Ouch!

That is the best way to sum up my first race of the 2012 season!
SV and I headed to TO for the Sporting Life 10km Race...this has become one of my favourite races and we try to do it each year...although we did skip it last year to partake in some UFC fun.
I always love heading to the city and there is something so awesome about running down Younge St with only the sound of feet pounding on the pavement!
This year the race sold out, no race day entries allowed as they had reached their cap of 22,000...truly crazy to think that 22,000 people were all up bright and early to start a 10km race!
SV and I arrived early enough to check our bags and do a light warm up run...it was cool and rainy...perfect running conditions really.  We stood together at the start line, with friends Troy (who would end up 12th overall) and Doug (who finished 84th).  As we stood in the corral it was fun to try to see the entire crowd...so much nervous energy...but we weren't nervous...more dreading the amount of hurt we were about to inflict on ourselves!
SV and I are good running partners.. pretty evenly matched. We try to stick together for as long as we can, not holding each other back or waiting for the other... I think many couples enter races together and have the intention of running together but one partner is usually stronger than the other and at times feelings might get hurt if they are left behind...or so it always seems to go.  It's great to stand at the start line with my best friend and training partner...knowing that we are both trying to run our hardest, getting to the finish line strong, motivated to stay together but also knowing that one of us will be stronger, not being upset when one pulls ahead...instead of getting defeated or upset, we are able to use the others strength to keep pushing hard and find each other at the finish.  I love how we support each other!
We shared a quick kiss before the horn went off, wishing each other good luck and then we were running...the first 2km are chaotic...people everywhere, but we managed to stay side by side... then I realized SV wasn't beside me and that made me slightly nervous...the first 4 km is pretty much a downhill and SV runs quicker downhill than I do...maybe I was going a little too hard at the start...but I had stopped looking at my watch after I saw a 3:33 for the first km...I decided it was better not to look again lol!  I felt strong through the 5km point, pretty relaxed and comfortable...by 6km I was having some left quad pain...I didn't focus on it but by 7km I was thinking that if I backed off a little it wouldn't hurt as much and I would find SV and we could run through it together...I was pretty sure I was going to break 40 mins, which was the goal, so why not back off a little...again I didn't focus on that, split second to decide and then I picked someone ahead of me and focused on trying to close the gap between us.  I am happy to say that I felt I really "raced" this one..I normally start conservatively and don't try to out sprint anyone at the end...this year I was with 2 other girls and I did my best to sprint in those final meters to the finish line...I know it wasn't pretty but I was proud of myself for pushing hard from start to finish...and I was able to take a whopping 2 seconds off my time.  I had two men thank me for pushing them because they were just trying to hang with me....guess they didn't want to be beat by a girl in a pink skirt and arm warmers, lol!
SV came in less than 30 sec behind me...also having a really strong race (over 35 seconds faster than the previous time) despite the pain in his quad after an encounter with the neighbours wiener dog!  Both of us were happy with our efforts and how strong we felt!

I am pretty happy with the start to the season, I have never fancied myself a runner...just something I did while swimming...so I am pretty happy with my overall placing..I was 144th out of 21,723...14th women overall (of 12542) and 4th(of 1324)in my age category!  SV was 175 of 21,723...159th male (out of 9169) and he placed 15th out of 824 in his age category!