{"id":676,"date":"2014-01-13T21:37:42","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T02:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/?p=676"},"modified":"2014-01-13T21:37:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T02:37:42","slug":"richmond-road-race-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/?p=676","title":{"rendered":"Richmond Road Race Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to say, it feels good to have my first race in my 14 in ’14 challenge completed. \u00a0Trying a new race was also fun, especially a race that has been around for 32 years. \u00a0The Richmond Road Race is a relatively small race (I think numbers are kept to around a total 500 for the two distances) but one that clearly has a loyal following. \u00a0From what I could tell, most of the runners there were not first timers like me. \u00a0There was even one participant who had been at every race since year one.<\/p>\n

I know alot of people do not like winter races due to the weather. \u00a0But one thing I love about these cold weather events is they usually provide an big indoor space for pre-race and post-race events. \u00a0Combine that with the fact that they are usually small races and you have a race where there is no need to stand shivering forever at the start line. \u00a0Better yet, that start line is often located steps away from that lovely, warm indoor space. \u00a0This race provided all of the above plus a heck of alot of food. \u00a0Nice combination \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

This is a fairly simple race; no timing chips, no medals. \u00a0There was a cute long sleeve shirt (though not in the tech material I was hoping for) and great backpacks as prizes for age category winners. \u00a0This is my first race where in my kit I received information about the possibility of a train crossing our path during the race. \u00a0Apparently VIA Rail will not confirm when a train will pass at a specific crossing, so the race organizers tracked when the train came through the last few Sundays and felt pretty confident it would go through before the race. \u00a0They were right (and I am sure relieved) as I heard the train whistle as I pulled into the parking, long before the start time. \u00a0This is not the first race I have heard of having train problems. \u00a0Around the Bay in Hamilton has apparently changed their course this year since runners had to stop for a train last year. \u00a0That would have to be more than a little frustrating in the middle of a 30km course.<\/p>\n

All in all, the Richmond Road Race seems like a very organized event, I’m guessing after 32 years they know what they are doing. \u00a0I have to give kudos for the food. \u00a0At the end of your run you went back into the warm high school cafeteria to pick up your bowl of hot soup and a plate loaded with a bun, a muffin, cubes of cheese, a banana, a juice box and a yogurt. \u00a0There had to be a good team of volunteers to organize and put out this amount of food. \u00a0Since I am avoiding large amounts of gluten, it was the soup that I really enjoyed. \u00a0Evan enjoyed everything on his plate plus all of the food I didn’t eat. \u00a0Having an almost 11 year old growing boy comes in handy when you have extra food around.<\/p>\n

Neither Evan nor I are in race shape. \u00a0This was meant to be a training run for us so we set three goals. \u00a0We decided we would be happy with finishing the 5k under 31 minutes, and would be really happy if it was under 30 minutes. \u00a0Anything that started with 28 would be awesome. \u00a0We started out fast, too fast, so had to remind ourselves to slow down. \u00a0When we started to hit slippery pavement, and then icy areas on a gravel road we were careful not to push too much. \u00a0Evan seemed tired so I said to him we could take a break if he wanted. \u00a0His answer: “No, I don’t want to walk, actually I do really want to walk, but I don’t want to, you know what I mean?” \u00a0I think most of us can relate. \u00a0So we kept going and actually picked up the pace a bit on the way back. \u00a0As we got near the end I told him to sprint if he wanted and off he went. \u00a0I had zero interest in running any faster so I just coasted to the finish line where volunteers recorded your time. \u00a0Evan was thrilled with his 28:58 and I can live with my 29:08, though it is 3 minutes slower than my best. \u00a0These times put both of us in third place for our age groups so we came home with some pretty nice backpacks:<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>

We match!<\/p><\/div>\n

Running with Evan is always fun. \u00a0Except for one thing. \u00a0He talks… ALOT! \u00a0And half of what he says is in the form of a question, so he expects an answer. \u00a0Usually I have to answer at least three times because between his heavy breathing and the hat over his ears, he can never hear me. \u00a0I finally had to tell him to stop talking to conserve his energy. \u00a0The reality was I couldn’t talk anymore and maintain my breathing. \u00a0Maybe I will be able to talk and run again in a couple of months but not now as I try desperately to get back to running under a 6 min\/km pace. \u00a0I was more than a little surprised actually that my 5:50 pace put me in 3rd place for the 40-49 group. \u00a0I admit I assumed there must have only been a handful in this age group, so I was even more surprised when I found out there were actually 23 of us. \u00a0I guess I am not the only one trying to slowly chip away at my pace.<\/p>\n

The winners were anything but slow. \u00a0The top 4 runners in the 10k were in the 37 minute range, while the top 3 runners in the 5k were in the 17 minute range. \u00a0These are their times in the middle of winter on a slightly slippery course!<\/p>\n

What I will remember the most though from this race is the number of “senior” runners. \u00a0I don’t even feel right using the word senior, these people were amazing. \u00a0In the 10k there were 2 men in the 80+ category (yes you read that right) who finished with times of 67 and 68 minutes!!! \u00a0In the 5k there was an 82 year old women who looked like she was still ready to run after the race was completed. \u00a0There was no shortage of participants in the 60-69 and 70-79 year old category either, and many of their times were simply amazing. \u00a0It made me think how as runners we spend a huge amount of time setting “number”goals. \u00a0We are always asking ourselves if we can reach a certain time, a certain distance, a certain number of races. \u00a0Perhaps an even better goal would be to strive to be running and feeling healthy in our seventies and even our eighties. \u00a0I can only hope!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have to say, it feels good to have my first race in my 14 in ’14 challenge completed. \u00a0Trying a new race was also fun, especially a race that has been around for 32 years. \u00a0The Richmond Road Race is a relatively small race (I think numbers are kept to around a total 500 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3amQ2-aU","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=676"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}