Run For Southlake Half Marathon Race Report

Did I ever mention that I really enjoy my sleep? Well I do so getting up for a race is hard for me, even my hubby is shocked I would do races because I have to get up so early in the morning. But on Sunday I got up with my alarm at 5:15am to get out the door by 6:30am and headed up to Aurora for the Run For Southlake Half Marathon. I was a bit nervous of the course for this race but I was determined to give it all I had. We got to the Aurora Community Centre at 7:15am and we had to go pick up Marina's bib for the Kids Mini Mile. They had the big doors of the rec centre open and it was so cold in there that we decided to head back to the car to wait for the 8:00 am start time of my race. I did look around for Aneta (My Running Bucket) because she was a pace bunny for the 10K but unfortuantely I did not see her. Luckily we found a small street just above the community centre (thank you google earth) where nobody else parked but it was the closest parking to the race, yes we scored big time. I was so comfortable in my warm BMW that I almost missed the start of my race, yikes! I got there literally one minute before the race started but I had to take a pic first:

There I go almost at the back of the pack because I was late!

I will not lie, this was the toughest course I have ran. The rolling hills just killed my calves. I was so happy that I had driven the course a few days prior so that I would know exactly what I was up against. Unfortuantely Bathurst Street seemed to go on forever and it had the most hills. There was no relief from these monsters, as soon as you went up a hill and back down, there was another one waiting for you. When I got to the half way point I had 2 burning calves and one ankle that was starting to hurt and the knowledge that I had to do all the same hills on Bathurst Street again was making me mentally shut down for a bit. But at this point I started talking to myself, hopefully not too loud that others heard, but I told my self repeatedly that I did the hills one way, I could do them the other way. As I turned onto Bathurst Street on the way back I suddenly found myself all alone. The few racers behind me started falling back and the one's in front were going faster. I almost ran the whole Bathurst Steet alone, a bit eery. I knew at this point that I was not going to PR at this race and I was totally fine with that. But I was trying to come as close to my previous PR as possible.

I knew my family would not be at the finish line because they were at the area where the kids race was since the timing of the kids race was exactly 2 hours after the half started. I crossed the finish line at 2:03:05. Here I am happy the hills were over:

My previous half marathon PR was 1:58:13 so I think 5 extra minutes for all those hills is reasonable and its great training for my calves. That works for me!

Here are my stats:

Official Time: 2:03:24

Chip Time: 2:03:05

Gender Rank: 16 out of 45

Category Rank: 9 out of 27

And ofcourse I had my great family there to support me, I love them for it. Here I am with my little runner:

And there is always time to act silly!

On the way back to the car my daughter met a friend. She is the biggest dog lover ever so we must always stop and say hi to all doggies.

Here are my critiques of this race:

* It was a very small race, not sure if its because Sporting Life 10K in Toronto was on the same day and maybe everyone was there.

* The course was very hard, the hardest I have ran.

* The sideroad we ran on was terrible. So many potholes I was so afraid I would twist an ankle.

* Waterstations were awesome, well distanced and the volunteers were great.

* The food after the race was disappointing. There was water and bananas as soon as you finished and then you had to go inside for pancakes. Well since the 5K and the 10K finished before the half the lineup for hot pancakes was HUGE. I was starving and no way I was going to stand in that line. I would rather have some bagels ready to grab to help the hunger.

* Great medal!

Will I run this race again? Possibly but I really need to do more hill training!