Hey everyone! As many of you already know yesterday I participated in the Sole Sisters 5K Run in Dartmouth. I believe this is only the second year they’ve had this women only run (though I could be wrong). I heard about it back in January and when I heard they had a chocolate stop I knew I had to go 😉
The organizers really make this run a full weekend event, they had a private screening of Steel Magnolias at Empire Theatre Saturday morning for all racers, and then had some information sessions that took place early that afternoon (on finding the right sports bra, proper stretches for runners, and running sneakers) as well as some cool things at the expo. Sadly I missed all of the morning/afternoon excitement. The race itself wasn’t until 6pm, I taught Zumba Toning at 10am and since it’s an hour’s drive from my house to Dartmouth I found someone to pick up my kit for me (thanks Yvonne!!) since kit pick-up ended at 2pm and headed down later in the day.
The one thing I’m really bummed I missed was the Chiropractic/ Physiotherapy clinic that was at the expo. They were offering free spinal scans and the Chiropractor would tell you about any muscle imbalances they saw on the scan. I would have loved to give that a try. I’m sure I could get it done around here, but there is something about being able to get it done without an appointment (and for free!) that really appealed to me 😉
I was really happy when J said he’d come with me. I normally don’t ask him to come to my races/runs because let’s face it, unless you’re running in them or volunteering at them they are pretty dull. Standing around waiting for someone isn’t all that exciting. I was especially happy since the weather yesterday wasn’t very pretty. It was pouring rain our entire drive to Dartmouth. In case you’re not aware, I’m a total “fair weather” runner. Running in the remnants of tropical storm Andrea didn’t sound like it would be much fun, but I was going to do it.
We got to Dartmouth and I picked up my race kit
That’s right folks, our race bag was a reusable shopper from Tommy Hilfiger. Fancy 😉
Since we were in Dartmouth Crossing and had some time to kill we wandered around the stores until it was time for me to head over for the pre-race announcements. Thankfully by then the rain has stopped.
There were 2500 women registered for the race, though I know there were less than 2500 there. Friday night in Halifax there was a bomb threat at Relay for Life (which shut it down) so the race organizers let us all know Saturday morning that if we didn’t feel comfortable running we could pick up our finishers medals and run the 5K on our own time.
The bomb threat from the previous day didn’t worry me, but the weather still did
This is the, “I’m freezing to death while wearing a long sleeved shirt and a micro fleece hooded jacket and the people next to me are in shorts and a tank top acting like it’s nothing!,” look.
Sweat pink y’all.
At 5:30 the announced it was time to start making our way to the start line.
We walked…
and walked…
and walked some more.
It took us 15-20 minutes just to walk to the start line.
Did I mention it was cold? Thank God for cuffins
my heart may have been warm but my hands were not. Look at my poor finger, it was frozen and white!
What is going on here? It’s June! I shouldn’t be freezing at 5:30pm in JUNE!
Lots of ladies in purple waiting to run!
Because of the wind and rain the organizers decided not to use the start/finish arch so when the race started I’m not entirely sure when I went over the start line. The race wasn’t timed and my phone way dying so I didn’t start a GPS recording I just noted what time it was when I “thought” I started.
I always enjoy a good race shirt motto 😀 In case you can’t read it the pink t-shirt reads, “Running like Ryan Gosling is at the finish line”
I have to say though, I don’t get the whole Ryan Gosling thing. Perhaps it’s because I remember watching him on Breaker High where he played this super goof ball.
Anywho…
Here are some more runners..
and a shot of the Team in Training “high five” station
and the hug station
Okay. So from the time I found out there was a hug station I declared that I didn’t want to be hugged. It’s weird. I don’t need a hug from a man I don’t know while running. However, when I got to that part of the race there were a lot of Firefighters there and the guy at the front kept being passed by all the women. He wasn’t OLD but he was older than a lot of the others and I felt bad ‘cuz nobody was hugging him so I did. Suzi to the rescue 😉
A group from Girls Gone Gazelle ran in the run too I loved their shirts!
a sea of purple shirts:
Chocolate stop!!
The next water stop had some interesting cheerleaders…
Then it was back up a slight hill and then down to the finish line. It’s hard to see but they put a yellow tape up across the course finish where the finish line was since they couldn’t use the arches.
And then I was off to find another firefighter to get my medal!
And then I had to hug him too. I was hugging firefighters all over the place yesterday. Which is a pretty odd thing for me. Look who else was at the finish line!
It’s Holly! She saw me hugging the firefighter and made some comment about how SHE didn’t get to hug a firefighter. I told her she was probably too busy assaulting the firefighter to get a hug 😉
I grabbed a quick snack and texted J to tell him I was heading back to the car (my phone battery died shortly after that) and make my way back down to where we had parked.
I was so happy to get to that car and put dry socks and sneakers on! Hello there Kitty!
Then after a quick detour to find out that East Side Mario’s at Mic Mac Mall closed in January we decided to head back to the Valley and got supper at Jungle Jims before heading home.
The race tiself was fun, it would had been even more fun if it had been warmer. It took me until kilometre 3 before my finger finally thawed out, and I finished in around 33 or 34 minutes. Since my half marathon training called for a 35min 5km run I’d say I was (for once) nearly on pace.
My only real gripes with the race were that the race expo/pick-up ended at 2pm even though the race wasn’t until 6pm making it hard for people like me who were coming in from out of town just for the event to get to visit the expo. I also wish the start line hadn’t been quite so far from where everyone had to meet. I know they wanted us to meet somewhere everyone was familiar with (as the race was on some less used side roads) but it really was quite a jaunt back and forth. I managed it without difficulty, but there were people there who were walking the race that I don’t think were prepared to have to walk so far before or after just to get to the race site.
All in all it was a fun run, and it was neat to see so many first timers (I would say at least 1/4 to 1/3 of the participants were doing an official 5K for the first time). I think I is especially a great run for first timers as there is no pressure to finish quickly (they told us we had 3 hours on the course so to take as much time as we needed) and because of all of the fun stations along the way. Oh! And the sweet race shirt! I think I’ll wear mine on my run tomorrow 😀
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I wasn’t cold at the beginning (with a jacket and my race shirt on – jacket needed to come off at first water stop) and I really didn’t mind the walk to the start line. It was actually REALLY nice to have a warmup walk before a race. I walk before each of my runs, but never before a race. That said, I did hear complaints around me, and I understand how that walk could feel long to some who were only really prepared to perhaps walk only 5k at the race.
My fave part about the race was how chill it was. As I was running, I saw people stopping when they saw other runners they knew. They’d just stand in the middle of the course and hug and congratulate each other. It was really awesome to see. So supportive!
I really didn’t mind the walk either, I was especially happy to have the walk back to cool down afterwards. There were a lot of people around me on the walk up that were complaining about the walk and how they wished they had brought their vehicle up and parked closer so they wouldn’t have to walk back.
I really enjoyed the chill atmosphere too! I wouldn’t normally feel like taking pictures and instagramming them while running but since it wasn’t timed I went for it! I’m sure the people around me must have thought I was nuts (and they are right) it was fun to post pictures as I went so people at home could see what was going on.
Now it’s only a few weeks to Epic Canada – hopefully I won’t need a coat for that one!!
The only thing I’m commenting on here is that I, too, don’t get the whole Ryan Gosling thing and it’s for that exact same reason: Goofball on Breaker High. 🙂
Way to go on the run tho. Whoot whoot!