Bread & Honey 5k Race Report

I know! Three weekends, three races! What the hay? To be honest though, running in the Bread & Honey races is something I will likely do as long as I'm running. I grew up at the edge of Streetsville and took dance lessons there for 16 years. My dance troupe would march in the Bread & Honey Festival Saturday Parade every year (and Hazel has always been the mayor) and in high school, the first Friday in June was always reserved for the carney rides and snacks.

This year, I wasn't sure what I'd do with this race. I convinced my friend Kerry to run it as her first post baby race (her baby is now 13 months old), so I had options. Go out fast and try to PB/AG place or pace with Kerry.

The morning of the race, I decided that I'd run fast, then faster, then kick it up for the final 2k. I figured I could pull out a marathon paced run (5:00-5:10/km) which would leave me enough steam to go sub 5 for the final two KM. So I ate my breakfast and went to the bathroom and that plan pretty much went out the window.

I was having some stomach upset and not the kind you really want to race hard with. Still, I held on hope that I'd recover in time and Kerry picked me up and off we went. After parking, we made our way inside the school to use the washroom and ... yah... racing wasn't happening today.

I took this photo last year too! Had to re-do!

I quickly asked Kerry what her goal was (sub 30). I offered to pace her and she accepted. So we got into the corral, heard Hazel welcome us and then we were off.

Right away, I knew we were too far back. The race starts with a nice little downhill, then flattens, then goes down again. I knew if we could bank time here, the next few KM could be easy including the one early uphill at the Britannia Street underpass. We hit 1k at 5:35.

The route

"Lots of time, Kerry! Doing good?" Kerry was fine so I told her to take it easy on the uphill, we were fine. I was feeling great myself. So much nicer than last year when I was DYING already due to the humidity and effort. We are running along and I try to determine if I should slow Kerry down. She's running around 5:30/km, which is sub-30... by a lot.

"Feeling good?" I ask
"Yep! Great!" Kerry responds
"Uh. Okay, you just run and I'll make sure you don't slow down too much then."

And basically my work was done for the next 3k. I yelled at spectators ("Hey! Take a picture of me! I'm looking good out here!"). I answered questions those around us had ("The water is after the turn.") and I kept Kerry around the 5:30/km pace. Might as well not cheat her out of a great race.

When we got to the water, I told Kerry that we had time. Make a decision on water and stick with it. She decided to go in for a cup, and I did as well (might as well). We got out of there quickly and it was time to head back to Britannia and make the left turn to 4k, "While all of those 15k suckers turn right. HAHAHA!"

After the turn, I told Kerry to take it easy on the uphill if needed and that there was a photographer here! We saw her and tried to pose together but heard her say, "If you're on the sidewalk I CAN NOT SHOOT YOU!!!" Too late. I got missed but Kerry got some sweet #runnerd photos! Thata girl!

At 4k, Kerry started to tell me that she was going to puke! HA! I didn't tell her that this feeling meant she was running the 5k perfectly. Instead I told her to think of her elbow, "How does it feel? Fells pretty good? All nice. Very bendy!" I just kept talking and she'd say, "....puke..." and I'd talk and talk..."twice around the track... 600m left. Once around the track... look THERE IS THE FINISH... go Kerry! RUN! GOOOOO"

And I scream at her for the last 250m and let her finish ahead of course.

When I see our time, I'm very happy

Double pony-tail swing!

Turn out our little "sub 30" 5k turned into 27:53 for Kerry, 27:54 for me.

Splits: 5:35-5:34-5:30-5:31-5:34 (pretty nice pacing if I do say so myself!).

Time: 28:25
Chip: 27:54
Place: 242/710
Females: 81/421
F35-39: 12/56

Looking at my age group, I likely would have placed if I was able to hold the shit show together on this day. But all's well that ends well, and I doubt placing would have made me any happier than running with a friend and allowing her to re-discover her love of running. Kerry's already making fall plans. And looking for running skirts!

Next up? Fall plans. I've got a whole bunch of them!