This was my second consecutive year running the Scotiabank Rat Race for United Way.Last year I busted out a personal best time with a 26:10 for a 5k. So I was excited, and nervous, to see what I would do this year. I was really, REALLY hoping to get into the 25 minute mark this time around!
The Rat Race takes place on a Thursday in June and it’s after work hours. So even though I finished my job at 4:30, we had to hang around until 7:30 for the race. Like last year, I created a team of people on my floor, only this time I chose the team name “The Grumpy Cats”, which I found hilarious. Not sure everyone else was loving it though! 😉 We did manage to raise over $1500 for Toronto’s United Way, so that was fairly awesome!
I felt decent the day of the race, which is always a good sign. But I was getting progressively more and more nervous as the day went on. I just wanted to be better than before, you know?
Eventually the time came and we all congregated at the Start/Finish line on University just west of Toronto City Hall. The course was modified a bit this year, and it was a full loop around this time. I wasn’t looking forward to that because it meant a bit of an uphill ending. Gross.
We took off and it was more crowded than I remembered it being last year (looking back, it actually seems that were about 500 more people in the race compared to last year). And my legs felt like LEAD. I couldn’t believe it, what the hell was going on? It was such a struggle to get up Unviersity to Bloor (which is a slightly uphill), but at least it leveled off there and there was a water station right before we turned down Bay. I was also exceptionally parched when I hit the water station, so I had to grab two glasses of water, stop to walk to drink them, then push on. I’ve never stopped like that during a 5k so I knew that wasn’t a good thing.
Thankfully, as soon as we turned onto Bay it was downhill all the way to Queen Street. I think I made up for a lot of time there because it’s fairly smooth sailing at that point. Plus, there’s the added bonus that there was far less people in this area so I was able to weave a bit better.
I didn’t feel great in general. I kept trying to push pace but I keep getting that lightheaded/have to barf feeling that I usually get when I’m pushing hard during a race and it makes for a really uncomfortable race. The absolute worst part was hitting Queen Street and having to finish up that straight line and then turn back up onto University. I felt exhausted and I found myself slowing down as I got stuck behind a woman that was going almost the same pace, but a little slower. Worst thing ever in a race is getting stuck behind someone doing a comfortable pace because it brings down your speed. Ugh.
As I turned back up onto University some guy started to pull ahead of me which drives me absolutely crazy. I hate when there’s a super close runner to you and you can SEE the finish line, so they start pushing to beat you. Yeah, well, that spurred ME on so I started a mild sprint to the finish line. I was so determined to not let this dude beat me and I felt so awful that I wasn’t even able to look at the crowd where I knew my husband was cheering me on. He confirmed afterwards that “yeah, you’ve looked better”, and I knew it too – I felt like a sack of wobbly bones crossing that finish line.
In the end, I came in at 26:30 which I’m okay with. Considering how shite I felt throughout the whole run, I’m surprised I wasn’t into the 27 minute mark. It’s 20 seconds slower than my best, but it’s not miles off, so I’m okay with that. My teammates trickled in after me and I was really happy to see them all finish. It gives me such a happy boost to see my friends and coworkers finishing a race that it inspires me to do more.
Next up? Pride Run 5K in a week!
Race Summary
- Finish Time: 26:30
- Pace: 5:18 per kilometer
- Overall placement: 382/1997
- Gender placement (F): unknown/838
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