Celebration of Greenspace 16.6 Miler

The long one.....it is done!  Ive broken through that 21 km ceiling and gone "further".  Someone somewhere decided that we should not increase our mileage by more than 10 % at a time.  I kind of just increased mine by about 30%.  That really is a big difference :) My previous longer run was 21.1 km. Now I am at 27 km and counting.  Im thinking this marathon stuff?  Not going to be so easy! ;) How do people do it without training?

Anyway when we left Truro after a sunny and hot day, these clouds met us.  They were ominous.  Promising a nice, wet run in Saint John for the Celebration of Greenspace run. 

We hit some rain on the way to SJ but really, not that much.  A few light showers.  It saved the rain in SJ for when we were sleeping :)It was super foggy when we got to the hotel late late late LOL I snapped a photo of the spooky fog and the flash made it look weird...that's fog not rain :):)

this is the LOVELY harbour view that greeted us when we got up in the morning. Gross what is that stuff floating in the water?  lol  It was raining and still foggy but it wasn't cold and had some promise! ie. the rain might stop?Getting ready at the back of the car; The numbers were paper and even funnier....seed paper so we could plant them and have flowers grow!   Unfortunately they were paper. It was raining. You can imagine how long those things stayed pinned to our shirts; Scott lost his, mine fell off in less than a km and I carried it for about 10 km ;)  I didn't mind carrying it; I carry lots of things while I am running. I was however glad to see Scott later and handed him the number.Scott preparing for his run; he did the shorter 2.5 mile run the same as he has been doing his C25K running program and finished well in around 27 ish minutes. 

It started to POUR at the start line; while we were waiting for speeches and they did things they thought were funny, we were getting wetter. Not that it mattered....we were going to get wet anyway :)

The first bit of the run took us up through the park.  It's a lovely park and went around ponds and Lily Lake.  It was the introduction to the hills.  This part went just fine ;) Motoring up hills and taking advantage of the downhill parts is my specialty ;)  Then the 2.5 milers separated from the longer runs and we hit the streets.  We went through every single piece of green area SJ had, I swear, including some small playgrounds.  We went through downtown SJ Im sure the nicest parts, with nice roads and pretty scenery.  Then we headed out across an overpass and started into some less pretty area.  :) and the hills continued.

 After Scott finished his run and got dry he drove around to find me at numerous places and provided some extra liquid :) You cannot tell in this photo just how STEEP that hill I am climbing is but take my word for it that it is steep. :):)We had to cross a road on a bridge and they had us go Under the bridge to do that. I thought that was pretty neat.  We crossed the bridge and got to the Reversing Falls (which we never actually saw.....bummer) and had to climb those stairs!!! I didnt mind the stairs so much.  They were just another hill to be climbed.  Around some trails and some rather drab residentials and a few hills and a neat pedway and some rough trails with gravel and wash outs and hills and shade :) nice and we were back on the roads and heading into the homestretch.  SO one would think.  Im not sure if it was raining or fog accumulation or sweat but there was constant moisture dripping off the brim of my hat.  Wish I could have weighed myself before and after to see how much sweat I lost :)

There were loads of water stops and I even found a flush toilet lol about half way through in a park right on the trail so I did my 25 second pee break :) At about 14 km I started to feel pretty nauseous; an uncomfortable feeling.  Blech.  I had had some energy beans at about 8.5 km and some bar starting at about 12 km in and a little more bar settled my stomach so that there was just off and on nausea.  But it lasted until the end.

Scott waited for a while at the start/finish line and took some photos :):)

After we finished the road part we were directed back into the park.  Ugh the hills!  LOL I was now past 21.1 km and into that uncharted territory.  And I think mentally it might have gotten to me a bit here.  My hip was aching and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself LOL Although sitting here the day after Im wondering what was so bad....it was the hills!  HAHAHA  And the aching hip.  And nausea.  LOL  We went past the lake and did a loop on the trails before coming back to the lake....I simply could not believe it at this point that I was back in the park running around those hills again!  LOL And so steep....I walked up most of them and actually stopped and wished I could lay down at the top of one :) There was grass and it looked so nice and cool and soft LOLOLOL

Scott could see runners from across the lake at the start finish and he figures this was me running over there if you can spot the little black speck.  I could HEAR them announcing people finishing now but knew I had about another km to go.  I was watching the watch and knew I was past my 3 hour goal SIGH.  Back to the road and was directed towards the finish....luckily I came up over another hill (last one) and saw the finish line and felt like crying. :):) Downhill to the finish was a relief and I didn't even remember to stop my watch.  The finish was awesome. BUT Stopping was almost as hard as continueing to run; legs cramps set in and made standing too hard....sitting was not an option (I tried that) so keeping walking (not slow) was the only thing I could do. Then Scott mentioned the beach was just behind the Pavillion and I was like " lets go there) lol.  So I stripped off shoes and socks and waded into the water and it was the best. I wish I had had my suit so I could have gone further; wanted to get right up to my waist but I had nothing to change into.  Stupid move on my part; what was I thinking?  The lake was awesome but I did have to get out.  Then walking was uncomfortable again. 

I had a banana and that was sort of a mistake; it made me feel very sick again.  So we walked to the car (ugh longest walk) and back to the hotel which we had until 1 for cleaning up.  Shower felt awesome and then I rested on the bed for a few minutes while eating pretzels (how come this was never suggested as a staple?  I came across that one on a random website and have loved them before/after runs; must be the salt) and after about half an hour I felt human again and we finished packing up and went back for the awards/draw prizes.  And the food. Now I was hungry ;) And Coffee :):):):)  Awards were good; I won a pair of New Balance Sneakers (which Scott will get since he wears them; Im sticking with Asics). 

We tumbled into the car and headed home.  Hip hurt something wicked so I took some Advil and climbed into the back seat to lay down and slept and then I felt somewhat human :) We made it home in time to watch the end of the FIFA World Cup BUMMER Holland :( LOL 

Today this whole experience is looking pretty good; yesterday not so much.  But I guess it might be sort of like having a baby; you forget the pain and go out and have another one!   Im already looking forward to the next run; but not the next race or long run.  :P:P:PSorry I cannot seem to get this rotated; It is totally the way it should be in the files.  THIS MEDAL is the reason I really wanted to do this run; its so neat! Ok its not theonly reason but there are 2 more, 2011 and 2012, to make a full set, and Im going after them as well!  They all fit together in a nested snowman, and I want them all :) Super happy with the medal LOLOL  Does anyone else get excited about neat medals? lol