The Brainsport Brainfreeze

The Scenario

Sunday, March 4th was the annual Brainfreeze. Three of Heather's friends had registered for the 10km run. Andrea Schick grew up playing soccer with Heather and got to know her and her family well. In high school, Andrea introduced Heather to Kristen Vanderkooy and they were close friends ever since. I met both Andrea & Kristen during my years at the U of S and Heather had kept me updated with what they were up to in the years between then and now. Both girls had previously completed a 10km run (Kristen did the Bridge City Boogie last year while Andrea's prior 10k was a few years ago) and they were motivated to re-discover running after Heather's passing. I met Caroline Hilbig this weekend. She was introduced to Heather by Kristen and was also happy to be running in her honour.

So, together we met up with the other runners Sunday afternoon at the Grace Westminister Church. After the brief pre-race instructions (that included the directive, "when I say 'go', that will be the start of the race", lol!), we headed back outside. The weather was beautiful and the temperature hovered right around zero degrees Celsius as we started on our way. By the time I finished, the temperature was up close to +4.

I had overdressed and was too warm by the 5km point. I wrapped my jacket around my waist with my mitts and toque shoved up the sleeves. This was annoying and a bit cumbersome, so I was super thankful when one of the road marshals  (who was located shortly after the halfway turnaround point) agreed to bring it back to the finish area for me. It was so much easier to move without it weighing me down and the rest of my run was really enjoyable! As I write this, and I look out the window at the blizzard, again, I am made aware how lucky I've been with the timing of my runs this winter.

The Event

This was the 4th annual Brainfreeze. It is an event that offers 10km & half marathon distances. It is sponsored by Brainsport and organized by the U of S Huskies Cross Country team as a fundraiser for the varsity program. This was a really well organized and fun event! It is a smaller race with 106 registrants in the 10km and 57 runners completing the 21.1km this year. The route was well marked; and, although it was a similar course to the Hypothermic Half, I appreciated the fact that (unlike that route) it was a simple out & back (I knew exactly how far I had left to go because I just needed to get back the same way I had come). The road marshals were friendly and I was never worried that I was going the wrong way. The drink stations were well spaced and the long-sleeve tech shirt is great!

The Excuses

Here's where the part about me being a mom comes into play. So, my family had a busy weekend ahead of us. But I had it organized and coordinated so that as long as everything went according to plan everyone could be where they needed to be at the appropriate time. However, I should know by now, that things never totally go the way they're supposed to.

Myles's third birthday was last week. Forgetting that I had to be in the city to pick up my race package Saturday between 2-5 p.m., I had booked the pool for his firefighter/swimming party for 2:30 in Warman. No biggy. I got everything organized and loaded into the truck, went in to the city, got the last minute party supplies, ran some other errands and was able to pick up my race package right at 2:00 and met my husband and the boys at the pool with just enough time to get organized. Myles and his friends had a wonderful time.

When the party was done, we headed home and I made my chicken breast, pasta and broccoli "night before run carbo load" meal while the boys played with the new toys Myles had received as presents.

Then it was onto baths, books & bed...."goodnight, sleep tight, we have another busy day ahead of us tomorrow", Saturday was declared a SUCCESS!.....3 a.m. Myles is up with the flu.

My poor little man was/is horribly sick. He was up every 15 minutes for the rest of the night. My husband got up with him and let me get as much rest as I could and avoid catching the flu bug before my run. He missed his morning hockey game because Myles was in no shape to be sitting in a rink and made arrangements for Owen to get to his hockey practice that afternoon. Without my husband's support (and the help of friends), I would not have been able to make it to this run; but he knew how important it was to me and he took away all the excuses for me to feel bad about going. Such an awesome partner!

I completed my run and in the resulting state of euphoria, I returned home and reported for barf-duty. We high-fived on the landing and my husband headed to his evening hockey game. It was 8:30 p.m. before I got to get showered up and ice my sore hip, but that's just the way things go when you're a mom. I feel like a VERY lucky girl.

The Best Part

Kristen trained hard for this run and she was able to complete the 10km and she exceeded her time goal! Way to go! Next on her list, is the half marathon at the Mogathon in June.

I was so pleased to have Andrea's company during the first 2.5km of the route! It was so nice to have a chance to catch up. I'm looking forward to seeing her again at the Saskatchewan Marathon where she will be completing the half marathon (her first ever!).

I had a lot of fun listening to the playlist that I had put together with the songs my friends suggested! It's funny how well it worked out. The playlist ended up only being an hour and a half long and I worried that I would have to fuddle around with my ipod finding additional music for the last portion of the run. However, being that I was able to run with Andrea (sans music) for the first bit of the way, it actually ended up being almost the perfect length.

It was great to switch things up with some fresh music and being that I wasn't sure what song would be on next, it kept me entertained. Thank you to those of you that played along with me! Please keep the song suggestions coming. For the most part, I enjoyed all of the songs that were recommended. Here's how the list ended up:

• Smile - Uncle Kracker
• Big Black Car - Gregory Alan Isakov
• Only Girl - Rhianna
• Take Care - Drake
• Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
• International Love - Pitbull
• I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
• Weapon of Choice - Fat Boy Slim
• Runaway Baby - Bruno Mars
• Runnin' Down a Dream - Tom Petty
• Don't Stop Believing - Journey
• Push It - Salt 'n Peppa (ha, ha, Anna, this one made me laugh!)
• Sexy and I Know it - LMFAO
• Morning After Dark - Timbaland & So Shy
• Second Hand News - Fleetwood Mac
• Party All The Time - Black Eyed Peas
• Raise Your Glass - Pink
• Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
• Don't Stop the Party - The Black Eyed Peas
• Telling the World - Taio Cruz
• We Run - Sugarland
• Stronger - Kelly Clarkson
• Good Feeling - Flo Rida
• On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez
• Let's Get Ready to Rumble - DJ Dalphy
• Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne

I strategically organized them so that things would start out a little mellow and then progress to the more upbeat stuff the further along I got. The timing of the songs was perfect! Just as I hit a hard uphill stretch Uncle Bob's recommended Fat Boy Slim and Bruno Mars songs came blasting on and got me through. As far as the songs that made me smile and push harder, these two would be my winners (I actually re-played them for the last 2km of the route).

However, for a few reasons, I chose Jadah's suggestion as my favourite. Hopefully, she can use the $10 Running Room gift card to buy a couple GUs as she trains for the her first half marathon set for the end of May! Around the 18km point my left hip was going numb and being a bother and that is when "We Run" by Sugarland came on. I was tuckered by this point which inevitably makes me even more emotional than I already am. The fact that this is a country song made me think even more of Heather and as I pushed up a little incline under the Circle Drive bridge the lyrics came,

"You may never know how fast that you can go, 

   'til someone lifts your feet up off the ground."

And it just struck a chord with me. Thank you Jadah.

Whether it was the playlist, the beautiful sunny day or the extra bit of training I've been doing, I ran my best half marathon time! I finished the run in 2 hours and 9 minutes!!!

My finish felt a bit anti-climatic because there was no one there waiting for me other than the timekeeping people and a smattering of other enthusiastic onlookers (although there was a text waiting for me in the vehicle and lots of hugs when I got home). I was, however, happy when I got down into the church where the post-race snacks were and saw a familiar face. I had met Lorrie Dobni the President of the Saskatoon Road Runners Association for a coffee the day before. She had come to cheer me in. While she was disappointed that she missed me crossing the finish line, she was excited for me to have exceeded my time goal. Thanks for your support Lorrie!

I'm excited that this half has put my 2012 total distance to date over the 170 mile point! I can't believe that I'm already a quarter of the way done for the year! Now I've got eight weeks before my next event....that's the longest stretch I'll have between races this year, so we'll see what kind of progress I can make between now and the end of April!