I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t disappointed with my first race back. Sure my stats look pretty darn decent: 11th in my age category (30-34); 72nd out of 490 women running; and 163rd overall out of 861 runners. But my finish time wasn’t the time I wanted.
I went into the BMO Vancouver 8 km race yesterday morning with the intention of completing in 42:00 minutes. That did not happen. My Garmin time at 8 km was 44:03 and my chip time was 45:17.
I don’t want to be the girl with excuses because my mantra for this race all along has been no excuses and by the time this post is complete I hope you will agree that I am not, in any way, excusing myself. But there were obstacles.
With a 6:30 a.m. start time, I was out of bed by 3:30 and eating a Zbar and water breakfast by 4 – a time my body does NOT associate with eating. If I did the math correctly, which is debatable, my basal rates are about 30 per cent less than they are in my regular breakfast eating hour. No biggie, I thought, I’ll just increase the basal by 30 per cent for a couple hours and I’ll be good to go. Ahhh, but the meal was also not a typical breakfast meal for me, and while I’ve eaten Zbars as snacks for years and have had no problems with them, I think combined with the race jitters, the early eating hour, and the fact it wasn’t my typical steel cut oats and nut butter for breakfast (my body is all about routine) my blood sugars skyrocketed.
One hour post breakfast, my BG was 12.4. I gave myself a slight correction and tested a half hour later; they were 11.2. Fifteen minutes after that, they were down to 9.1. And so I thought, okay, I’ve got to take a couple Clif shot blox before the start, and seeing as how my BG is going down, and how I’ll be running shortly, I’ll only give a partial bolus for them. BIG, BIG, HUGE MISTAKE!!! When I crossed the finish line, my BG was sitting at 13.9. Twenty minutes later – after a BG correction no less – they were at 17.1!!! Are you freaking kidding me???
So, there was that.
And then there was the start. Twenty minutes before the race was supposed to start, I did as Coach NZ instructed and warmed up. I ran up and down the pavement at an easy pace, and then mixed in a few sprints to wake my legs up. (I also did a 7-minute warmup earlier in the Skytrain station while waiting for the first train.) Not long before the race was to begin, I jostled my way through the crowds and waited… and waited… and waited some more. I looked at my watch; it was past 6:30. By 6:45, people were grumbling.
I turned my music on, moved my feet from side to side, bounced up and down, tried to stay in the zone. But I could feel my formerly warm legs cooling. Finally at 7 a.m., with no explanation as to what the hold-up was, the race was underway.
And so, there was that.
There was also my poor decision of positioning. From what I could see, there were no designated corrals for us to line up in based on our estimated finish times, and so I chose to position myself about midway through the crowd. I didn’t want to hold up the super speedy group, but also didn’t want to be held back by slower runners. I thought it was a good choice, but nope, it was not. Unfortunately, others didn’t think about their positioning like I did. Unfortunately, others thought they were a lot speedier than they truly were. Unfortunately, I spent a good kilometre or so weaving in and around slower runners, stop and walkers, and one guy who thought it wise to start running backwards in hopes of enabling his running partner to catch up with him – right as I was barrelling head on into him.
And so, there was that.
But the thing is, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one facing those issues. Yes, my diabetes got in the way, but I’ve been able to fight through the effects of boobetes before. But yesterday, I didn’t. I didn’t work hard enough to battle the “just give up already” demons in my head. I didn’t work hard enough to find that extra oomph in my step. I didn’t dig deep enough within myself to pull out a finish I could truly, truly be proud of. And yes, I know this was my first race back post pregnancy, and no, I am not completely beating myself up over the results, but what I am doing is figuring out where I went wrong, and what I can do to try and ensure it doesn’t happen again.
But hey, I did manage to pull out a sprint in the last 200 metres to ensure the super fit looking guy creeping up next to me did not cross that finish line before me.
And so, there was that 😀
Plus, I had the best cheerleader of all, so that was pretty freaking awesome! (He took his sleeping uncle’s bib number ;))
BMO RACE DEETS:
- 6:25 a.m. BG before: 9.1
- Carbs: 2 Clif shot blox (16 grams) no bolus
- Distance: 8.25 km (on Garmin)
- Average pace: 5:30 min/km
- Garmin time: 44:03 (at 8 km)
- Chip time: 45:17
- 7:50 a.m. BG after: 13.9
So if Little Ring was sporting his uncle’s bib number and you were pushing him in front of you, doesn’t that mean that technically your brother finished before you? 😉
Hmm… well, had I been pushing Little Ring, then this recap would be completely different – I would have totally rocked that run with stats like those and BOB! But alas, Little Ring was only pretending to be a #babymarathoner. He was hanging out with daddy all morning 😀
Well, they can’t all be perfect. But at least you’re back!
The last race I went to–a half-marathon–everyone decided to put themselves in the wrong starting order, too… and the corral had signs for each pace! I spent the first couple miles running faster than expected while loads of people passed me from behind. If I hadn’t assumed they were all crazy, I would have been worried about my self-esteem. :^)
And the picture of you warming up at the train station is awesome!
Congratulations on a super return! I know you weren’t completely happy with the results, but let’s face it: It’s tough to get that first one under your belt. I love that you sprinted the last 200 metres. Even when I don’t feel like I’ve done my best, if I finish like a champion, I feel like a champion.
those demons in your head are always tough but you were tougher. way to finish strong!
Boobetes?
What the hell?
Anyway, for a “no-excuses” blog, there sure were a bunch of valid reasons – not excuses – why you COULDN’T run the race you wanted.
I mean, it was the late start that threw off ALL your carefully thought-out calculations!!
That’s no excuse – that’s a FACT!!
And, really, who RUNS like the dickens at 6:30 a.m.!!
Maybe you could choose races that start at a decent hour, say after 10 a.m. or thereabouts 🙂
THEN you can run the race like YOU choose 🙂
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