Times Colonist 10k 2015

Night away for the two of us!!  Funny what started out as a conversation 3 months ago with Nicole saying offhand that she needed an exercise goal, and she has never done a race like this, here we were!!!  And below, here we are stuck on the Malahat in our tiny little ride!  (I rented a car so hubby could have the Journey).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch .....

Once at the hotel, Nic and I went for a sauna and then decided we were hungry for dinner.  Though Nic was uninspired with the choice of restaurant that night, I LOVE the Spaghetti Factory!!  I think she got over it pretty quickly when bread and salad arrived right away to our table where we were starving!!!

After dinner, we were back in the room, about to watch 'Jurassic Park', when she yells out 'We CAN'T spend our girls night out inside watching Jurassic Park'....so I jumped up and put my boots on and was ready to go, as she looks slowly up at me, with a look that was like 'ugh, you're up, I kinda wanted to go to sleep!"  ;-)  We hit the town .... first the lounge where there was a blues singer but we weren't feeling the vibe, so we crossed the road to where the Wax Museum used to be .... very cool waterfront grill where we had the best raspberry Mojitos!  The building was historic and lovely and reminded me of the old Moir Pianos building with the high ceilings ....

Next morning, E and I were first down in the lobby, waiting for the rest of the team.  We didn't even send eachother the memo about the white hats!!

Almost 8000 runners in this years Times Colonist!

Nicole, with her punctured foot and hurt knee, was a gazelle and finished in a time of just over an hour!!!  She left E and I pretty early on and got swept away in the crowds.  E and I continued running .. but true to form, at the 6k mark, my knee started giving me trouble.  So though E was my 'pacer car', she went on ahead and finished 4 minutes ahead of me.  I found another 'pacer car' in the form of the solid older man with the green shirt who was power walking like a machine!!  His pace was my jog!  As long as I had my eye on him, I would catch up with him and then fall behind, but that last half of the run, I had my music blaring in my ears, keeping pace with machine man, as the pink flowers from the trees rained down on my around the corner from the ocean ... it was so beautiful that I was almost teary as I came to the finish line.  I was so proud that I finished!!!

And how fun to see my sweet friends face at the finish line taking pictures of my finish!!  My time was 1:26 (it took us 5 minutes in the crowds to get up to the starting line hence why the clock says 1:31)......I don't care about my time though ... I could have gone for longer had my knees felt better - so that was wonderful to feel the ensurance that I could have continued.  Such a thrill.

Walking back to the hotel room - DONE!!!

Properly hot tubed and sauna, braless and comfy!!

We grabbed coffees, had a nice ride home, dropped of the car ... and I haven't moved from the couch since I arrived home!!  Awesome weekend!!