Successful 5K Race, and Cross-Border Shopping

Saturday was an eventful day.  It was St. Patrick's Day, and Carmella and I signed up for the St. Patrick's Day 5K.  I've done this race three years in a row, and I was able to convince Carmella to run it this year.  It's in Stanley Park, and it attracts a big crowd.  The race is limited to 1500 runners, and they reached that before race-day.

You get a free beer glass, and people wear green costumes.  There's an after-party as well, where people are excited to buy $7 beers at 11am.  This race has an official race shirt you can buy, and also an official after-party shirt too.

I've been training on and off for the race, which is better than most years.  Most years it's my first race of the season, and it's painful and it makes me want to train more.  I was looking forward to this year because I was a bit more prepared.

Carmella meant to get some training runs in, but it didn't go as planned for her.  We ran together Friday night for about half an hour, and that was the extent of her training.  It looked like she'd be running this one off-the-couch.

We arrived at the race, and I was getting nervous as I always do before a race.  I looked into my bag to discover I'd forgotten my running shoes at home, and it was too late to go back.  I was wearing my skate shoes, and didn't want to try and run a fast time in them. 

I was distraught for about a minute, and then Carmella suggested that I just take it slow with her instead of sitting out of the race.  I thought that was a good idea, so we paid for parking, and made our way to the start line.

Usually I line up a few people back from the line, to be sure I'm with people of my speed.  If you line up too far back, you'll be stuck behind people with strollers and walkers, but if you line up too far forward, you'll be in the elite runners way.  Neither is good, so it's important to slot yourself in correctly.

Carmella and I headed for the back, and started behind about 75% of the runners.  It was a new experience for me.  The air-horn started, and we just stood there for almost 30 seconds.  Then we started walking, then stopped again in some more congestion.  Finally we crossed the start line and began to trot along.  All 1500 runners were packed onto one access lane, so it took awhile to get moving.

Carmella picked 40 minutes as an arbitrary goal to shoot for, so we would try and get in before that.  We began running, and Carmella enjoyed the atmosphere.  Everyone around us was happy to be moving.  We passed some walkers, we were among people waving to family members, and beside many people wearing elaborate costumes.  Headbands with shamrocks mounted on springs so they looked like ears, people with signs about St. Patrick's Day stuck to their backs, and people wearing green underwear over tights.

After the first kilometer, the party atmosphere was gone, and it was down to business.  Carmella felt like stopping to walk, but didn't.  Instead, she made it her goal not to stop during the race.  I was making observations about the people around us, the distance to go, or random chatter.  Carmella asked that I stop doing that, because she needed to concentrate. 

We stayed at the same pace for most of the race, seeing the same people around us.  We'd pass some people, and they'd pass us back.  A couple girls around us carried on inane conversation for more than a kilometer, and Carmella was frustrated with them.  Roomates, exams, and probably boys were covered.  However, we weren't able to leave them behind, and they didn't pass us, so we were stuck!

The last kilometer was mostly uphill, and Carmella did well not to stop.  She got in a zone and just kept plugging away.  The last 200m were especially tough, with many around us opting to walk.  Carmella persevered and we crossed the line at 37:21.  Carmella achieved both her goals, since she ran sub-40 and also didn't stop.

They had a big food tent, like the kinds people erect at weddings.  To keep people orderly, they only opened one door, and didn't roll up any of the windows.  There were hundreds of sweaty people in there, and no ventilation, so it was kind of like a cool sauna in there.  Very stuffy.  We grabbed some Irish Stew they were doling out, some water, and found a place to sit.  Before we left, I also found the free beer glasses, emblazoned with the sponsor and race emblems. 

Carmella enjoyed herself, but not enough to start mentally preparing for another race.  Her back hurt a bit, and she was tired.  We went home, and she napped.  I headed out in the car, going south towards America.

My post title was a bit of a lie.  I realize that getting into my America trip would make this post too long, so I'll create a new one for that.  Our race was good, and I was happy to have run it with Carmella in my skate shoes.  I'll start preparing for my next race, on April 1st.  It's a half-marathon, and I aim to beat my time from last year.  I'll remember my running shoes this time!

I finally hit Send.

I finally did it.

For the past four or five weeks, I've been working on a writing piece that I wanted to send out into the world.  Just a few minutes ago, I finally did.

I wrote it in about three or four drafts, and just needed a few extra pieces to make it complete.  I added those tonight, after thinking about them for far too long.

I'll keep the details to myself for now, but count on an update if I receive good news.