Cross Border Challenge!

179/295
22/46
F3039
56:46 gun time
56:29 chip time
5:39 average km pace

I won a free registration for this race so it was an easy decision to go and run it (I never win anything!) so I did go out at dawn on Saturday morning to run this run!  I had no goals and no expectations; Im very tired from a half 2 weeks ago and busy schedules and I have a 16 mile run coming up next week which I have never done before...yikes.
I had some trouble sleeping the night before (I guess that is a theme) and was up before the 5:20 am alarm went off.  I didnt really get out of bed right away tho lol got some coffee and a bagel for breakfast and checked emails.  lol got dressed and ran out the door (packed the night before amazing!).  We had overripe bananas so right away my routine was a bit off ;)   Picked up Sarah and met Margie and Coralee in town and off to Amherst we went!

After wandering around town for a bit we found the parking and made our way to the Y for our run kits and got out chips and numbers, then checked our bags and waited for a bus that took us to the start line in Aulac, New Brunswick!

We were concerned about the heat.  It was supposed to be very hot and was sunny and getting really warm. But up at that start line, it was freezing. And very windy.  We got into the portapotties and then waited inside for the start.  Brr.  9 am came and brr we got into line; there were some speeches and stuff that we could not hear and then a horn blew so we figured it was starting ;) and off we went.

The first km or so was downhill and it was FAST.  Slow down slow down slow down...didnt happen.  First km was done in 5:01 minutes.  That's nothing for some, I know, but that's pretty fast! 
We crossed the border between NB and Nova Scotia by the music of bagpipers!  It was pretty cool!
km 2 was a little slower at 5:22 minutes. But it was flatter. Most of this so far was pavement or dirt roads. 
At 2.5 km there was a water stop that we walked through to get a drink. It was heating up.

A little uphill, and km 3 was done in 5:59 minutes. 

After a short rolling section it was onto the flat of the Tantramar Marsh and that was flat flat flat.  And loose gravelly road with BIG rocks and some tar which made the fumes pretty overwhelming on that flat hot section. There was no shade and it likely went on just like that for over 4 km.  It was nice but it wasnt the most pleasant surface to run on;  but flat running is ok. km 4 finished in 5:37 minutes.  km 5 in 5:21. Water walk at km 5 was nice.  km 6 was 6:09 (slowing down slightly).  km 7 was 5:48 minutes. Could see Amherst by then.  And knowing it was up hill into the town did not help.  At km 7.6 there was a water stop and the end of the gravel; back onto pavement. 
at 8 km was the hill.  A very long hill with steep parts. A km long hill.  km 8 took 6:06 minutes.  km 9 - 6:03. Not bad for that HILL.  Grossssss.  Between km 8 and 10 were a lot of turns from road to road as we made our way through town to the finish line.  The last km was fast and had a slight downhill in parts and I pushed it to 5:10 minutes to finish the entire 10 k in 56:30 minutes; a total personal best for me.  Average 5:39 pace. All that speedwork is paying off ;)

Nice flat fast course, everyone went home with their best runs yet :)

Post race was a good meal (there was some bbq there but none of us felt like eating hotdogs at 11 am) and we changed, picked up our bags, and headed home.