Winnipeg 10 & 10 Mission Accomplished

I had one goal for the Winnipeg 10 miler and that was to beat my time from last year. I didn't care if it was a few minutes or 30 seconds the mission was to beat my time.
Lynda and I drove down to Winnipeg 3 days before the race to enjoy the city.
The day before the race we went for a run down Portage Ave 1.5 miles and then turned around and ran back to the hotel. The weather for me was fantastic, it was cool not hot and no Humidity, Yeah! The wind was 35km/hr during our run the day before race day. We were running into the wind on the way out and we were running into the wind on the way back. Funny how that happens, the wind blowing in both directions.
We were staying downtown around the corner from the Start line, so we got up in the morning and ran over to the Start line to warm up.
It was a beautiful morning to run, the temperature was 13 at the start line and the high only got to 17, my perfect day.

We immediately got in line for bag check because it was a looooooong line.  

We were standing in the Start corral waiting to go and the announcer was thanking the volunteers for putting all the big jugs of water at the water stations at 0600 and then he want on to say that all 15 of them had been stolen by 0800. He was telling people to drink water now because the first water station may not have water but they were working getting water to all the rest of the water stations. If it's not bolted down then it will walk away. 

I had a plan and stayed really focused on my race and did not worry about my surroundings. I am that person that starts out to fast and then pays for it later on but this time was different I ran a negative split. 

My sister in law Sherri and her daughter and grand daughter came to cheer us on. 

I blew my time from last year right out of the water.....I ran it in 2:09 last year and 1:54 this year. Can you believe it 15 minutes faster then last year. I have never been able to run 10 miles in less then 2 hrs, I was so excited. 

Here is me crossing the finish line, Yeah!

Lynda had finished in a faster time then I did, Congrats to her and she was at the finish line when I got there.

I was so happy with myself for far surpassing the time I had set out to beat, I not only beat it but felt great throughout. It was my race and I ran it for me and exactly how I had pictured it in my head.

 As you can tell by the look on my face I was just beaming inside and out. I had done it.

I was looking forward to coming back to Winnipeg to run this race as the race is so well organized and the route is gorgeous along the Assiniboine River and lined with gigantic old houses. It kept your mind occupied, gave you something to look at.

Mission Accomplished!