Skinny Jeans Mama: 5K race recap!

This is waaaayyyy overdue! I apologize, but I had a long week... with no actual weekend! I did some first aid/CPR training last weekend that's required for my job. I had to cram everything I need to get done on weeknights last week (which is a LOT, I'll explain later).

So this is what went down on the day of the run...

Our day started really early last sunday morning. I was up at 4 am getting myself and all our stuff ready. We planned to go to church after the race because it was the Lord's day after all!

After getting all the family up and in the car, we headed over to Tim Horton's to get coffee'd up. The rest of our team met us there as well.

By 7 am we were at Princess Margaret Hospital going for washroom breaks and putting on our race bibs. Then we walked over to Queen's Park where the race is going to start/end. There were vendor tents all over and even McDonald's had one. I love how they try so hard to get a healthy image going! Lol.

Then we saw our own team's sign in board!

This is our team...

Queen's Park was packed with people. Fellow racers, loved ones and volunteers were all gathered and excited for the event.

At 7:45 am we went to the starting line.

The only thing unpleasant about this event is one runner that got upset with our team for not being all the way back in the starting line because we have some walkers. We were allowed to be where we were in the line so really, I don't know what her deal was. Oh well, maybe she was grumpy because she missed her cup of joe that morning.

And then, right at 8 am, the horn blew and the race is on!!!!

The 5k route was basically starting from Queen's Park off of Charles St. which turns into University Ave. The route goes down all the way down to Wellington St. Then it turns back all the way up to the starting point.

Running with hundreds of people gives me a great rush of adrenaline. I pretty much ran with ease with no hyperventilation almost all the way through. I guess it's all the excitement that got me going.

It was that darn 4k marker sign! As soon as I saw it, negativity started seeping through my brain. All I thought after seeing the sign was:

"That's was only 4k? Are you kidding?"

"It feels like I have been running forever!!!"

"They must've miscalculated, the finish line should be way back there!!"

"Uggghhh, I can't breathe..."

"My legs feel wobbly"

And my honey ran by my side the whole time. He could've done his best and finish 15 mins less than we did. But he STAYED with me... for support. He kept saying:

"Are you breathing?"

"Don't forget to breathe"

"We're almost there"

And all I kept thinking was...

"What do you mean we're almost there?"

"We should've been there 5 mins. ago!"

"The freakin' route curves and I can't even see the finish line!!!!!"

Man, was I pissed.

But then, I saw it... THE BIG ARC...

It was the finish!!!

The crowd was cheering... It was so loud that all I could hear was buzzing...

I wanted to sprint for it, but I hesitated. I was already exhausted, I was too afraid I might hurt myself more.

(Thumbnail from Marathonfoto.com)

That's me on the right!!! My hubby is the one wearing the grey sweater.

My hubby finished at 34 mins 21.5 s

And I did at 34 mins 21.7 s

It was awesome!!! I felt AWESOME!!!

Greeting us at the end was bunch of cheery volunteers that gave us our OWN medals.

And the gatorade stand by the finish line never looked so good in my life! I don't drink gatorade but at that time, I did. It was delicious and thirst quenching.

All the racers got free breakfast of bagels, banana and oranges as well. The massage tent enticed me to go in but I had to wait for the rest of our team.

Once the rest of the team finished, we all celebrated with some free Starbucks coffee, tea and hot chocolate!!!