Scotiabank 10km Run – Race number 2

Race Start time: 7:30

Temperature: 2°C

Well it was one of the last days of May and Mother Nature was a bit confused as to what season we were in. Kait and I, being the troopers that we are, still show up at the race start line at 6:47am. Yes you read that right – two degrees and not even 7am! That takes some heart..

The race started and Kait took off being her awesome runner self. She's really good at weaving through the crowd at the very beginning of the race. After about 10 minutes of trying to track where she was I could no longer see the blond ponytail swinging back and forth. I was officially on my own.. again.

I look around the crowd and found someone who was keeping the same pace as me. Luckily he was a trooper and decided to run with me for the first 5.5kms. Without him I don't think I could have achieved the time that I did. Sometimes I struggle with the fact that I'm running 10kms in freezing cold weather. After the 5.5km mark he said "Kayley, I can't run with you anymore – my heart hurts" and decided to walk after that.

At about 6.5km I picked up my next victim and we decided to finish the race together. We had been running at the same pace the whole race and decided to gather some inspiration from each other! Jo-Anne usually runs with her 16 year old son but he had pulled his quad and couldn't be there to keep her motivated. I was more than happy to fulfill his role for the last few kilometres.

At km 8 I heard someone call my name from the sideline – it was my Mom! She had made a sign at six in the morning just to keep me motivated on the last bit of the run. She ended up inspiring a lot of runners, some of which came running up to Jo-Anne and I saying how cool my Mom was.

In the last kilometre, Jo-Anne and I decided to pick up the pace! We decided that we would run as fast as we could without having to throw up. We both achieved our personal best for the race and it was a pretty exciting moment at the end (minus the nausea!). After we exchanged a few hugs we parted ways.

Kait's Time: 51:09 KM Pace: 5:07 Overall Place: 83/1241 Division: 17/150
Kayley's Time: 54:04 KM Pace: 5:25 Overall Place: 162/1241 Division: 32/150

This was our second race of the season and we still managed to mess up with the camera. Last race Kait forgot to put her batteries in her camera and this time I forgot to put my memory card in. So unlucky (or lucky) for you, you don't get to see too many pictures of the race.

Just a quick thought from race day: It's amazing how a stranger can be in your life for 15 minutes but within that time they will leave a memory with you for life.

Thanks to everyone who helped me beat my personal best by 5:02!