The 30k Around the Bay road race is "Older than Boston" as printed on the back of the long sleeve tech race shirts. This year they are orange and I was pleasantly surprised with the nice fit! No unisex one size fits most - they were male & female versions of the long sleeve tech race shirts. Nice! This is one of my favorite distance events in Canada, I'm not sure if it's because it's the first long race of the season in Ontario or if it's the challenging course or massive crowds of racers, but I just love this race. Last year, it was my first long race after having the baby, I finished strong, but 2 minutes shy of getting a "gold" finisher medal. I remember vowing, "next year....gold medal". The medals silver, bronze & gold are awarded based on finish time. This is also a great "last long run" chance at race pace before the Boston Marathon. I was scheduled to run 21 miles, but I think 19 miles a bit sub-marathon pace is sufficient.

Since Shamrock weekend, I've been feeling a little depleted, run down and energy-less. I even had a check-up and blood work done to make sure I wasn't anemic /low on iron stores. I've beefed up my supplements with some great vegan multi-vitamin/anti-oxidant supplements, trace minerals, magnesium, vitamin A&D, etc. (Christy got me onto her new supplement regimen since she's been feeling great lately). I started taking them about 3 days before the 30k race last weekend - and was starting to feel a little refreshed and recharged prior to race day. She warned me that she had a few minor "stomach issues" as her body adapted to the super-antioxidants & trace mineral supplements. I remember her saying it hit her on the 2nd or 3rd day of taking the vitamins.

The weather on race day was less than optimal - pouring rain, cold & windy in Hamilton. Not a great mix with the already challenging & hilly course. I decided to ditch the tights I was wearing under my running skirts before my warm up - I figured the less fabric to get wet and heavy the better. I wore my new camo haute pink running skirt, black long sleeve and my haute pink performance tee, run nyc marathon hat (for luck - It reminds me of running with Christy and having a great time NYC marathon) and some "glove love" running skirts gloves.













I was completely drenched by the time the starting gun went off, but was relatively comfortable - thank goodness for running skirts in the rain! They don't hold the moisture and stick to you like running shorts. One of the guys I was running near at the beginning of the run exclaimed, "That is hands down the best outfit I've seen today!".

The first part of the course is pretty fast and flat. I was cruising along a bit ahead of pace until about 4 miles into the run I started to have some stomach cramping "issues". Oh No - I heard Christy's warning in my head from the previous day that she had some stomach qualms on the 2nd day of taking the new supplements...uh-oh gurgle gurgle. My body picked a crappy time to decided to "detox" (no pun intended). Whatever it was, it slowed down my race time by at least 3-4 minutes as I had to make emergency "pit stops" about every 20 minutes along the course. I would like to take a moment right now to say thanks to all the girls along the course at the relay stops that let me "jump" the porta pottie lines & cut to the front so I could get back to the race quickly. I'm sure the look of desperation on my face spoke for itself. I survived the rolling hills and giant neverending hill on the back half of the course and finished in 2:12. Whew - I was glad to be finished with that one & thrilled to get my gold medal this year. If only I hadn't had those pit stops, I'd have had an even better race time.













The finish line is in Copps Colliseum, it's cool to watch the runners on their finish approach on the jumbotron & it's a great place for friends and family to wait & cheer where they can stay warm & dry.

Last long run done - check! Now it's taper time and off to Boston we go!