Day 8: Sunday Was Race Day...The Hannukah Hustle

Yesterday was a great day to run.  The weather was warm and the sun was peaking out.  Mike and I were in Hamilton for the Hannukah Hustle.  It's my 3rd year running this race and I love it!  The course is so pretty and VRPro puts on such great races!  This year was no exception.

Here we are before the race.  It was a bit chilly standing around.

I hadn't run since Wednesday so I knew I wasn't going to go much faster than my best time.  River ended up with a cold and couldn't run Friday.  My schedule got all thrown off because I had to take her to the vet so I didn't get out for a run either.  River really keeps me going.

The race starts with a downhill and since it's an out and back that means it ends in an uphill.  Ugh...It's not a big hill, but it's still a hill.  I felt really good the whole race.  I knew I was going to slow down a bit at the end going up the hill so I tried to push a bit more than normal at the front end of the race.  I could feel that I did push harder around the 3k mark.  I really tried to keep my pace up though.  It always seems that the hills that are the gentle rolling hills are the hardest for me.  Yep, I felt this hill!  I was not a happy camper going up it.  Once I got to the top there is about 100 yards to the finish.  I tried to push it, but my legs wouldn't go as hard as I wanted them to go.  I need to get more speed work in starting this week.  Here I am crossing the finish line and after the race.

I was off my best time by about 50 seconds.  I ran my 5k in 30:53.  Not bad and about what I expected.  After getting some water, a hot dog, and a potato latke, we checked the results.  I ended up first in my age group!  I have never placed in a race in the 4 years I've been running.  I was really excited!  There were 5 other women in my age group.  It was pretty cool to place.  Here I am getting my medal and then posing for pictures.

Here is what the medal looked like.  I think it's pretty cool!

I really love the races that VRPro puts on and am looking forward to running the Santa Race Hamilton with James on Sunday.  Right now I'm getting ready to head out for a quick run with River.  She's allowed to go on short runs for now.  It's going to be a windy one though!  Hope we don't blow away!