The Victoria Day Long Weekend
MEC 5 km Run
We started our long weekend with the last minute decision
for me (Garima) to race in a 5 km run in Hamilton. This race is part of the
running series organized by MEC which is incredibly fun, warm and friendly. The
races are fairly small and well organized with very very affordable entry fees!
So we took the train to Hamilton in the morning with our bikes barely making it
on time. Unfortunately Sunny couldn’t race since we needed somebody to babysit
our bikes, and he was nice enough to volunteer and let me shine :D
It was a short and sweet 5 km which included me almost
getting lost. Luckily the guy running in front of me knew what he was doing so
I just followed him blindly. The race got over soon enough with lots of
cheering and me finishing in second place amongst the women runners.
We waited around for the award ceremony, filling ourselves
on bananas and cliff bars to prepare for the ride back home. The ride back home
was long but I was taking it easy so that legs can bear the duathlon on Monday.
Victoria Day Duathlon
After some rest on Sunday we prepared ourselves for the
duathlon on Monday. Monday morning came fast and was like any other race morning
– full of anxiety, time pressure and stretching. I had been dreading this race
for a while since Sunny had warned me about the rolling hills. The drive to the
start line made me realize he wasn’t lying about the rollers at all. In fact
the run and bike had nothing else except for rolling hills – with no flat
section!!!! Man I hate hills and hate them bad.
The first run went well without any hiccups. The transition
to the bike – not so much. This was my first time using an aero helmet (dork alert!)
and boy did I mess it up. As I was running out of the transition area with my
bike a volunteer kindly reminded me that wearing my helmet backwards wouldn’t be
very efficient/aero!!! Lol….. I guess I had to make this mistake at some point
in my life. So I fixed my helmet and ran to the bike mount. As I started pedaling
I realized my mistake 2 – didn’t close my bike shoes strap properly which kept
hitting the crank with every pedal. Oh well….. I ignored the annoying situation
and kept pedaling.
Finally once the bike section was over, I started the second
run and boy were my quads toast. I have never had such a hard time in a 4km…but
this was painful. The heat was getting to me and I just wanted to stop and
walk. I somehow survived the run and crossed the finish line running. What a
great feeling…..I didn’t care about the slow bike ride and the slower run…I was
just glad to finish with Sunny cheering for me!
Once Sunny and I got some “fuel” into ourselves, we walked
to the results area. I was hoping I wouldn’t be last in my AG …but I got a
pleasing surprise of placing 3rd in my age group!! What!!!! This
never happens to me.
Sunny placed a close 4th in his AG which is really good considering his competition and the fact that he dropped his chain and fell off his bike just 5 mins into the bike ride (that's what you get for being your own bike mechanic! He bounced back with a solid 2nd run and re-passed a lot of people.
Sunny placed a close 4th in his AG which is really good considering his competition and the fact that he dropped his chain and fell off his bike just 5 mins into the bike ride (that's what you get for being your own bike mechanic! He bounced back with a solid 2nd run and re-passed a lot of people.
You can see me pleased with myself in the pic below:
So that was our crazy and tiring long weekend…how was yours? J
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