IronColl and the "10K"

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IronColl
Lynn Williams
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IronColl and the "10K"

Postby IronColl » Mon May 22, 2017 4:30 pm

My big race for the year is the Seawheeze half marathon on August 12, so because Habs always seems to end up in Red Deer to race the marathon and I seem to come watch her, I thought that signing up for the 10k race would be a reasonable goal. Because I have been building my endurance slowly with the goal race in mind, I did not think I wold be ready for that half this year. I did not go into the race with any huge expectations but a few weeks ago I thought that I could finish in less than an hour. Last week I looked up the results from last year's race and saw that only about 7 people in my age group finished under that hour and that lead me to believe that the race was either very challenging or not a pot of people chose to run it.. Either way I thought that was a reasonable goal.
I had difficulty sleeping the night before and my stomach was a bundle of nerves, which it usually is the night before a race that I have set a time expectation for. The morning of I did some deep breathing. Here is me at the car before the race starts, and a bit before remembering I left my Garmin at the hotel!

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After a quick pit stop I said bye to everyone and did a brief warm up before settling in at the start line. I had an emotional text exchange with a friend who also has RA and is training for a 10k. She gave me wonderful words of encouragement. Here you can't see the tears in my eyes.
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Moments later I'm off!!
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Cute shorts hey?
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Because I didn't have a garmin, and I refused the offer of one because the race was less about the time and I didn't want the feeling of failure if I couldn't stay below a particular pace, I just used the MMR app on my phone and snapped this shadow action shot. i looked at the pacing for about the first km and then decided that I would drive myself less crazy if I just ran by feel. I am pretty good at figuring out pacing in a race so i relied on that. I zigged and zagged a bit of the beginning and kept saying "this isn't a run, this is a RACE". I did reasonably well passing more people than passing me and then eventually found myself in a good spot. There were a couple of times where I could feel myself slowing down but I was doing well and getting the speed back up. I resisted the urge to look at my phone the whole time or even asking someone what the pace was. The course is reasonably shady but there are a few places where it is open to the sun and I had to dig deep and push through. Between km 7 and 8 we have to go up an overpass, in the sun with a head wind and I managed to run the whole thing. I walked a bit in the last water station because I was starting to feel the signs of low bloodsugar. There is a point on the course where we got to head to the finish (yay) and the other half and full racers have to veer to the left. It's a long straight away in open way to the last hill and then downhill to the finish. I pass the 9km marker. yay! Then the 20km marker for the half about 100m after (what?) and then the 41km marker anouter 50m or so after that. So we went from 1 km to go to 1.1km to go to 1.15km to go. Pardon? So the reason that it's hard to break an hour is becasue the course measures long (about 500m by both my mapping programs). Anyway, I round the corner to the finish expecting to see 56 on the clock based on my perceived exertion, but it was 59. I pushed as hard as I could to the finish. Crossing just a few seconds over an hour. Seriously?
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I had absolutely nothing left at the end of that. I crouched low to the ground for a good minute after that and could barely sip from my water. Eventually I got some food in me and checked out my results: chip time 59:54 for 147/518 overall, 60/357 female and 7/74 age group. Not a bad result.
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I very much enjoyed spending time with Jen Laura and Sue and thank them for the pictures they took of me.
If all that you read is everything you believe then let go, then let go, then let go.

Nothing will change if you never choose.

2018 goals: May half marathon, September half marathon

chunkymonkeymelonhed
Lynn Williams
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby chunkymonkeymelonhed » Mon May 22, 2017 5:09 pm

So freakin' happy for you Colleen. What a great a result.

the course measuring a half a kilometre long is :twisted: :twisted: :roll: :roll: .

The picture of you coming in to the finish is the best- look at those feet flying of the ground 8)

Wishing you a good recovery and all the best as you train for your half. You are a rock star.
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MEC 10K Race 10- Nov. 5

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Jwolf
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby Jwolf » Mon May 22, 2017 6:45 pm

So happy that it worked out so well for you!! I'm sorry I couldn't be there to see you finish, but it was great to be with you for the rest of the weekend.

When I was finishing the half, I couldn't figure out how the 9k mark of your race was 100-200m BEFORE the 42k mark of the marathon when it should have been 100m after the 21k mark of the half. They couldn't all be right and it definitely seemed that the 10k was long. They could move the start line to deal with that- not sure why they don't.
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Habs4ever
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby Habs4ever » Mon May 22, 2017 9:40 pm

So, so, so happy for you. I had tears for you as you were flying down that final stretch! You nailed it for sure!
I wanna live like there's no tomorrow
Love, like I'm on borrowed time
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Running is a conversation with your body. Sometimes you listen and sometimes you tell it to stop whining and do something. - Ian

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purdy65
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby purdy65 » Tue May 23, 2017 6:06 am

Well done!
It's not the size of the dog in the fight...it's the size of the fight in the dog! 11K Marker post - 2010 ATB.

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La
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby La » Tue May 23, 2017 8:20 am

Congrats, friend! You really did nail that race. I hope you're as proud of yourself as we all are of you for being so dedicated in your training and getting it done on race day. Sucks about the course being long, though. :evil:
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eme
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby eme » Tue May 23, 2017 11:24 am

Congrats on a great race!

Boo to long courses :?

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IronGoddess
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby IronGoddess » Tue May 23, 2017 3:06 pm

Congrats on an amazing race.
IMC 2015

IronColl
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby IronColl » Tue May 23, 2017 5:40 pm

I think I'm less bothered about the 10k being long because I still was less than an hour, which was my goal for this race. My 10K PB is in the 53 but before that I had 2 in the 57 and this pace would have been a similar result. Considering that I have only been running off and on for a little over a year, and had to start over 3 times, this is an amazing result and I could not be happier about it.

Like I said, I had absolutely nothing left and there isn't a moment on the course where I think of where I lost time, because I did not have any unplanned walk breaks (just 5-10 strides to have water at a station). There was not a significant place where I slowed down.

I am very proud of myself!
If all that you read is everything you believe then let go, then let go, then let go.

Nothing will change if you never choose.

2018 goals: May half marathon, September half marathon

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Spirit Unleashed
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby Spirit Unleashed » Tue May 23, 2017 7:54 pm

Good job on your race. And nice to meet you. Finally, I met IC! I'll do a burpee on you.
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby Miss*Smiles » Tue May 23, 2017 9:28 pm

Thank you for sharing! I'm so proud of you, and your hard work paid off xo
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby Stampie » Wed May 24, 2017 11:49 am

Well done Colleen! I would say that was a pretty successful race as a testing for the show in August. Not to mention, you ran this by feel. This tells me that you are more in tune w/ your body than you realize. Congrats!
PB’s (official race results)
5K – 26:20; 8K – 41:28; 10K – 52:13; 15K - 1:22:43; 21.1K – 1:54:16; 30K – 2:51:34; 42.2K – 4:24:14

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Avis
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby Avis » Wed May 24, 2017 5:07 pm

Congratulations on your excellent race!! Way to go. Loved your pictures and the report, too.
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Ken B
Lynn Williams
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby Ken B » Wed May 24, 2017 5:32 pm

Congratulations! Excellent report, great photos, and a superb effort. Considering the dubious distance - a very good time! Well done! :)

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Robinandamelia
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby Robinandamelia » Fri May 26, 2017 6:47 am

Congrats, great result/placement. 10K's are hard, even harder when the course is long :wink:

deerdree
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby deerdree » Fri May 26, 2017 8:08 am

awesome!! congratulations!!

how many people finished under an hour in your age group this year? i'm guessing about 7 again based on the stats you posted? congrats on being one of them!

IronColl
Lynn Williams
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby IronColl » Fri May 26, 2017 7:05 pm

deerdree wrote:awesome!! congratulations!!

how many people finished under an hour in your age group this year? i'm guessing about 7 again based on the stats you posted? congrats on being one of them!


6 gun time, 9 chip time, And thanks!
If all that you read is everything you believe then let go, then let go, then let go.

Nothing will change if you never choose.

2018 goals: May half marathon, September half marathon

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RA.
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Re: IronColl and the "10K"

Postby RA. » Sat May 27, 2017 5:29 am

Great report, friend! I'm so proud of you!
Life is short. Stop whining!!- Jwolf


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