Fredericton Fall Classic - September 25, 2011 - 5k

Wow... I have so many thoughts after this event. Amazing experience...

I went on a mini road trip with my sister the day before and we didn't get home until much later than planned due to an accidental 1.5 hour detour, so I woke up feeling pretty low energy. I couldn't tell for sure if my upset stomach on the drive to the race (45 minutes) was nerves or the stomach flu that my dad was plagued with on Saturday.

I was about 30 minutes early and got things all looked after at registration, picked up my kit which included my number (which started with a 16, my favourite number, which was a lucky sign), my awesome technical race tshirt and my timing chip for my sneaker. I met up with my really cool non-biological little sister, A, who has run a few 5ks over the last couple of years and was a great source of support (and nerve calming) and, of course, I had my great sister-slash-photojournalist, Shay, with me.

I had looked over the course map but I am terrible at navigation at best, so I had no idea exactly where the path would take us, but it turned out that the majority of it was trail that I had run before with G and his brother. I was also concerned that I would get lost on the trail but was relieved to find lots of arrows taped to the trail and support staff all along the route.

So! What everyone is waiting for! Results:



For those wondering about the numbers, I will break it down for you. :)

86 - my finishing place of 90 in the 5k
1655 - my bib number
Amanda Neal - my name, obviously, haha!
F - female
Central Hainesv - hometown
NB - province
F - female again, just in case you didn't catch it the first time
13/13 - there were 13 in my age/gender division in the 5k and I was bottom of that
F2029 - my division - females aged 20-29
40:55 - my finishing time for 5k
8:11 - my pace per k

As an interesting note, my time for my first K was 7:12 - but when I rounded the corner for the third kilometre (which was also the turnaround point), I was quite sure I was going to hurl. I walked a lot of the way back for this reason, just so as not to shake things up.

But I did learn a lot and will approach my next 5K quite a bit differently, I think:

- I will only take 1 or 2 days off from running pre-race, not 3. Things just did not work out for me to run again after Wednesday night.
- I will definitely get more than 6 or 7 hours of sleep the night prior - and probably the whole week prior.
- More hydration in the days leading up to - I was dryyyyyy!
- Eat cleaner in the days prior, definitely.
- I will carry a water bottle with me on the race. I didn't bring one that was a decent size for me to carry with me (ie I had the big 1.5L one with me which I left with Shay at the finish line) because I thought it would make me obvious as a newb... a LOT of people carried water and as it turned out to be much hotter than originally forecast, I was desperately sorry that I hadn't brought one too!
- I will show up earlier than 30 minutes before my race, to soak up the atmosphere, because it was just way too cool!
- I won't drink the Gatorade - I deliberately avoided dairy products to avoid slime-mouth but then completely sabotaged that by taking the Gatorade at the drink station.
- I won't look back on the trail!

I couldn't get over the awesome atmosphere. I had a brief thought of "what if I am the fattest runner there?" (I wasn't), and "what if I finish last?" (I also didn't, really, and nobody would have known anyways since there were half-marathon and 10k runners coming in through the same finish line with everyone else!). There were so many encouraging people there! Many of the 10k runners or other 5k runners who had already made the turnaround and were passing on the way back shouted words of encouragement as they headed toward the finish line and the atmosphere when I rounded the corner and could see the finish line and hear my group of family and friends cheering for me was a little unlike anything else. I was hoping to get that "tunnel vision" moment that I had at the track last week, but I didn't get any - even so, I had a lot of personal time to reflect on myself and my attitude toward things. Aside from feeling really sick, I had a lot of internal dialogue going on, telling me to keep going, keep pushing. Overall, I loved it, and I can't wait to do it again!

And, the other thing everyone is waiting for - the pictures!


Putting my timing chip on my shoelace.


A and I posing for an obligatory "Pre" shot.


Heading out to line up for the start... I was sooo nervous!


I seem to be freakishly taller than anybody else doing this race.



A coming in for a finish! She was running with a cold, she is a beast is all I can say!


Here I come, they spotted my pink pants a mile away!


This is a picture that I zoomed in and cropped - I love the expression on my face - this was the face I got when I realized I was almost done, I had lived, and I had a group of my family and friends that I love very much waiting at the end for me!


And here I am dragging my big pink butt across the finish line.

If I had thought 60 pounds ago, or even 6 months ago that I would actually be doing this, I would have laughed my face off... but now I want to do it again, as soon as possible! Next run is November 26th... here I come!