My 2nd Tely 10

Yayyy, today was race day! I woke this morning and my bad nerves had subsided. I had pure excitement! I didn't sleep much last night due to being anxious and my warm house but I was up at 5am and jumping around like a youngster on Christmas :)  I sat on my bed googling 'what to eat before a 10-mile run', 'should you drink coffee a few hours before a 10-mile run' and couldn't find anything worth talking about. I settled on eating a protein bar and a mango smoothie. The protein bar wasn't great as it had a chocolate coating which wasn't enticing so early in the morning. The smoothie tasted great but I was lacking an appetite as it was so early. I got 2/3 through it, and called it quits. I drank a litre of water and passed on the coffee (which I later regretted).

Mango Smoothie: 3/4 cup of frozen mangos, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 tsp of almond butter, 1 tsp of cocoa and 1 cup of Almond Breeze

I left the house at around 6:15 and met Karla at the buses to mentally prepare for the run. We were on the bus on the way to the start when the bus literally started rumbling haha I was sure we were gonna have to pull over and the thing was gonna catch on fire. It also smelled of smoke which was a little sketchy. I was a little worried as I knew we'd miss the run but I was a little relieved thinking that I'd get to skip the race since the anxious feelings started rising.

Upon arriving in Paradise, I drank my last sip of water and headed for the washrooms (nothing worse than running and having to p-double-e)

About 15 minutes before start time, I met up with Steph and her mom, Glenda. It was their first time running the race and they have been preparing for the past few months. They were both super excited as Steph has been working her ass off since January. The girl has lost like 30-lbs and continues to train! She's a real gem and I'm so glad I saw her before the race.

And then I ran into Aunt Kim and Tish. They too, have been training for some time now. Aunt Kim was an avid runner when she used to train like a ninja in the military. She and Tish run multiple miles, weekly. They both completed the Tely in 97-minutes and were so beyond pleased. Upon starting, they said that they would be happy with 2-hours. They chatted and ran and I ended up meeting up with them both at the 6-mile marker.

And then there was Tony. Tony is one of the foreman I work with and he was who I signed up with. We have been annoying the hell out of the guys for MONTHS with our 'tely talk'. He ended up with the flu just days before the race and booted it back to Glovertown to get mediciation to ensure he made the race. And that he did (finishing in 85-minutes). It was his first time running the Tely and it was a mark on his Bucket List. Check!!

I'm so surprised that I ended up running into familiar faces pre-race. There are generally so many people there that it's hard to find anyone. It worked out well cause everyone was able to get pumped together :)



The Run - Bullet Style

• It was hotter than I had expected. I woke to a cool breeze but the sun came out and the forecasted rain was absent
• Miles 1-3 flew. I actually think I started too fast and ended up beating myself out a little
• Miles 4-6 were ran at a chill pace. I eyed a runner from the CBS fire dept. who looked like he was going at a decent speed and made sure that I stayed on his back right to the end 
• Miles 6-8 were the absolute worst!!! I struggled like a mother fuc*ker. My legs felt like sand bags and I coughed up pretty nasty 'flu-ish' material (enough said. Ha!)
• Miles 8-9 came out of nowhere! I couldn't believe there was only 2-miles left to run. It seemed like the time flew by
• The last mile was probably my fastest. I got this second wind and booted it with everything I had.  I sprinted the whole thing and passed a lot of people who had been ahead of me the entire race. I knew it was almost over so I had no excuses
•  Crossing the finish line was the best feeling ever. I had goosebumps with all the screaming people! I looked like an angry bird but I felt like a happy duck (I get this stern face when I jog/run - I've been told I look like I wanna murder someone)
• I finished in 100-minutes. I wasn't overly impressed with my time but given the past few weeks training schedule and the ups and downs, I'll take it. I'll just have to beat it next year and go about my training in a different manor
• I loved how people were out spraying the runners 
• I loved how there were 70+ year olds running the race
• I loved how there were 12- year olds running the race 
• I found it was harder to get around people this year
• I drank at every water station
• I got very irritable upon finishing because I was tired and there people were scrambling around Bannerman Park like sardenes 
• I am over-joyed that I ran the Tely 10 and plan to skip running for atleast 3 days :) Yayy

Things I wish I had done differently 

• I wish I had eaten more last night as I felt a little weak pretty early on
• I wish  hadn't of work shorts because I'm very used to running in Lulu leggings so the leg rubbing and shorts riding up got a little very annoying
• I wish I had double-knotted my sneakers as I had to stop and tie them on mltiple occasions
• I wish I had used iTunes for music. I used iTube and it kept shutting down while running. I had to continuously keep taking off my arm band to open the program. This was beyond distracting and I'm pretty sure I almost walked into a curb once or twice
• I wish I had purchased a garmin. I had nothing to show me my pace
• jesussss I wish I had stretched more. I figured my groind would kill but it was my back
• I wish I hadn't of drank gatorade at the water stations. The sugar didn't sit well in my stomach
• I wish I had drank more water the day before because the sun had me dehydrated in no time

I wish, I wish, I wish .. these things will be tackled differently next year, and regardless of what I say was a con to this run, there were definitely 10x more pros :) (does that sentence even make sense? Probably not)

Post-Run Pictures 

one sweaty mama

Bennettt :)

Uncle Scott & I 

My awesome family :)

Finished with love

Congratulations to everyone who enrolled and followed through with the 86th Annual Tely 10! We're definitely all winners! :) It was great. You did great. You are great! 

Cheers to that, friends!