September 2014 Memories and First 10K

 

Friday, September 19, 2014

Thursday night my husband's older sister treated us to supper and a comedy show and all we had to do was pick her up and take her with us. We had a good time and some laughs.

This afternoon I picked up our bibs for Sunday's 10K. My son and grandson are running. I will be mostly walking. I am hoping I might be able to do some jogging but we will see. My goal is to finish. It may be a rainy morning.

I was able to visit with my oldest son and his family as the event will be held in their town. The field where we start and finish is very close to where they live. I told them what time we start and estimated finish time and told them I would be happy to have them cheer us on. We will see if they were listening. We had a nice visit.

Tonight we had coffee with friends from the city. Now that there is a Tim Hortons in our town it is much easier to invite friends to join us. It was good.

My First 10K

Sunday, September 21, 2014

This morning I was up early to get ready for my 10K. I wanted to have my morning water and something to eat. My son and I had arranged to meet at the site of the events (marathon, half-marathon, 10K) at 10 to 7. I left the house in plenty of time. About 5 minutes after I had left town, I realized I had forgotten my number and had to return home to retrieve it from the kitchen table. I still managed to get to the parking lot before my son. My grandson held them up.

All week there were predictions of rain for this morning. It was clear. There was a bit of a breeze but it was warm enough that I was comfortable without a jacket or sweater which was good as I didn't have anyone to leave those things with.

We observed the runners for the marathon and half marathon leave at 7:20. We prepared ourselves for our 8:00 start.

All week I have wondered if perhaps I had bitten off more than I could chew but I got off to a good start. There was a woman walking ahead of me and she was walking at a pace I could work with. There were water stations and port-a-johns every 2 km. I was grateful for those sips of water.

It was fun. I remember a couple of small kids ringing bells outside their home. I waved to them and they got excited. It was those encouragements that help to make it fun. Near the last kilometer, I was able to chat with the lady I was using as my pacer and express to her my thanks for her steady walk. Unfortunately, I started to lose 'steam' during the final kilometer and she pulled too far ahead for me to catch her. I did speak with her again after we finished.

My son came to meet me and encourage me to the finish. It was good. My finish was 1:39:19.277. My goal was to finish and I did. I had fun. It was a good morning.