As much as I dread this race I love racing in Toronto because we have such an awesome running community!
After struggling on the hills last week at ATB I was a little anxious about how this race would go. I didn't have a goal time that I wanted to run as I figured it would be considerably slower than Robbie Burns due the difficulty of the course. For this race I just wanted to put in a good strong effort without feeling like I am dying. The start of the race was FAST. There were two lead groups and then myself and a few others trailing behind. I slowly managed to reel in the second lead pack by the time we got to our first up hill climb. I powered up the hill and by the time we got to the top the pack had thinned out.
I ran the rest of the race with Garrett De Jong . We were sitting in 7th & 8th and it wasn't until the final hill that 6th place, Victor Gatundu came into our sights. I was trailing behind Garrett and had a moment where I thought whether I catch him or not I have run a good race and that's enough for me ... Not the thoughts I should be having 150m from the fnish. Someone on the sideline shouted out " He's 2ft in front of you go after it!" and snapped me back into competitive mode. Garrett kicked and flew by Victor and I kicked and came up beside Victor. It was another exciting finish with 1 second between each of us. I finished in a time of 26:28. only 9 seconds slower than Robbie Burns and almost 2 minutes faster than my time on this course last year.
I am happy with my result and the fitness I demonstrated however I am a little disapointed in myself for not mentally pushing myself harder. I don't want to be an athlete that settles and tells themselves I've done good enough ... before the race is even over. This video will will serve as a remind of that.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=422823107879883
Jumping back to St. Patricks Day I raced the Achilles 5km in Toronto and finally nipped under 16 minutes ands set a new PB of 15:59. Based off the 3k's I had raced on the track I was sure I could break 16 minutes in the 5km. I was actually expecting a faster time than what I ran but strong head winds made it a challenging race. It wasn't until the slight up hill on Spadina that I was able to move into 3rd and start kicking home. Seeing the clock count the seconds away and having Adam Cole right on my heels I had to drive hard all the way through the finish line.
It's been a great spring racing season so far and I look forward to keeping up the momentum.
-ebang