road2hope 5k

I consider myself lucky that I not only get to have Kim in my life, but also in my family. If we're being technical she's actually Mike's cousin, but I also consider her a very dear friend. When Abby was tiny she used to live right around the corner from us. On more than one occasion I would head out for a walk and after a long while Mike would come and find me having tea in her kitchen amongst the lovely chaos that four kids bring. Boy I miss those days, as I know she does. Now she lives two towns over and the visits are few and far between. Frowny face.

We got a chance to catch up at Grandma Linda's retirement party and as it turns out she's also been out there running/power walking and signing up for races. She had a race coming up and I was pretty ambivalent about doing more, but the opportunity to spend a morning with her was incredibly tempting. So I went right home and signed up too, before I had a chance to talk myself out of it.



So, my second race... how was it? In a word, overwhelming. The first race I was in had 169 runners in it. This race had 854, just in my race. There was a kids 1k just prior to us and a 10k just after us. There were hundreds upon hundreds of people in the park. I am incredibly grateful I was with Kim, who is a bit of a veteran and had run this race before. I would have been lost without her.



Once we started running I knew what to do, though so the mild panic was short lived. I did get a bit verklempt when I crossed the starting mat. Just for a moment, with 800+ people running around you you really need to keep your head in the game. The race route is gorgeous. After a week of rain it was nice to see the sun peeking out and the view across the lake was clear all the way to Toronto. Kim and I got separated for about a kilometre or so, but we caught back up near the 2k mark and finished out the race together.



Kim ended up making a pretty great running partner. I think we both adjusted our paces slightly to suit the other, but nothing too drastic. Regardless of my finishing time, it was the fastest run I've ever done. The kilometres just flew by. Kim and I have always been able to discuss everything and nothing and apparently being in a race does nothing to discourage that. She did stress multiple times that I was not to let her hold me back, but I was happy to stick with her and enjoy the experience. Sharing a run with someone is new to me. I mean Dave and I did, but we're so unmatched it wasn't as easy as it was running with Kim. No disrespect to Daver, I totally love that he wanted to run with me. Kim and I just fit a bit better.



How was my time? Pretty awesome actually. My gun time, which I found out is the time it takes you to run the race from when the gun goes off, was 44:25. My chip time, which is the time it takes you to run the race from when you cross the start line was 43:59. Which ever number you'd like to look at represents my fastest time yet and Kim beat her last year's time by 3 minutes.



Not a great picture, but that's Kim and I hugging as we crossed the finish line, 703 and 704 out of 854 runners. A great finish to a great race.



I've mentioned before I am not a competitive person and I wasn't sure whether signing up for races was something I had any real interest in doing, but this race I really loved. It probably had a lot to do with the company I was keeping and Kim's already signed up for two more races.... can you see where this is going? Yep, I think I can too. Santa Shuffle, here I come!