Monday, May 31, 2010

Ottawa Race Weekend

translated from my french blog


It was Ottawa's Race Weekend, I was 24 weeks pregnant and I ran a 10k!! Ok, I only ran for about 2-3 minutes on the course, but the rest of the way, I walked "fast".

We arrived to Ottawa by train on Friday afternoon - traveling by train was perfect, S and I got to relax and chat without having to drive all the way. When we got there we took a taxi to the hotel - that's when we realized what a good idea not having to drive in Ottawa was - there are lots of one way streets and lots of winding streets in Ottawa, would have been confusing...
We arrived at our hotel, relaxed for a few minutes, and then we walked to the "Fitness Expo'' to get my race kit. It was a good 8km to and from, so we walked at a relaxed pace - I didn't want my legs to be sore for the race! It was nice to walk all along Bank Street and see a bit more of the city :)

The day of the race, we walked around the ''By Ward Market''  a bit, and then we went back to the hotel to relax a bit, the race was at 6h30 pm.

Here is the obligatory belly/pre-race shot...

 

Wow there was a ton of people at the start line!!
 

My official spectator :)
 
Who is also my official photographer :)
 
I didn't put too much pressure on myself, just an ideal time to finish the race in 10 minutes per kilometer. I was happy to notice a lot of people who looked like they were there to walk the 10k - they had walking sticks and everything... It was kind of encouraging to think I wouldn't be the last to cross the finish line and/or the only one walking... 

My heart rate was much better this time, better than at Harry Rosen's 8km, but my legs - they worked hard, I felt my calves and thighs getting tired real quick... At the 2k mark I though -woah, will I be able to do this for 10km?!! But kilometers passed and my legs got used to the feeling... Enough to change my mind as of km #6 where I thought - pffff I can totally do this!!!!

Just like at Harry's 8k, S came to meet me on the course at around 9km - oh how good it was to see him and also to realise that I was almost done!
 

The only weird thing or 'discomfort' that I felt during the race came at around 6-7km - it was really warm outside, I had been walking for more than an hour... MY HANDS!!! They swelled up like balloons - I could not recognize them anymore! They reminded me of that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry was uncomfortable dating this girl because she had man hands!!

 
Ok, Maybe it's not that obvious here but trust me, my hands are usually slimmer than that. I'd say they are a third bigger than they usually are - I asked S and he says they were 37% bigger ha ha ha! It took a few hours before I could put my rings back on... I was so glad I had decided to remove them before the race!!


Official Results:

I was the 8275th person to cross the finish line out of 8497 runners
My 'Gun Time' is 1:46:56
My 'Chip Time' or 'real time' is 1:39:32
(99 minutes 32 seconds - mission accomplished!!!:)
In my category I finished: 831/845
and for women overall, I finished: 4839/5020

Not bad at all!!!

On Sunday morning, before leaving for Toronto, we had the chance to see some of the marathonand half marathon runners, from the comfort of our hotel room - the view from our room was fantastic!












 

I want to say a big congratulations to Laura who ran the 10k in Ottawa ''for real'' this weekend. 

BRAVO LAURA!!! :)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awwwww, you look so cute pregnant. I love that you walked the 10k.

I am cracking up at your comment about the man hands and S saying they were 37% bigger. Funny guy.

So when are you due? September?

cinemarie said...

hee hee
S is a funny guy indeed :)

Thanks for your comment Julie!! :)

I am due on September 18th... so fast *gulp* hee hee :)

Unknown said...

hey there~

thanks for the comment and i enjoyed reading some of your mom recent posts... looks like we're going thru the same things (pregnancy-wise) so i'm glad i'm not the only one with a ton of questions/concerns... i've added you to my google-reader and look forward to more updates! =)

jodi

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Progress...

 Pregnancy Ticker

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin

BLBE I