Sporting Life 10km

Wow, Life sure can get complicated and in all honesty the last 10 days or so have been so full of emotions and stress that I didn't know if I was coming or going. Coming back from Florida, I made some life changing decisions and although I know they were hard decisions to make and to explain they were decisions that had to be made regardless of what the fall out would be, but despite all the emotions I was feeling pretty clear headed and relaxed in the knowledge that this was what needed to be done and that in the end things would work themselves out.
I ended up heading to Toronto and entered myself into the Sporting Life 10km race, I didn't know much about it other than some friends were telling me that it was huge race with over 12,000 athletes registered and I figured what the heck. I haven't entered a race in a long time and I have had some bad experiences, so why not. We got up early on Sunday morning and I really wasn't feeling like doing a race, I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before and the thought of doing a 10km hard was not really on the top of my to do list. We got down to Younge Street and I couldn't believe the amount of people and the fact that they had corals, they usually only have those for the larger marathons! I was supposed to be at the back in the last corral since I had only registered the day before, but I didn't want to start way back there so I got into the second corral with my friends friend and started where I should have been starting time wise. I have to admit standing there in a crowd of 13, 000 other runners all preparing to do the same thing is a powerful thing. I had butterflies and I was so excited to be doing a race again. The race heads straight down Younge St and I figured it would be really crowded with the amount of runners but happily the crowds spread out and I never felt like I had to weave around other runners. The first 4km I stayed with Marc but I could tell that we were running a little at his uncomfortable level so after the aid station I just kept pushing. I wanted to hold steady for the first 5km and then work at banging off strong kms after that for the last 5. I got to the 5km mark at just over 20 minutes and I felt strong.
At one point as I was running down Younge St. I was so overwhelmed with the site. The buildings were casting shadows onto the road and in the center was the sun shinning down, it was just so beautiful and felt so right, like I was running towards the future and the future is bright and anything is possible!! I know it sounds a little silly but that sight and thought made me feel so strong and hopeful!
I never felt that I was running outside of my comfort level and when I rounded the corner to the finish line I knew that I was having a strong run. I crossed the line and was so pumped to see the 40 minutes on the clock, (my previous best time in 10km was 42:53) my finishing time was 40:29 and I was so proud of myself, I did way more than I thought I could do and was so happy with how this first race back felt. It was a great race and who knows maybe next year I can go back and break 40 minutes! The medal was pretty nice too and the girls thought it was awesome!