Solid Sunday

Time 8:30am
Place Running Room in Outremont
Temp 13 C
Humidity 2/10

Run leader: Dimitra
On the menu 13km
Path: De L'Epee North to Lajoie, Lajoie west to Deacon. South on Deacon to Vincent d'Indy. South until Edouard Monpetit. West until Cote des Neiges. Followed Cote des Neiges around the mountain past the cemetery (long uphill) down the road that the cars and buses take to the top back to the store. Hutchison north Bernard west loop of Outremont partk down Stuart, past my high school :) back to Lajoie, East to de L'Epee and south the store.

What I ate: Yogurt and banana
How I felt:

Phyically: slightly tired when I woke up. legs were vocalising their usual discontent of me running.

Mentally: Last long run before my big day *sigh* hard to believe that a year of preparation has led me to this point. I feel that I'm standing at the edge of a precipice looking out and I'm faced with two options flying or crashing and burning.
The count down begins.

As I was headed to the store, I bumped into Chantal (manager of the Running Room) on Laurier. She was excited just as I was as we were both preparing for marathons in the very near future. Her marathon in Venice is just two weeks away and only a week for myself.

We both jogged to the stored down Hutchison from Fairmont and headed over there. I needed psychological boost of being around runners on the last Sunday before my race. I thrive off the energy of the crowd and as much as I give out, today I need to take some back.

When we arrived at the store, it was nice to see familiar faces. Luka who had completed his full in 3:50 in Montreal. Dimitra and Samir. A fellow runner from the MAA gym (Mary) joined us today.

Samir was my run buddy and we both stayed in the back with Karl and Armeney. I did not mind staying in the back of the pack, I was just content being out with everyone else. Those three were really tired and out of sorts today. I know how that feels, we all have off days.

At one point, the middle pack was so far ahead of us that I had to sprint to catchup with the middle pack. It was a fast pack today averaging a 5 min pace. Whereas I was content to settle with a 5:50-6 min pace. It was nice chatting with them.

It's so funny how they look to me in the role of a mentor. One day, when my schedule improves will I be able to give as much I know I can.

Mary noticed one thing that still resonates in my mind. During the 1 minute breaks the faster runners do not rejoin the main pack and go back to pick up the stragglers. What's the point in running in a group if everyone is really anti social? If people are treating this run like a race, then why bother running in a pack. I guess it must be something do to do with social etiquette. Something to remember.

My pace was slow enough to allow me to chat throughout the run. By the 40 min mark I had found myself suddenly rejuvenated and ready to really run. But there was no point in that, we were winding down our run and it was time to head back to the store. Armeney dropped out early and met us back at the store.

Solid run. My legs filed a minor protest but nothing I could not overcome.

Stretching was without incident and fun. If I would definitely show the others how to strech properly when I lead my own group.

Saying goodbye and having everyone extend their voices of support to me for my race next week was basically the cherry on top of my ice cream Sunday :)