When I started running in 2008, I learned about an event that happens every year at the High Park Running Room location. It's a half marathon that contains 17 hills (or 18 as was reported...) and plenty of challenge. My running buddy and I had thought about doing it but quickly changed our mind when we realized that 17 hills is a lot of hills indeed! It was put on the back burner.
Fast forward to this year. I met someone in October and the guy was into running. One day as we were texting, he mentioned that run and suggested we do it. I jumped at the chance to do it. So a group of friends decided to do it as well. The store offered two training runs where we could get acquainted with the route and in some ways get to know what was ahead of us. I'm glad we did it. I'm not a strong runner so I knew what I needed to work on.
Day of race came up, I had my usual oatmeal and espresso. I packed up a lot of gels (I ended up only taking two) and we made our way to the RR. The place is packed. 50 people came to take up the challenge. We are told there will be goodies for us at the end and we would ALL get a button that says "I whipped the Marquis de Sade" with today's date. Well, I have to say that THIS button is what kept me going for the whole thing.
So we all set off, I'm firmly at the back. I do not want to make the classic mistake of starting too fast. There are enough twists and turns as well as hills to humble you. I'm not there for the time, I'm there to complete it. My start doesn't happen as smoothly as I had hoped. I'm struggling a little bit. I always look at others and think just how easier it seems to be for them, people are chatting up a storm and I can but I know that this will kill my energy. It's raining and the rain will NOT stop for the entire run. There are hills that I entirely run, there are some I walk half of it. A friend positioned herself at various points with her cowbell and camera. I am so thankful for her support.
My running buddy quickly got ahead of us and I'm not too bothered by it. He wants to do well. I just want to do :) so I stayed with my running partner, Nada, who told me again and again at the beginning that I had to do my own race. I responded that my race was the same as hers. I honestly would not have been able to do it on my own, I would have given up. We finally reach the halfway mark. Eventually we catch up to a few friends from the Running Room. We ran together until the end.
The last hill was finally conquered and all we had left to do was turn left, run a few hundred meters, cross the road and come back. We were the last two to come in. Our time was 2:39. There were a few goodies left, we collected our button but there was a bit of bad news, there were too many people for what they had expected so the store manager took our information to send it to us. I was lucky that one of my friend who didn't complete it (he is not feeling 100%) gave me his. What a lovely gesture it was.
I feel so victorious that I conquered that challenge because for ME it was a tough run, something that brought me out of my comfort zone and I met the challenge head on. It was NOT easy but I can say that I whipped the Marquis de Sade.
I will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is only hot yoga as a recovery, no spinning.
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