I beat the Mayor & Georges Laraque

This past Sunday I ran in the "Little Big Run" here in Edmonton. It was a 10km run from City Hall, through the Legislature grounds, over the High Level Bridge, and down Saskatewan Drive to the University of Alberta and back to City Hall. It was a wonderful day and I had a great time. This was my first 10km road race. (I have ran the 10k in a race before, only it was following 1.5km or swimming and 40km of biking.)

The Edmonton Journal Little Big Run is a non-profit organization founded by the University of Alberta and Capital Health, and supported by the City of Edmonton, to encourage physical activity for better health. Proceeds of the Little Big Run go directly to kid’s programs throughout the Edmonton Area.

The race consited of participants in both 5k and 10k walk and run events. It was great to see people out in support of being active. A lot of people were walking their first race ever! Awesome.

It was a very hot run and I went out way too fast (3:15 / km) and so by the end I had slowed down a lot. I ended crossing the finish line in 49:04. I had hoped to be faster, but I made the silly mistake of running too fast and not being able to keep the pace, esspecially in the hot sun, wearing the cotton race shirt they provided! (cotton kills)

I crossed the finish line in the top 25, but I am not sure exactly what place (or number of runners) as they have not posted the results yet. I do know that I finished before Edmonton's Mayor Stephen Mandel and one of Edmonton's finest, George Larock. There were a few hundred people out for sure to take in the days event.

I encourage everyone to try and get out and try a 5k or 10km run/walk event. They are a lot of fun. I ran my race through Big Brothers Big Sisters Edmonton. I will do a post about that in a little while.

After the race I decided I wanted to do a triathlon, so I went for a bike ride and was going to go for a swim, but a car got a little greedy with the space on the road, and I had a fun little encounter with the sidewalk. You can check out the picture on the post Julie did. Good times. My wounds are healing nicely.

Here is a map of the race. It was fun running through the vacant streets of Downtown Edmonton. =)