Hangover and out

While many people slept in this morning to nurse their New Year’s hangovers, Mario and I got up before the crack of dawn; him to get his camera gear ready, me to get my racing duds on. This morning, the first morning of 2011, was my first crack at the New Year’s Day Resolution Run, my first race of the year. It was freaking cold!

Mario and I aren’t really the party animal types; our New Year’s celebrations usually consist of dinner and a movie, and last night was no exception. We had the option of going to a friend’s house, but neither of us are much for driving on New Year’s, given that not everyone is all that responsible, so we thought it best to see those friends another day and stick to our traditions.

We started out at The Boathouse, where Mario chose the steak and lobster, and I went for the full-on lobster, head, body, claws, poop and all. I’m not so sure lobster and cheesecake, washed down with a carafe of cabernet, were the best options before a race, but I hadn’t dealt with a full-on lobster since I was last in Maine almost nine years ago. And I do so love my lobster (I feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman cracking that sucker up :D)

We then hopped on the skytrain – which was free! – and headed to Station Square for The Social Network. We were really hoping to finally be granted our dream of being the only couple in the theatre (it’s only happened to me once before) and figured we might get it, given that The Social Network has been out for a couple of months already, but alas, the Oscar buzz killed those dreams. There were about 15 other people in the theatre. Mario thought the movie was excellent, I thought it was good. We were in bed and asleep before the clock struck midnight.

TODAY’S RACE:

• 8:30 a.m. BG before: 6.5 (one DEX tablet)
• Temp basal: -50 per cent (started the temp basal right at 6 a.m. when we got up)
• Distance: 5 km
• Time: 27:18
• Average Pace: 5:39 min/km
• 9:30 a.m. BG after: 13.0 (Yowsers!)

I tried something new with breakfast this morning. Instead of my usual oatmeal before a race, I had raisin bread with peanut butter and half a banana. It seemed to do well at keeping my blood sugars at bay, maybe a little too well. But then again, the higher than normal blood sugars post race could have also been a rebound from the early morning low + orange juice. Who knows. But I didn’t get hungry, and I didn’t get stomach issues. Both good things.

On the way in, I still wasn’t sure whether I’d be racing this run or not. I really wanted to race it, but I didn’t want to overdo myself, you know. And so, on the drive in, I kept weighing my options, and finally something just clicked in me. I knew I’d be disappointed if I didn’t try. The race was on.

I passed a bunch of runners early on, did the Phoebe run for Mario when I spotted him with his camera, passed a couple of running firefighters, got passed by a guy and his girlfriend, but later passed that girlfriend, and didn’t let her pass me again, got passed by two more chicks, but kept one of them in my sights and let her set the pace until the end of the race, where even though I didn’t catch up to her in the end, my feet were able to spit out a little more energy to get me to that finish line a little more Speedy Gonzalez like. And at that finish line, I had a great cheering crew, complete with a couple of my favourite running chicks, cheering me on like I was an Olympian coming in for gold.

Not gold, but a personal best! The first and last time I did a 5 km race, which was in 2007, I finished with a 29:56 time. This time, I shaved off not 1 minute, not 2 minutes, but 2:38 minutes! Now that’s what I call a good start to the New Year 😀

What did you do New Year’s Eve/Day?