Who needs chocolate??

So today was my big race.  The Chocolate Race 10k in Port Dalhousie!!  I did it!!  I finished in 1:38:39 according to the chip time!!  I have a shiny new medal and another race bib for the door!  I am so excited right now.  I'm excited that I finished, I'm excited that I ran 10k and I'm especially excited that I ran all the hills.  There were only a few and most were little but there was one monster and one short one that was quite steep.  Then there were others that compare to ones that I run regularly.  Leading up to the race I hadn't done any hill training aside from the little hills on our Saturday course.  I had it in my head that I would run the hills on the course if I could but that I would probably walk the big ones and that would be ok.  When I got to that first giant hill I looked up it and thought "I can do this"  I did it!!! Not once, on any of the hills, did I feel like I needed to walk!!  That is what I am most proud of today.

Here I am shortly after the monster hill!

The other really exciting thing about my race today is that aside from my faithful family that always comes to my races as well as my "official photographer (Celine)"  I had extra support people today.  Bonnie, Mandy and their families came to see me finish!!  They're two of the baby group families.  Crystal and her family are away this weekend so even if they wanted to they couldn't have made it.  Apparently Adrian knew they were coming but it was a secret.  I'm always happy to see my supporters along the route and at the finish but it was great today to see the extra smiling faces.  It's an emotional thing when you are coming into the finish line when you hear your name and see people you know and love waiting for you.  I am one lucky lady. 

Anna always runs out to me and crosses the finish line with me!!

My wonderful family!! (Meag's missing but was there in spirit)

I impressed myself today too!  There was oodles of chocolate to be had and I only ate one bite of a chocolate croissant and one champagne truffle.  Honestly the thought of eating chocolate during the race made me gag so when I passed the chocolate stations on the course I wasn't even tempted and when we got our stash at the end I gave most of it away to the kids.  I just couldn't understand running all that time and distance plus burning all those calories just to eat more at the end.  Seems kind of silly to me!!!

In all of my preparation this morning I forgot to weigh myself.  I remembered about 4 hours post race so the numbers aren't going to be totally accurate.  I had eaten a sandwich, had two or three bottles of water and a cup of tea yet still came in at 239.2 which is 0.8lbs less than I weighed at 7am with no clothes and an empty tummy last Sunday.  So, as I said totally inaccurate.  When I weigh-in next Sunday we'll base any gain or loss on what I weighed last week and forget about this one.

What's next??  Hopefully the Around the Bay 2 person relay in March.  I should probably get us signed up for that soon before they sell out completely.