30km des Rives de Boucherville, 5k race report
Background and race organization
In August, I asked DD if she was going to do a second triathlon in 2021 and she said that she preferred to concentrate on running. A race from a local series suddenly appeared, and we signed up.
I had the privilege to talk to the race director (he answered my online question by “call me!”) two days prior. Between that conversation and the emails he published before and after the race, we understand that: They were allowed by health authorities to host events with more than 25 people in July, knew it was too late to order anything but decided to put together the best event they could because they knew runners needed to get back into races. They were nervous (so many constraints) and excited. Kudos to all who helped, it was great!
After exactly 20 months since my last race (runDisney Marathon 2020), I was so anticipating the starting line. Unfortunately, a small injury made it so that I had to take it easy because of my upcoming marathon. DD was therefore going to race in front of me.
Race morning
Weather forecast was 70% rain so we prepared for the worst and brought every change of clothes and shoes we could. It was really dark grey when we left the house.
We entered the event hosting area, after presenting our compulsory vaccination passport. We picked up our bibs and received a surprise, T-shirts from previous years and various events were given out. DD and I lucked out with very nice ones.
We sent a picture of us in our new T-shirts to my mom. She replied that she was sending us the sun and BAM! suddenly it shows up as we read her text. Of course the one thing I had not brought was sunscreen.
It took me a good while to figure out how to best attach my bib to my hydration belt. Better with time to spare before a 5k than before my goal marathon in three weeks.
DD (yes, she is 13 years old) explained to me the plan for the morning:
9:45 Eat snack
10:15 Porta-potty stop
10:20 Warm up for 10 minutes
10:30 Walk to start area
10:45 Start race
Go!
I left DD behind a row of Elite that are all a foot taller than her and took my place between the 25min and the 30min pacers, determined to take it reasonably slow to preserve my legs for my upcoming marathon. I put my phone in my pocket. Not surprisingly, after the start, the pictures, the excitement, I am shoulder to shoulder to the 25 min pacer, super comfortable. He turns to see who is around and there is only one other person and me. He says, sorry, we have 15s of advance after the first km. So then I understand, at a 4min45s/km pace, my brain and legs naturally concluded that they were there to do what they were trained for (my 5k training pace is 4:40). I stayed with the pacer to prevent myself from exaggerating any more. I slightly picked up the pace in the last 200m, not even sprinting. I did beat my official PR by 2s even though I was really not trying to. I am glad I did because that race shows how much I improved over the last years. I am 2/50 on my age group!
As for DD, she also started too fast at 3:50 on her first km. Adjusted her pace at around 4:30 for the next 3k. And sprinted at the end for an average 4:10 last km. She came in first female overall with a 22:08 time. What a wonderful learning and self confidence experience she had! I am beyond impressed by her as a runner, she knows how to manage her energy, her expectations, her mental state like not many other athletes.
After the race
We walked back to the event hosting area, which is separate from the course due to restrictions. We had to take a medal from a table. They were all from other events so we choose the shiniest ones
Then we took a lunch bag and left to find a park bench to eat it.
Even though the event was not what it would have been in normal times, it was our first in so long and it was the best for so many reasons. I cannot say enough how grateful we are to the organizers, volunteers and other runners who decided to make it happen.
