Peachbud and MEC 10 and 10 Recap

Peachbud 10
After the landslide victory in Barrie on the weekend, I headed over to Grimsby for the mar-key event of the Niagara Running Series, and one that always boasts a fast field despite a somewhat rolling hill-type course, the Tim Hortons Peachbud 10k. Unfortunately the weather was atrocious and for some time it looked like the race may not even run with major lightning strikes across southern ontario and in the immediate area. Also a 20 car collision on the 407, meant zig-zagging from jane, to steeles, to the 400, to 403, and finally back onto the 407, and the QEW. Let's just say it was a long drive which horrible driving conditions (torrential downpour). Thankfully, my Dad, the champ, battled through the rain and got me there just in time and was able to get atleast a 10 minute warmup in before the race. The rain had slowed but the humidity was off the charts with the air temperature in only the mid-20s but the humidex was making it feel 37. After already starting to sweat up a storm during warmup, I took note of the other elite runners in the race. Wow what a stacked field with 5 Kenyans (3 men, 2 women) including 2:09 marathon runner Thomas Omwenga, Daniel Kasia, and winner of the around the bay and 29 minute 10k runner Terrance Attema. Suffice to say my goal turned into trying to finish top ten. I wanted to run a fast race for this one but despite my legs and lungs feeling stronger than ever, I didn't expect to PB with a. the humidity factor; b. the hilliness of the course; c. running a race at 7:30 at night which I've never done before - although I did race the 3000 one time in high school at around 6 o'clock because the director wanted to wait until the extreme midday heat died down a little; d. after just racing a half marathon less than 72 hours before my right calf was still very sore. The gameplan was really just run a 3:05ish first kilometer, then settle into my pace, and if I felt Terrance's pace to be maintainable than try to stay with him for as long as possible.

Other kenyans are out of the picture on the right, beside the
Kenyan girl in yellow.

Gun sounded and we were off. This was a very strange opening by myself, and the 3 others in the top group: Terrance, Kasia, and Omwenga. We had the lead car with a digital clock on top of it with our time, and we passed by the 1 kilometer sign under 3 minute/km pace 2:59. It was pretty amazing as soon as the four of us saw the time and split we all instantly slowed substantially (almost tripping over one another) as if all four of us knew this was not going to be sustainable. The second kilometer my pace slowed to 3:15, and with that the pack was broken Terrance, Omwenga and Kasia up ahead, me and another Kenyan runner, Gatundu, left behind. Third kilometer, I pushed back and left Gatundu behind on a steep little hill with a 3:12 kilometer. So for the fourth kilometer until about 6.5 I was on my own trying desperately to catch back up to the three lead guys, with a 3:14 fourth kilometer, but then the humidity really started getting to me and on an incline over a bridge at 5k may pace slowed significantly to a pedestrian 3:22 for the 5th and 6th kilometers. My mindset wasn't very strong at this point and I started counting down the kilometers saying in my head okay 5.5 to go, 5 to go, 4.5, etc - essentially "this feels awful when is this going to end". Obviously, when this happens the pace suffers. But, at 6.5k I got a little more motivated and distracted myself since Omwenga was dropped from the lead group up ahead, and I made it my goal to catch back up to him. Obviously, I wasn't the only one effected by the conditions since even though I had a garbage 5th and 6th kilometers, the lead group wasn't exactly pulling away from me, they were still in sight. I quickly closed on Omwenga and actually passed him for a moment thinking how cool is this I'm beating a 2:09 Kenyan marathon runner. But he caught back up and we ran side by side for 2k. At 7.5k he put in a fast surge but I responded and stayed with him.

Look at the amount of sweat on that singlet.

However, at 8.5k he put in another surge, and this time I couldn't respond. Despite the middle of the race really taking any chance from PBing, I was really happy with how I finished with back to back 3:15 kilometers. Ran in through the finishing chute in 33:08 and fourth place overall. Initially, I wasn't very happy with the final time but then realized that Terrance, Kasia, and Omwenga who finished 16 seconds ahead of me, all ran 2-3 minutes slower than there usual times and that was obviously due to the conditions - humidity and wet roads. So i figured that time may infact be equivalent to around 31 minutes.




MEC Barrie 10


After getting in pretty late Tuesday night from
the race, I was exhausted and decided after lots of thought to break my running streak of 28 days in a row without a day off. So Wednesday I took it as a recovery day with an hour on the bike just to loosen out my legs and some strength work. Thursday I was back at it but still using the 20k run as more of a recovery run. With all this racing it feels so different because I'm not really doing true training, it is really just race-recover-race-recover-race-recover, etc. So the runs in between races are all really just at a comfortable pace, and no workouts. Sure I'll surge a few times over the course of a 20k just to make sure I don't lose that feel of the turnover, but no structured track work. Another 20 on Friday, and then Saturday was off to Barrie for a 10k race. This race looked like it would be alot of fun, and it definitely lived up to it. It was on the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail in Orillia which was in a beautiful spot. So beautiful that I think I've decided to live in Barrie someday down the road. The trail like any other rail trail is dead straight, no steep hills just steady inclines, on crushed gravel, and very similar to one of the trails I ran on in Park City called the Farm Trail. With trees lining either side, and some open areas with the sun shining through it was just beautiful, and looked like a perfect spot for tempo runs if I was to live in Barrie/Orillia someday. I knew the gravel would be slightly slower than the road but I do love running on gravel since it's a bit easier on my legs, and I did do alot of running on gravel in Park City so I was pretty used to it's feel. After the 15k race started, us 10k runners were off. It was kind of cool because most of the field recognized me from the Barrie half marathon the weekend before, and came up to shake my hand or give me a high five. I felt like a celebrity. My stomach was a little upset throughout my 3k warmup, and drills, but my legs did feel pretty good. Race started, and I quickly seperated myself from the field with a 3:08 kilometer. Quickly settled into my rhythm and clocked off 3:17, 3:14, 3:17, 3:16 kilometers. By 3.2 kilometers I caught up and passed most of the 15k runners who started their race 10 minutes before us 10k runners. At 5k made the turnaround and realized I was way up on the other 10k runners, and my legs felt unbelievable. They got that same feeling I had last weekend in Barrie, as it felt I could wind my legs and turn them over as fast as I wanted with nothing holding me back. A slower 7th and 8th kilometer at 3:21 a piece as I had to do some weaving around the 5k runners but then really turned on the jets. A 3:10 9th kilometer, and then a 3:00 minute final kilometer my fastest final kilometer to finish any race, a sprint finish. Final time a new PB! 32:32 -3:15avg pace for the 10k. Won easily by 5 minutes, got some prizes from MEC at the end, and felt awesome. After a 4k run to cooldown before getting in the car to go for breakfast, and then another 4k run at night my legs still felt great, and fully ready to race again soon on Tuesday. Here (top right corner for some reason) the final push at the end filmed by my Dad.

And one more thing, got the pics from barrie half marathon, here are a few of them.

I like this one with the sky in background.