Once again, we had a family team. This year, 17 people registered. Down from previous years but still a super great turnout! On Thursday, I picked up the team's packages at Max Bell. I went at lunch and it was really quick - in, out, done. It was apparent that they were just getting set up, but the volunteers were efficient and I got the distinct impression that none of them were new to the process.
2014 Tshirt design
Team package pickup
Later - when I had a chance to package up everyones bibs.
The Sport Chek sale was in full swing with plenty of helpers around to help. I, for the first time ever, was not in need of anything run-related (perhaps, I'm broken), so I didn't hang out to shop.
Fast forward to Sunday. For once, getting everyone up, fed and ready went remarkably smoothly. In past years, we've been racing the clock or forgetting stuff, but today we had none of that. With a clear blue sky above us, we were on our way to the city by 6:45 - ready to land before the road closures. We were parked at Chinook Centre and to the team meeting pace right before 7:30...only to find that our sweet meeting place with the easily accessible washrooms...had a "washrooms under renovation" signs all over it.
Excellent.
We pinned on our bibs and figured we'd make a run to the nearest washrooms before anyone else arrived.
We hurried the girlies down to the food court and, sure enough, the girls were already complaining about their feet being tired. We told them to suck it up since this was barely the warmup to the race.
Shortly after we got back to the meeting place, the rest of the group started to arrive and the fun could begin!
We released the children to the wide open space next to the meeting place and they started to run around while the adults chatted.
I took the requisite team photos.
Me, Anna and V
Me and a very pregnant Katie
Erika and I
My girlies were happy to show off their new running clothes to everyone (yay for Target and preschooler activewear)Then it was time to head out to the start line.
Year after year, you'd think we'd learn to just stay in the mall until we get past the start line. We walked out with Katie and trying to get a chariot through the crowd was next to impossible.
But eventually we got there and got ourselves into the crowd.
My race plan...well. Yeah. About that. Given the fact that I have only run 5 minutes in the past 7 weeks and have not actually been cleared to run yet post-stress fracture - I had no real plan except this:
Walk. Run a little if the girls felt up to it. Don't carry the girls. DNF at first sign of pain.
The race was already started by the time we seeded ourselves. It is always a slow crawl to start so we knew it would be a few minutes before we even crossed the start.
But soon we were there and officially on our way.
The beginning of the race takes you around the mall.
There is a little uphill as you come up the north side of the mall and that is where I felt the first twinge. My shin was not happy...and we were not going very fast at all. And the girls were complaining. Already. We very nearly stopped before we even left the parking lot. 1k and done. But convincing me to DNF was going to be a bit harder to do than that.
I offered the midgets a snack and then we carried on. Once we hit the road, it would be time to pull out every distraction technique in the book.
Once the race hits 5th Street, it starts to thin out a bit so we ran a little bit. A very little bit. Then I coaxed the girls to just try to make it to the NICU donation bins on 58th Avenue because we had $20 to drop in.
There was a lot of "Oh look! Puppy - got see if you can pet them"
and then a bit of "Oh volunteer - better go high 5 and thank them!" and then "Hey! Policeman! They love high 5s!"
At 2k - I had to call it. My ankle had swollen right up and I was not willing to push through any pain any longer. It doesn't look bad in the pic, but it was really quite swollen.
Our race was officially over. I had officially crossed a start line where I would not see the finish line mats.
My first DNF.
One last snack before we turn back.
We walked back to the mall. The kicker on all of this is that we had to walk back almost as far as we had gone out...which if I could have stayed in the race - would have been so close to the distance anyway. But this race has a ton of hills and I knew going back was mostly flat or downhill.
When we got back to the mall - we grabbed coffees and I tried to not beat myself up about it anymore. DNFing is HARD. SO much harder than I thought it would be. But I know I did the right thing. I registered our team long before I was diagnosed with the fracture. It wasn't a choice I wanted to make, but I know it will serve me better this year to not push things right now.
I do have a doctors appointment on Wednesday to assess my fracture and see when I can start running again. I know one thing...that day is not today. Or this week. I think I may be holding off until after I get back from the Dominican Republic. Just to be safe. But I'll have better answers after Wednesday.
Ok - back to the race. Buggie was so upset that she didn't get to win the race and get all of the medals and trophies, so we hung around for the Little Legs race. While we waited, there was a craft table for kids to make cards for their moms.
As for the race, it seems they change the format of this race every freaking year. This year they were going year by year through the age group and went through them so fast that we barely had time to line up and for me to rush across to the finish and they were off and done.
Then each child was handed a certificate and a chocolate milk and we were sent on our way.
So that, my friends, is a pretty pared down race report for me. Nothing too exciting. We came. We tried. We quit. We came home. But not as bleak as that. Until next year - thats another Mother's Day race in the books.