Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Mississauga Half Marathon - My Sunday Long Run


Friday, May 14, I tried to change my race to 10k instead of a half due to my problematic left knee . Was told the 1ok was closed, so early Sunday morning, I was here (not even sure of completing the race) at the start line with thousands of other runners doing the half and the full marathon waiting anxiously, stretching, warming up before the start.

I ended up waiting just in front of the Runningroom store in Mississauga.

I was so happy to meet run club friends Grace and Julia who were both running the full marathon waiting in the same spot.

With Julia, my 5k clinic coach in 2007, who basically taught me how to run.


Let the celebration of life, good health, friendship, race begin!

This sight makes me love running more and more. Although only a small percentage of the adult population are runners, during a race, we (runners)own the roads.

Running events bring out the best in people of the community. These young people spent their Sunday helping runners by volunteering in the water stations. There was a hydration station at 2 kilometer intervals in this race and I noticed gels being handed out at the last few ks of the race.

I tried to keep my pace around 7 minutes per k at the first few kilometers and my heart rate at about 80% of my maximum heart rate. The day was just so beautiful though, the temperature perfect at around 14 Celsius and the surroundings so clean and scenic that my supposed race became more of a recreational slow sightseeing run. The funny thing was, I could have run faster if i wanted to because the knee never bothered me.


With 15ks to go, and with no pressure to finish fast, I still looked fresh and happy here.


Our heroes, the young volunteers who unselfishly give their time and energy for free to make life easier for runners and make this race a complete success. Hurray to all volunteers!


In the middle of the race I decided to stick with the 2:45 race bunny to make sure I beat the 3 hour barrier. I tried to run just slightly ahead of the group just to make sure I was always close and i was successfull until the last kilometer and a half, when I had to take walk breaks because of recurring cramps on my right leg muscle.

I had a good time running with this group, the pacer was encouraging, cheerful, consistent pace wise, and would tell people to slow down when the pace was getting too fast. The group finished a couple of minutes ahead of me.


I finished the race smiling, upright, raising both hands in the air (in thanksgiving and praise of God) in 2:45 and change beating more than 500 other runners. Don't ask me how many runners did the half marathon, he he.
My next race is the Vaughn 10k on May 30, 2010.







6 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your race report - it was great to see some of your pictures capturing the race. I too was running with a problematic knee in the half so well done on completing it! I hope your next race goes well.

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  2. Congratulations on finishing! I thought it was a nice day out there, so I'm sure that helped many people's mindsets on the course.

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  3. nice race recap! congratulations bong!

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  4. Congratulations!

    Incredible, but it seems that you are going to do three marathons in one month! That's a big improvement, and I am sure you are thrilled.

    Just wanted to encourage you... move on and raise our country's flag up high.

    Blessings,
    Lidj

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  5. Nice to see a kababayan running in Canada...been there a few times (will be there again and again in the future) and thus would like to be kept updated of what's going on runningwise...i thus added you to my blogroll:-).Congratulations!

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  6. Congrats Bong! Btw,a classmate of mine in high school also run in that race, Keep on running!

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