Valley Harvest Marathon

This past Sunday, October 10, 2010, was the Harvest Valley Run in Wolfville. Joey and I both participated as well as friends of ours, Susan & Matthew. Joey and Matthew ran the 1/2 Marathon while Susan and I ran the 5 km run. We all had a great time and we all did awesome!


My morning began at 4:00 am. Now, we were not leaving our hotel until 7:00 am. So, incase you are wondering why I was up so early, I will tell you. I woke up at 4:00 am because I had to pee. Now I don't normally need to get up in the middle of the night to pee, but I did this night. I guess I was really excited. I got back into my warm bed and began thinking of the run. I was going through it in my mind. How the start would be, how the run would be. I don't run very fast, at all and I was thinking that in order for me to go faster, I need to lengthen my stride and run heel to toe. I was thinking of my breathing during the run and how I needed to repeat to myself "I am strong. I can do this.". So I didn't get the best sleep, but when the alarm went off, I was ready to go anyway. I was really excited!


It was a very cold morning but it wasn't snowing and it wasn't boiling hot so I really should not complain. The air temp was actually nice while you were running. It was just very cold waiting for the run to begin.


Joey and Matthew left at 8:30 am for their run and their goal was to run the 1/2 marathon (21.6 kms) in under 2 hours. So, Susan and I were expecting them back around 10:30 am. We watched the start of their run and then went inside for one last pit stop to the ladies room and to get our finger and noses warmed up before the start of our race.


We went outside and found where our race was going to start at. Our start time was 9:15. We did a little walking to warm up and then a few stretches and we were ready to go. My goal for the race was to run the whole 5 kms without stopping or walking and to do it in under 40 mins.


There were all ages in the 5 km run. The youngest was 5 years old and the oldest was 73 years old. The first .7 kms was on the road so it was pavement. I'll tell you, my knees were not liking the pavement too much. Then we turned down to the dyke lands where there was a really nice walking/running trail. At the 1 km mark I looked at my watch and saw that I did the first km in 7 mins and 12 secs. I was really pleased with that. I felt like my knees really settled down durning the 2nd km. They were still sore, but not painful. Before I knew it, I was at the turn-around spot.

While I was getting ready to turn around, I thought, "this is a piece of cake". Then I turned and started running into the wind. It was not a piece of cake, at least it was not a tasty piece of cake! I started to struggle at the 3 km mark. I really noticed the wind and I felt like I was getting tired. I really wanted to stop running for a bit and walk but I pushed through it and made it to the 3.5 km mark. It was not getting any easier. I had to start telling myself "I am strong, I can do this. I am strong, I can do this." I repeated it over and over in my mind and it really helped me alot. Before I knew it I was at the 4 km mark. Now I really felt like I was in the home stretch. I was really tired but I kept moving. I thought "I made it this far, I'm not giving up now".

I ended up passing a few people that had passed me earlier in the race. Then, I could hear the announcer in the stadium and before I knew it, I had made it to the finish line. It felt so good to finish the run and I had reached both the goals that I had set for myself. I ran the whole 5 kms and my time was 38:51. I crossed the finish line and I had tears in my eyes. I was so proud of myself.


Here are my complete stats:
I finished 170th out of 224 participants.
I was 42nd out of 54 women in my age catagory.
My pace was 7:47 mins per km.


My friend Susan finished the run in 43:37 mins. She did so awesome! It was her first run. I think she is hooked. She is already talking about doing another run.


We knew the boys would not be back for a while yet so we went inside to get some snacks and grab the camera. We thought we would head outside about 10 minutes before we expected them to finish.

By the time we got outside, the boys had finished! They finished almost 12 minutes faster than they had expected. They did so well. I am so proud of them both. Joey's time was 1:48:51 and Matthew's time was 1:49:20.

Joey and I after the race.

Joey and I before the race.

After the race we packed up and headed to Brandon's football game. He was playing in Fall River. It was a really good game. The two teams were quite evenly matched. The final score was 17 to 6 for the Highland Renegades. They are now 4 and 1.

We had a great weekend and we have alot to be thankful for.