Raymond Road Race

Wow. Hardest run ever. Raymond has their annual 10km raced named the Raymond Road Race in the summer and this year I joined my sister in law CB in the fun. This was my second 10km race and it was way tougher then the first. It was perfect weather and early enough to beat the heat of the day which was a bonus. The crappiest part was that I was in such a hurry to leave on time and not hold up CB that I forgot to drink any water this morning... at all. As we were making our way to the start line I told myself it would be ok and I'd just have to drink from each water station assuming there would be more then one. The race started unexpectedly and thankfully unlike a few others my shoes were tied so I at least got started right away. Sadly my music and pacer app wasn't as ready as my shoes so I struggled to set a pace while fiddling with my phone setting everything. I know people say you should really run without music but I'm pretty huge into music. It sets my pace and gives me something to rock out to and sing along to in my head. To not have my music totally threw me. Finally I got the music but I couldn't set the bpm which pace me but I guess you take what you can get. After getting all sorted out the best that I could I was starting to enjoy myself and I could feel the zone starting until I started to get thirsty. Man, I really learned many lessons on this race. Never assume anything! Never assume there will be water stations and people helping you get that water. Finally at the top of temple hill which was around the middle mark for the race I was hot, thirsty and tired BUT I saw water! Yay. Bummer that the girl working the station was too busy taking a picture of the two people running in front of me that I had to stop to get my own water, but it was cold and re-energized for a time. It was the only water during the race and since training for my half marathon I have really worked on staying properly hydrated and I could really feel the difference between my hydrated body and my dehydrated one. Such a great lesson to learn and one I will never forget! With all that I learned and how hard the race felt on my body I was really pleased with my finish. I took 5 minutes of my previous 10km time back on the Moonlight Run and paced myself quite well for the first time without using my music so that was huge for me. My goal was low 48 minutes and I finished at 48.54 so not too far off.

Ryan was there for the finish which was awesome and a big help when I was desperate to track down some water so I could actually talk to him. He snagged some photos (my first ever of me running) and helped point out how great it was that I struggled so much in this race so that I won't have to in the big race I'm working towards.