Sometimes things just work out

First off, my computer crashed on me this week so I haven't been able to update my blog in days. It's too bad because plenty has happened but I'll skip ahead to todays events.

I decided on Tuesday morning, after a great trail run with Ken, to do the Vulture Bait trail race 25K. This is a race that I've done twice before so I'm very familiar with the course.

I ran on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then took Thursday and Friday off to prepare for the race. Normally I have a race all picked out but this time it was a spur of the moment decision.

This morning I got up at 5AM and left the house at 5:45. After making a quick stop to fill up on gas and some steeped tea and a blueberry bagel (Thanks Tim Hortons) I made my way to London.

I arrived at the race site, which is a beautiful conservation park (Fanshawe Conservation) at just past 8:00 AM. This gave me plenty of time to get ready for the 9:00 AM race start.

As soon as I entered the grounds I knew that I had made the right decision to run today. I was greeted by so many familiar faces and to top it off I won a door prize before the race even started. They must have known that I was a nutritionist as the prize was a bottle of electrolyte supplements called HEED.

The race started prompty at 9:00 AM and there was definitely a chill in the air. I decided to wear a long sleeve shirt with some dollar store gloves I had purchased the day before.

My strategy for this race was just to enjoy the experience of being in the trails. There were times that I would speed up while other times where I just ran at a comfortable pace.

For whatever reason, I felt very strong today and was able to run the race with just two minor stops for under a minute at each time. I used only one gel as well as some E-Load and Gatorade which was provided by some amazing volunteers.

As per usual, I had two falls and my bright yellow shirt from this years Around the Bay race, was covered in dirt on the the front. I can't wait to see the finishing pictures of that one.

I managed to finish the race in 2:13 and just now realized that I had run the race 3 minutes faster than last year. I guess it helps not to put too much pressure on myself.

It was amazing to know that so many people share the same goal of just enjoying running in the trails as opposed to running in road races. There always seems to be this time pressure associated with road racing and while it can motivate some, I think it truly has turned me off of them for a little while anyway.

For those of you running in the Toronto Marathon this weekend I wish you the very best. You all have trained remarkably hard and I hope that you all have an amazing experience.