The following is a report on how crazy coincidences, bad luck, great timing and a wonderful lady named Carrie all combined to help me score my 10K PB.
The Miramichi race has been bouncing around in my brain for a few months, ever since I heard that it was being dubbed the Run NB 10K Provincial Championship. I knew nothing else about the race, well other than it was tied into the local rock and roll festival. It wasn't on my list of "must run" races for the season, so it wasn't until late last week that I decided that I would head to Miramichi on Sunday morning. I soon discovered that the race organizers decided to do away with same-day registration. No worries, I'll register Saturday morning on-line. No worries, indeed. I log onto the Running Room website at about noon on Saturday to find out that on-line registration closed on Thursday. So I'm sitting in Bouctouche, everyone is napping and I'm now freaking out because the race organizer is not picking up his phone or answering his e-mail. I call our Miramichi reporter and she tries valiantly but says everyone she knows is at the festival. About two hours has now passed and I'm starting to sweat.
I scroll over and over all the websites for the race and I keep seeing how last-minute registration is at a local rec centre, but there is no phone number listed for the facility. So I do what any panicky person would do, I Google it. I randomly click on one of the links and up comes a phone number and I decide to call. On the other end of the phone was not the Linden Rec Centre, it was a wonderful woman named Carrie, although at this point I didn't know how wonderful she would turn out to be. She was actually heading to the rec centre to volunteer for the registration! She took all my info and she promised I could race the next morning! All was now right with the world.
Oh but the story does not end there...
I arrive in Miramichi early, so I can meet up with Carrie, pay, get my chip and relax before the race. I did everything until the relax part. I just latched my chip to my shoe and I was going to walk across to the Subway to skip the line-up in the men's room but first I wanted to make a pit stop at my car to toss my goodie bag. Wait, where's my key? Not in my pocket. Not in my bag. Not stuffed in my shirt. Not on the table, chair or floor where I just sat while putting my chip on. This cannot be happening to me. I spent the next 25 minutes with a small search committee, tearing through my bag (eight times), my car, tracing, retracing, tracing and retracing every single step I made in Miramichi. With no options left, I called back to Bouctouche and asked for someone to drive another set of keys up to me. Feeling really sheepish, I backtrack one more time and start kicking garbage cans. And there it is! It turns out that when I threw out my banana peel, it went in the garbage as well. I now have 15 minutes to warm up.
Now to the race.
When the run started, I had no idea what to expect. The times last year were not blazing but Carrie, my new best friend, told me it was flat. At 8:30 a.m., we moved to the start line with Elvis and waited for our cue. Before I knew it, we were off. I started quick but kept trying to hold down my pace. It was a perfect day for a run, overcast but not cold. There was a small "hill" leading to a bridge in the first kilometre and then flat for 2K. Once I got into my groove, I started passing people. I chatted with a few half-marathoners, it helped me keep calm and my pace relaxed.
One of the race's turning points was the downhill toward the second bridge. I left my long legs carry me past one runner and along side "Nigadoo" (that's where he's from so it felt like an adapt nickname), who I ran with for the rest of the race. The next 6K had some nice declines and then looped across the bridges again. Nigadoo and I were shoulder to shoulder, a few times I thought he should have moved over so I wasn't dodging on-coming traffic, but I digress.
Split after split, I couldn't afford to slow down because I knew Nigadoo would be gone and I think he felt the same way. We attempted small talk a few times. He asked me about my Garmin. When we were approaching a crowded water stop, I told him to call out what he wanted and it was cool to see all the walkers turn around and then move to the side so we could fly by. It was a pretty cool feeling.
I felt great throughout the race. I knew my Garmin was off by about 150 metres, but I was on pace to break 40 minutes. When I came down the final hill, there was a moment of confusion where I had to turn and then when I was 400 metres from home I drained the tank. Nigadoo had some extra kick so he was about 50 metres ahead of in a blink of an eye. As I rounded the last corner, I could see the second hand ticking up, it was at 20 seconds. So I started picking up the pace again. 30 seconds, I'm now thinking 40 minutes may be jeopardy. Finally I cross the line and the big yellow numbers say 38! Wait? What about 39?! My previous PB was 40:07 set in May, now I can proudly say that I've broken 40 ... and 39. My final time is 38:42. I was really disappointed not to break 40 in Fredericton and I was somewhat more confused by my recent races where I couldn't break 42 minutes. So I needed this PB to remind me that running has its ups and downs and I just have to be patient and wait for my race. Sunday, I had my race. And it feels great. Sometimes I wish every race could feel like this, but if they did, today would not have been so special.
This was also dubbed the Provincial Championships. Run NB has a fun point series (50 points for 1st, 45 for 2nd, etc), so this race handed out double points.
Anyway, my results:
Time: 38:42.8
Overall: 6
Age group: 4
Splits: 3:44, 4:01, 4:03, 3:35, 3:16 (this must be an error), 4:03, 4:05, 3:50, 3:48, 3:37.
