Valley Harvest Marathon 2013

Happy Tuesday!  Here in Canada we are just getting back int o the swing of things after our Thanksgiving long weekend, and I officially ran my last real “run” before this weekend’s Nike Women’s Half in San Francisco (yikes!  How it that only 5 days away??).  

I’ve run the 5K the past few years, and it’s become my favourite Thanksgiving tradition.  For so many years I wasn’t able to be active because of my ailments (mainly fibromyalgia and a weak left lung) so being able to get up on Thanksgiving Sunday and run a 5K feels like a great way to be “thankful” for what I can now do.

I had big hopes for a PR this past weekend.  I figured if I could run a sub 30 5K out of the blue after not running for like 3 years, I should certainly be able to beat that this year since I’ve run more in the past 4 months than I probably have any other year.  

Saturday I picked up my race kit and hung out at the football field while waiting for my nephew Andrew to run in the kid’s run.  It was soooo cold!  Luckily for Andrew and his sister Emma, I got a sweet blanket and jacket in my race kit that they were able to snuggle up in

and a better shot of the goodies

Best. Race. Swag. To. Date.  I’m obsessed with that blanket.  The end.

Sunday morning was a beautiful (but freezing) morning, and I ran without a watch (my new trend) so I really didn’t have any idea how fast I was going.  Looking back, since I wanted a PR I really should have worn my watch so I could have paced myself… but I guess luck was on my side because when I entered the football field I could see the time clock was right at 29 minutes.  I could still do it!  So I sprinted to the end

When I finished the clock read 29:30.  My old PR was 29:22, when my chip time was posted it was 29:19.  So yay!  A new PR, but I was still annoyed for about 10 minutes thinking I should have done better.  But hey, I didn’t wear a watch, I didn’t hurt myself and I still beat my own record.  So I got over it.

Also, I think I’m going to arrange to have my own photographer for all future races.  That first “action” shot is the best running photo I’ve ever had.  Thanks Lisa!!

The post race picture I took – notice that stupid me had my medal turned the wrong way.

And the post race photos our official photographer took 

with Cathy who ran her first official 5K!  Whoop! Whoop!

And one last close up of the medal:

And now we await my San Francisco adventure for one more race recap this month.  Eep!