Cinnamon Bun Run

Today was a 5k fundraiser for the Ladysmith food bank, but really what better reason to run than to get a cinnamon bun at the end?

I really wanted to run well to make up for last week's brutal 10k. My runs have been really off and on lately, some great and some terrible, so I knew there was an ok run in there somewhere, and I was hoping today would be the day. The format of this race was a bit different - you registered with your predicted time, and the person whose finish was closest to their prediction would be the winner. No watches, GPS's, heart rate monitors etc allowed.

I started fast, hoping I could just hang on since it was only 5k. I knew it was too fast though since I could barely breathe and it wasn't long before I had a side stitch. But I tried to ignore it and keep going. I was surrounded by people, so I knew things were better than last week were I got dropped by pretty much the whole field in about the first 30 seconds.

The town of Ladysmith is carved into the side of a hill (which affords all the locals an ocean view), but the organizers did a good job of not making us run too many ugly hills. There was a tough one at about the halfway mark, and I'm pretty sure my heart rate at that point was doing it's best hummingbird imitation. But it also meant there'd be a downhill, and it was much more gradual so I got a chance to recover and then I tried to kick it up a notch again.

I had about 4k at that pace in me, then I collided with that figurative brick wall. I heard Norm and Wendy (pushing Tycho and Tessa in their baby joggers) yelling "Alison we're coming for you!" and then they pretty much blew by me as I started going backwards. I found the silver lining though: I was ahead of Wendy Simms - yes THAT Wendy Simms, former National Cyclocross Champion and all around superstar - for about 4k. Um yeah, ignore the fact that she just had a baby and was pushing a baby jogger that I slipped a 50-pound weight in at the start. (OK, maybe not but it's a good idea for next time). I tried to keep them in sight to the finish and I came in on fumes big time. Oh well, 4k of good running and 1k of death shuffle was still better than practically crawling like I did last week.

Of course the highlight was the cinnamon bun... gooey yummy goodness.

Norm & Wendy inhaled their cinnamon buns but I

savored mine. Tycho looks like he wants to steal it though.