les traine-savates

the race: les traine - savates; cheseaux - sur - lausanne
date: saturday 12 april
distance: 10.4km
time: actual; 59 min 11 seconds (official; 59 min, 35 seconds)

it was my first race of the season last weekend. i had originally planned to run this race when i planned out my 'season' but i had planned to run it under different circumstance - specifically, with a lot more training under my belt!

between the knee problems and the achilles problems, i really haven't done much training at all this year. in fact, this race was the first time i've run 10km since 2007. i had for a moment thought that there was no reason to run the race but i am very glad that i did. there is something about the atmosphere of a race that is really wonderful - the festivity, being surrounded by the camaraderie of other runners, the extra motivation to push just a little bit harder. i *needed* to run this race.

the race itself did not actually go that well for me. a few poor nutrition choices leading up to the race (what was i thinking eating fish for lunch?!?) left me with some indigestion on the race course, and i started out a little too quickly which was fun for the first 3 km but not so much fun for the last 7km :)

the race was somewhat hilly and mostly trail running through wooded areas. it was very beautiful but this was somewhat difficult to concentrate on given the distraction of trying to avoid the massive puddles and mud pits on the trails - it has rained a lot here in the past week and this was evidenced on the race course! despite my best efforts to avoid the mud, my shoes (and legs, and backside) were covered in mud by the end of the race. (of course, the super swiss race planners had thought of the mud situation and outside the door of the building with the change rooms, there were bowls of soapy water and scrub brushes so that people could clean their shoes - the picture of my shoe above is after cleaning - it worked surprisingly well!) the mud and water on the paths was good in some respects though. while strategically planning my running path among the puddles, it took my mind off my pain ;-)

i was very happy to see the finish line looming on this race, and sprinted the last 500m of the race. i maybe pushed a little too hard as i was pretty sure i was going to upchuck the questionable fish choice after the race. i haven't felt that bad after a race since high school (remember that race at provincials, mom?) in the end, i was able to keep all my cookies and eventually bask in that post-race euphoria. it was wonderful. plus, i had set myself a goal at the beginning of the race of running it in less than an hour and i was very happy to achieve this!

if you are so inclined, my results are here. i am number 156.

the monkey was not there to watch the race but was very excited by the idea of it when i told her about it afterward. she wants to run 'just like mommy' and proceeded to run run run to show me. she is fast, too - it won't be long before i'm asking her to wait up for me!

there are, of course, children's races at these events, and i was curious to see what ages the children start to race at. at this race, the youngest category was 'under 9' and it was a distance of 1.7km. of course, there were lots of 7 and 8 year olds in this category but amazingly, there was also a 3 year old!!! look at number 88 here - born in 2005. incredible!! maybe the monkey will get her wish next year and get to run her first race :)

by the way, the 9 year old that ran that race ran it at a pace of 3:41 per km, and i ran my race at a pace of 5:43. totally kicked my butt.