The Race
The race was on Sunday April 29, 2018. I'm getting to this post late. Better late than never? I hope so.
Leading up to the big day my training just did not happen like I had hoped. I ended up working full time (something I hadn't done for a while as I worked half time/job shared with my wonderful friend Tracy for the last 3 years) for the month of April which made it difficult to dedicate much time to running. Mother Nature was also not cooperating with my "I want to run outside for the month of April". I don't want to go back to that time as it was cold, dismal and it's likely going to give me nightmares. Brrrrr.
My mind was kept off of the big race as I was working/training the new person taking over for me at my old job and working on getting my personal business stuff ready. My last day of work was April 27th. I kept thinking to myself that the race was symbolic in that I would be running from the everyday work life into my self-employment. A perfect way to end and begin something. In theory, it's a nice thought. In reality I couldn't have cared less about this as I was running. Haha! I'll come back to this later.
The week leading up to the race I was doing an elimination diet as per my doctor so I had her advise me on how to make preparing for the run work with this. An extra serving of healthy fats, complex carbs and fruit were eaten every day. Maybe not the best time to have to do this whole thing but my health has to come first so I had to make it work. While packing up to go to Regina I decided to also pack up all of the food I would require so I didn't have to worry about it. My sister did offer to buy whatever I needed food wise but I thought this would be easier.
On my last day of work, with my car packed I headed straight to Regina at quitting time! My husband offered to keep the kids for the weekend so I could go enjoy the solo road trip and now have to worry about them while I ran my race. Score! A road trip by myself?! Yes. Please! It was so peaceful. I listened to a bunch of podcast episodes and only had to stop once. Heaven! Arrived at my sisters in Regina Friday evening safe and sound.
Saturday morning I went for a walk around Wascana Lake with my friend Wendy who I hadn't seen in a really long time. It was nice to catch up and get some exercise at the same time. After our walk I headed down to The Running Room to get some gels and anti-chafe stuff. The chafe is real people. Anti-chafe is a Godsend. Saturday evening I had some dinner and went to bed early.
Sunday! Race Day! My sister was walking the half so she had to be at the park early. I went with her as I knew the hour between her departure and mine would fly by. We parked near Douglas Park and walked in. I left my water belt in her car thinking I would walk back to get it and chill in her car for a bit before the race. However, that ended up biting in me in the butt because there were no close parking spots for this event so I did A LOT of unnecessary walking beforehand. Anyway, I got to see Krystal off and failed at taking a video. Have you ever held down the record button thinking you were on Instagram but you had the video part on your phone going? Yup, me too. Ugh.
So she's all sent off and walking! Yeah!! At this point I walk alllll the way back to the car, grab my water belt and start the trek back to the field. As I was walking I hear "You look like you know where you're going" from these 2 guys who have been following me for a while. I turned around to see some fellow runners and said yes, follow me! Turns out they're from Ontario and happened to be in SK for work with Parks Canada. We chatted about the race and how it was my first half. They asked what my goal time was. To which I answered, "I just want to finish". We all had a chuckle. Then I said maybe 2.5-2.75 hours. I asked what their goal time was. The one guy said an hour and 40 minutes. PFFFFFFT! So obviously they've been doing this for a while is what I had said in some form or another. They're avid full and half marathon runners. I had a twinge of I am out of my league but it went away quickly as they mentioned how awesome it was that I was doing this for the first time. Then they bugged me about doing a full marathon after this. Nooooo freaking way was my reply. They both laughed and assured me the bug would hit. We continued to chat until we got to the field which is where I bid them good luck and went off to stretch and get into my zone.
As I looked around I saw the crowd was filled with all kinds of people with all kinds of athletic abilities which put my mind at ease a little bit more. I took a video for Instagram...that actually worked. Got my phone all set up tunes and running app wise. Got my water belt strapped on. Did my stretches. As I was doing all of these things in preparation the crowd of runners was growing. It was quite incredible. The oldest participant was 80 years old and the youngest was a 7 year old. Quite the spread. It was really awesome being in that energy. The Regina City Chief of Police gave a little speech before the race, Oh Canada was sung and then we were off.
When we left it was a bit chilly still but sunny. It was really windy. Gross, dry, dusty prairie winds. I was not a fan but started off with a nice paced jog regardless. Getting settled into a rhythm. The first part of the race brought us around part of Wascana park. It was fairly sheltered from the wind so it was actually really nice. Once we got passed the park and onto Assiniboine Avenue crap got real in regards to the wind. Strong dislike from this girl. When the winds gust in my face I have a hard time catching my breath so doing this while running was difficult. I ran with my face turned for part of it so the wind couldn't catch me straight in the face so this helped. It was not very comfortable or ideal as I needed to see where I was going. There was no other option but to suck it up and make it work.
It was on Assiniboine that I got to meet my sister coming from the half way turn around. I jumped up into the air and fave her a high ten (or is it double high fives? LOL!) and kept running. She wanted to run the race so badly but her foot injury just wouldn't let her. It was so nice to have that little moment with her.
My cousin Michelle was volunteering at the water table near the half way turn around point. Up until this point I had ran/jogged the whole way. I was tired by this time and honestly just wanted to stop to say hi, so I did! I think my words were "I'm just going to stop here for a minute". Gave her a big hug as I was surprisingly not super sweaty, drank my Gatorade and went on my way to the turn around point. It was then that I took my first gel that I had purchased the day before from The Running Room. It was disgusting but I needed a boost of energy. Hindsight, I should have taken one sooner than this as it really didn't do much for the last half of the race. I took a half way point selfie and sent it to my husband. HALF WAY! I made it the 10+ KM. Just had to do the last half now.
Everyone was so encouraging along the way as you would meet them. Keep going you're doing great! Keep it up! Way to go! You've got this! And there were also so many people with signs on the side lines cheering on their loved ones but also all of the other runners too. Along some of the side walk parts we ran on people had written encouraging messages to the runners which was really awesome to see. These little bits of love gave me the motivation to keep one foot in front of the other.
Around kilometre 13 Tyler called to see if I was done yet, not realizing I was an hour behind him. I was taking a break and walking at this point so I had a chat with him and got to talk to my kids too as they were all in the truck together. I got a couple GO MUM GO's from them and then had to let them go so I could get back to some running. It wasn't long after that I felt blisters forming on both of my feet. Nothing I could really do about it so I just kept going. They were painful though so I ended up doing more walking the last half of the race than I would have liked. Around kilometre 17 the one on my right foot broke. I've never had this happen before so it was an experience. It hurts so bad and it was so gross but I knew I had to keep going.
At this point it was starting to really warm up outside. It was so sunny and hot. I'm glad I had my water belt with cold water and Gatorade to keep me from overheating. The night before I had filled one bottle half full of water and the other half full of Gatorade then stuck them both in the freezer. In the morning I filled them up with their respective liquid and was on my way. It worked well! The event also had a good number of water/Gatorade stations set up so I was well hydrated.
The wind still sucked, it was hot and I was ready to be done. I was so tired and my feet were so sore. The only thing on my mind was getting this thing over and done with and then NEVER signing up for another one. I did think about everyone who has encouraged me throughout this whole journey. But that was during the first half of the race when everything was still rainbows and unicorns. The second half was another story. LOL!!! No caring of symbolism, nope, not at all.
Kilometre 20 the blister on my other foot breaks. Just as painful and uncomfortable as the first one. I had just over a kilometre left. Focused myself on finishing, not thinking about the pain. Near the end there were a group of volunteers pointing the runners in the right direction for the finish line. GREAT! I'm almost there. Well, kind of. In order to cross the finish line you first had to do a lap around the track so off I go, jogging on the track, with the taste of sweet, sweet victory so close. My parents and my sister were standing on the side lines near the finish line cheering me on. My sister came on to the track jogging beside me and talking be through my last few metres. They announced "Here comes Gina Mayor to the finish line" or something along those lines and that's when I got ecstatic! THAT WAS ME! I did a little raise the roof action with my hands and they commented on that over the sound system. I crossed the finish line, fist bumped all of the officers around and got my medal with my sister by my side. 3 hours and 5 minutes. I did it!
They had these super awesome bags of food afterwards along with bottles of water so I collected all of that stuff then went to talk to my parents and my sister.
It took me a few days to recover, but I'm all good now. The blisters on my feet were really bad but they look better every day. You may be wondering, what now Gina? Whatever will you do with your time? Good question. The answer is, I have no idea just yet. I went for a run the other night, the first one since the race, and it felt really good. I've been talking about signing up for a 5K so I can have some instant gratification. That'll also buy me some time until I figure out what my next race will be. Might do a 10 miler in the fall. Who knows! As much as I was dead set about NOT doing another half marathon part of me is considering it again. Pretty sure it's like child birth and your body just forgets how much it sucks so you do it again.
Leading up to the big day my training just did not happen like I had hoped. I ended up working full time (something I hadn't done for a while as I worked half time/job shared with my wonderful friend Tracy for the last 3 years) for the month of April which made it difficult to dedicate much time to running. Mother Nature was also not cooperating with my "I want to run outside for the month of April". I don't want to go back to that time as it was cold, dismal and it's likely going to give me nightmares. Brrrrr.
My mind was kept off of the big race as I was working/training the new person taking over for me at my old job and working on getting my personal business stuff ready. My last day of work was April 27th. I kept thinking to myself that the race was symbolic in that I would be running from the everyday work life into my self-employment. A perfect way to end and begin something. In theory, it's a nice thought. In reality I couldn't have cared less about this as I was running. Haha! I'll come back to this later.
The week leading up to the race I was doing an elimination diet as per my doctor so I had her advise me on how to make preparing for the run work with this. An extra serving of healthy fats, complex carbs and fruit were eaten every day. Maybe not the best time to have to do this whole thing but my health has to come first so I had to make it work. While packing up to go to Regina I decided to also pack up all of the food I would require so I didn't have to worry about it. My sister did offer to buy whatever I needed food wise but I thought this would be easier.
On my last day of work, with my car packed I headed straight to Regina at quitting time! My husband offered to keep the kids for the weekend so I could go enjoy the solo road trip and now have to worry about them while I ran my race. Score! A road trip by myself?! Yes. Please! It was so peaceful. I listened to a bunch of podcast episodes and only had to stop once. Heaven! Arrived at my sisters in Regina Friday evening safe and sound.
Saturday morning I went for a walk around Wascana Lake with my friend Wendy who I hadn't seen in a really long time. It was nice to catch up and get some exercise at the same time. After our walk I headed down to The Running Room to get some gels and anti-chafe stuff. The chafe is real people. Anti-chafe is a Godsend. Saturday evening I had some dinner and went to bed early.
Sunday! Race Day! My sister was walking the half so she had to be at the park early. I went with her as I knew the hour between her departure and mine would fly by. We parked near Douglas Park and walked in. I left my water belt in her car thinking I would walk back to get it and chill in her car for a bit before the race. However, that ended up biting in me in the butt because there were no close parking spots for this event so I did A LOT of unnecessary walking beforehand. Anyway, I got to see Krystal off and failed at taking a video. Have you ever held down the record button thinking you were on Instagram but you had the video part on your phone going? Yup, me too. Ugh.
So she's all sent off and walking! Yeah!! At this point I walk alllll the way back to the car, grab my water belt and start the trek back to the field. As I was walking I hear "You look like you know where you're going" from these 2 guys who have been following me for a while. I turned around to see some fellow runners and said yes, follow me! Turns out they're from Ontario and happened to be in SK for work with Parks Canada. We chatted about the race and how it was my first half. They asked what my goal time was. To which I answered, "I just want to finish". We all had a chuckle. Then I said maybe 2.5-2.75 hours. I asked what their goal time was. The one guy said an hour and 40 minutes. PFFFFFFT! So obviously they've been doing this for a while is what I had said in some form or another. They're avid full and half marathon runners. I had a twinge of I am out of my league but it went away quickly as they mentioned how awesome it was that I was doing this for the first time. Then they bugged me about doing a full marathon after this. Nooooo freaking way was my reply. They both laughed and assured me the bug would hit. We continued to chat until we got to the field which is where I bid them good luck and went off to stretch and get into my zone.
As I looked around I saw the crowd was filled with all kinds of people with all kinds of athletic abilities which put my mind at ease a little bit more. I took a video for Instagram...that actually worked. Got my phone all set up tunes and running app wise. Got my water belt strapped on. Did my stretches. As I was doing all of these things in preparation the crowd of runners was growing. It was quite incredible. The oldest participant was 80 years old and the youngest was a 7 year old. Quite the spread. It was really awesome being in that energy. The Regina City Chief of Police gave a little speech before the race, Oh Canada was sung and then we were off.
When we left it was a bit chilly still but sunny. It was really windy. Gross, dry, dusty prairie winds. I was not a fan but started off with a nice paced jog regardless. Getting settled into a rhythm. The first part of the race brought us around part of Wascana park. It was fairly sheltered from the wind so it was actually really nice. Once we got passed the park and onto Assiniboine Avenue crap got real in regards to the wind. Strong dislike from this girl. When the winds gust in my face I have a hard time catching my breath so doing this while running was difficult. I ran with my face turned for part of it so the wind couldn't catch me straight in the face so this helped. It was not very comfortable or ideal as I needed to see where I was going. There was no other option but to suck it up and make it work.
It was on Assiniboine that I got to meet my sister coming from the half way turn around. I jumped up into the air and fave her a high ten (or is it double high fives? LOL!) and kept running. She wanted to run the race so badly but her foot injury just wouldn't let her. It was so nice to have that little moment with her.
My cousin Michelle was volunteering at the water table near the half way turn around point. Up until this point I had ran/jogged the whole way. I was tired by this time and honestly just wanted to stop to say hi, so I did! I think my words were "I'm just going to stop here for a minute". Gave her a big hug as I was surprisingly not super sweaty, drank my Gatorade and went on my way to the turn around point. It was then that I took my first gel that I had purchased the day before from The Running Room. It was disgusting but I needed a boost of energy. Hindsight, I should have taken one sooner than this as it really didn't do much for the last half of the race. I took a half way point selfie and sent it to my husband. HALF WAY! I made it the 10+ KM. Just had to do the last half now.
Everyone was so encouraging along the way as you would meet them. Keep going you're doing great! Keep it up! Way to go! You've got this! And there were also so many people with signs on the side lines cheering on their loved ones but also all of the other runners too. Along some of the side walk parts we ran on people had written encouraging messages to the runners which was really awesome to see. These little bits of love gave me the motivation to keep one foot in front of the other.
Around kilometre 13 Tyler called to see if I was done yet, not realizing I was an hour behind him. I was taking a break and walking at this point so I had a chat with him and got to talk to my kids too as they were all in the truck together. I got a couple GO MUM GO's from them and then had to let them go so I could get back to some running. It wasn't long after that I felt blisters forming on both of my feet. Nothing I could really do about it so I just kept going. They were painful though so I ended up doing more walking the last half of the race than I would have liked. Around kilometre 17 the one on my right foot broke. I've never had this happen before so it was an experience. It hurts so bad and it was so gross but I knew I had to keep going.
At this point it was starting to really warm up outside. It was so sunny and hot. I'm glad I had my water belt with cold water and Gatorade to keep me from overheating. The night before I had filled one bottle half full of water and the other half full of Gatorade then stuck them both in the freezer. In the morning I filled them up with their respective liquid and was on my way. It worked well! The event also had a good number of water/Gatorade stations set up so I was well hydrated.
The wind still sucked, it was hot and I was ready to be done. I was so tired and my feet were so sore. The only thing on my mind was getting this thing over and done with and then NEVER signing up for another one. I did think about everyone who has encouraged me throughout this whole journey. But that was during the first half of the race when everything was still rainbows and unicorns. The second half was another story. LOL!!! No caring of symbolism, nope, not at all.
Kilometre 20 the blister on my other foot breaks. Just as painful and uncomfortable as the first one. I had just over a kilometre left. Focused myself on finishing, not thinking about the pain. Near the end there were a group of volunteers pointing the runners in the right direction for the finish line. GREAT! I'm almost there. Well, kind of. In order to cross the finish line you first had to do a lap around the track so off I go, jogging on the track, with the taste of sweet, sweet victory so close. My parents and my sister were standing on the side lines near the finish line cheering me on. My sister came on to the track jogging beside me and talking be through my last few metres. They announced "Here comes Gina Mayor to the finish line" or something along those lines and that's when I got ecstatic! THAT WAS ME! I did a little raise the roof action with my hands and they commented on that over the sound system. I crossed the finish line, fist bumped all of the officers around and got my medal with my sister by my side. 3 hours and 5 minutes. I did it!
They had these super awesome bags of food afterwards along with bottles of water so I collected all of that stuff then went to talk to my parents and my sister.
It took me a few days to recover, but I'm all good now. The blisters on my feet were really bad but they look better every day. You may be wondering, what now Gina? Whatever will you do with your time? Good question. The answer is, I have no idea just yet. I went for a run the other night, the first one since the race, and it felt really good. I've been talking about signing up for a 5K so I can have some instant gratification. That'll also buy me some time until I figure out what my next race will be. Might do a 10 miler in the fall. Who knows! As much as I was dead set about NOT doing another half marathon part of me is considering it again. Pretty sure it's like child birth and your body just forgets how much it sucks so you do it again.
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| Half way there! |
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| Me and Krystal. Half marathoners. |
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| Why do people bite medals? It's real. I did it! |
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