Fall Colours 10K Race Report
One thing we’ve really been missing since moving to Ottawa is not running a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot race. So when we saw the Somersault “Fall Colours and Turkey Trot” race the weekend my parents were going to be in town, we jumped at it!
As well, Sara and I are training for the Philly Half, and our training schedule actually had a 10K race on it for this weekend!
It turned out the Turkey Trot was a 1K race for kids under 11, so we didn’t get the chance to walk it as a family. But my parents came out to Cumberland Heritage Museum with us to visit the grounds and cheer us on.
I havern’t really been doing any speedwork, other than one session with three miles around 8:10 two weeks ago, so I didn’t have any expectations for the day. I told Sara that I’d love to do between 7:45 - 8:00, but I wasnt sure how it would go.
The race had distances of 42.2K, 21.1K, 10K, 5K, 3K and the 1K for kids, and I don’t think any of the races were that large. We had time to grab our bibs and shirts, go to the restroom, and then go for a little warmup jog before the race started. When the race started (at 10:05 for the 10K), the sun was starting to peek out and it looked like it was going to be a great day for a run!
Walking up to the start line, we saw a lot of people in tights and long-sleeves. I joked to Sara that that meant we had to move up to the front: we were in shorts and t-shirts and I felt we were more appropriately dressed. Sara told me to head on up just a few people from the front. I settled in next to a guy wearing a “Toronto Olympic Club” singlet, and he glanced over at my Grandma’s shirt and said “I ran that race too!” He had enough time to tell me that he ran Berlin three weeks ago and was running Toronto next week, and then the race started!
It was a pretty course around some neighbourhoods, and reminded me of the Manotic Miler in May (which I really enjoyed!)
The first mile had a downhill part to it, and I hit it just shy of a 7 min mile. Whoops! But I felt ok, and I told myself I was just going to run as I felt. Soon enough we were heading up an uphill (Sara had warned me there was elevation gain on the first half), and that slowed me down considerably.
Turns out, the first half of the race (it was an out and back) was mostly uphill!!?!? I gutted it out, working hard, and was thrilled to hit the turnaround. I thought I only saw one other female ahead of me :-D
Some people hate out-and-backs but I enjoy them as I enjoy cheering on other runners and even throwing a few high fives at people. I was happy to have the downhill on the way back, though it was by no means a cakewalk. After the first two miles I was careful not to look at my watch for distance or pace, but I’ll admit I felt really disheartened when I saw the 7K sign. Still 3 more kilometers to go?? Someone said “it’s all downhill from here” and I tried to feel good about it, but I was working hard!
I will admit that I stopped at a water stop sometime after mile 5. And yes, I walked a few steps. I glanced behind me, watching for other female runners (specifically, a blonde I’d passed in the first half). Instead, a friendly woman in a hijab ran towards me, smiling “let’s go!” she motioned for me to come with her “only 1.5 to go!” I thanked her, started up again and then cruised away from her.
The end of the race was a loop around the museum grounds, which was probably pretty but was unappreciated as I just tried to gut it out. I’m glad I wasn’t paying attention to my watch, because I’d have been mightly annoyed if I’d paid attention to when it rolled over 6.2miles (10K). Although I ran tangents, my watch distance came in at 6.6 (as did others, according to Strava).
I came in at 48:31, a 7:24 pace on my watch, or a 7:49 pace according to the official distance :-/ I’d had a vague idea that between 45-50 minutes would be about right, so I was right in that ballpark.
Sara came along before too long, and we marvelled at what a beautiful day it had turned out to be. I felt great; the race was hard but 10K is a pretty great distance. You can push hard, it’s a challenge, but it’s not the waiting game like a longer race. I was thrilled at my pace, and I couldn’t help but think that focusing more on shorter distances may be the way to go. I haven’t felt all that excited by marathons (and the training that goes with them) lately, and this was fun, and not too harrowing.
Glad we did it!
