Cause Canada Rocky Mountain half marathon, 10k and 5 k

With all the buzz and excitement and motivation from the Olympics, I for some reason  thought it would be a good idea to enter for about a half marathon . The Rocky mountain Half marathon was in three weeks time and it had been 10 years a hamstring injury and two children since I had done my previous half marathon in Nottingham. However I continued to think that if I managed to get my mileage up and get out for a few longer runs then I may just manage this. So while we were on our camping trip I had managed to get out for about 45 mins every morning and things were feeling ok. However I knew that the half marathon would take about two hours and that was when I was 10 years younger and much more well trained. Although I have always continued my running throughout the last 10 years, I haven't had a goal to train to and have just been plodding along. So I thought that I should join the local run club and get more miles under my belt and a bit of interval training. This was really enjoyable and got me out in the rain and pushed me to do hills and intervals, however my body never felt quite recovered the next day...always a bit of leg stiffness and back pain. Things just don't recover as easy as they did 10 years ago. As the date for the race grew nearer I found myself contemplating the results of completing the 21K and the lasting effect on my body. Yes I would probably complete it, but would I be aggravating an already injured leg.

So the day before the run, I had to pick up my race kit at the local school and I was all set to drop down to a safe 10k, which is my favorite distance to run, but entering the room and suggesting such felt like such a woos and a failure. I hummed and hawed for a while,stuck with the 21 k, registered the kids for the 5 k and then was about to leave when my conscience got the better of me and really it would be more sensible to do what you know you can do....the 10k.

So we were all set to run, and off I went to do the 10k, James and the kids left 15mins later to do the 5 k.
As I was running, I felt pretty good and continued to pick up the pace and just kept going. I finished then went for my complimentary 15 min massage then walked from the finish line to see Heather and Finlay coming down the last straight. I helped Heather run over the finish line. The kids were so proud of themselves and enjoyed drinks to finish. then we went to the school for muffins,cookies and fruit while the results were being printed and posted on the wall. Not thinking that I had run anything special, I went up to see how we had all done and to my surprise I had finished first in my age category...now that I am a vet 40-49, so at the advantageous place in my age category!! After taking a second look I realised that we may have to hang around for the ceremonies!!
So for the 10k I came 1st out of 210 women 40-49, 4th out of 510 females, 30th out of 700 people running in total. As it turned out, a wise choice to drop to 10k. a time of 45mins and 6 seconds.
Finlay and Heather completed their 5k in 55 mins. Heather came234th out of 238 runners, 31st out of 31in her age category(under 15yrs)
Finlay came82nd out of 83 runners and 28th out of 28 in his category(under 15yrs).

One proud boy with his gold medalist mumma!!