013.