AFib Asian: 2023 Ottawa Race Weekend

Another Year and getting ready for the penultimate test of will for runners in the Ottawa region to either qualify for Boston or just get out and do an in person racing. It has been one year later that in person racing has returned to Ottawa. 2023 would be no different and there were no caps on entries and of course crowd support was more than present. This year I decided to only do the 10K race, but also be true to myself and be support to the 2K and marathoners for the weekend. But before that I volunteered my time with the Xtra Mile Crew and went to the Race Expo. This year it moved from the Shaw Centre downtown to Lansdowne Place on Bank Street. Run Ottawa provided a shuttle service from City Hall down to Lansdowne. To my surprise we were able to ride on one of the sightseeing double decker buses. Of course I decided to ride on the top level as we waited for others. The expo was definitely brighter and it was deceiving to see how you could accommodate the number of people and vendors in one spot. One of the perks of being on Xtra Mile was that we were supported by Xact Nutrition and of course they sponsored the shirts and our kits for nutrition. Before the fun really begins I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Warm Up party and be included with many people to sample some catered food and chat with other like minded people. Some amazing food was had and a nice way to start race weekend by getting runners pumped up. Saturday races are always hard. Especially if you've done any of the Ottawa race weekend events you know this weekend is always blessed with super hot weather! You train so much in winter like conditions and then bam instant summer. My first event was the 2K supporting the A-linkers. If you don't know what those are then just google the A-linker bike and you'll understand what they look like. It's basically people doing their first race coming up from an injury or major surgery. This is a way for them to get active and support their return to physical activity.

I was happy to walk along side them even if they were on wheels. I had just enough fun with families and their kids doing the 2K as they were looking forward to getting to the finish.

I had chance to cheer on the 5K folks while I was getting ready to line up for the 10K to get ready to do my race.

10K Race

Plans were made and then plans changed. It was another hot race and we (Suzanne, Sammi and I) were going to run together. Well it lasted about maybe 1K and then I lost them. They surged ahead and I stuck to the one gear I knew. Slow and steady.

It was very warm and I felt pretty good going steady up until I got up the hill and back down towards Queen Elizabeth. I started walking and came across Jesse and her family who saved me a freezie. Thanks Jesse ❤

By that time the heat was getting on and I saw several Xtra Mile teammates helping out other runners. By the time I got to the bridge the heat was quite warm and saw some OCRC folks along the route and I saw Lindsay who screamed in her mom voice and wished me luck. 😆

I took on that energy and just kept moving forward and finished strong.

I waited for Suzanne and Sammi to finish and we managed to get one decent photo of the three of us.

It was a long day of support and running and Mei-Ling and I were done for the day. It was another early start and time to head home and there may have been a burger stop along the way.

Xtra Mile Crew

Sunday was Marathon day (half and full) ML and I got their early and went right to the VIP area and they had some breakfast for us. It was a nice way to start before having to report to my station at the 37K marker.

Before all that we made sure we got to see all the elites start off as well as the "Michelle's".

I was made team lead for the group this year and it was nice to lead a great bunch of like minded runners who were out to support other runners on their journey to completing the marathon.

It was a long day and I saw many familiar faces and were able to keep up with them for a short distance before running with others that were on the struggle bus.

I ran with one woman who only spoke French so that was a challenge but we got by. I managed to run with her most of the way until I handed her over to Annie who I didn't realize she was nursing a sore ankle. In any event she finished. I picked up a few more and I was handed this one woman who was a pacer and she was doing the half as a walk and she was hurting really bad. She did not want to quit, but I had to flag the medics over and by that time she was beyond reason and did not want to quit. The medics finally took her and rushed her over to medical.

Eventually I walked back towards the Shaw Centre and saw another person walking the half and she was all dressed in black and was definitely struggling. The furthest she ever walked was 10K but jumping from that to walking a half marathon was quite the feat. I didn't see many other behind so I stayed with her and walked her right to the end and made sure she made it. She surprised me by running the last bit on her own. Very impressive.

So many memories for another great Ottawa Race Weekend. Next year is a banner 50th celebration so you'll probably see me doing the same gig as 2023. See you in 2024