Robbie Burns - an excuse to wear a kilt

Well what a glorious Sunday morning January 24th was. A grrrate grrrraaaate day for a wee race! And why not head down to Burlington for it? They know how to put on a fun time.
Race kit pick up was very easy - once you actually go when the store is open .... whoops. "Green" blue Walmart reusable bags were the kit. Had some E-load products in there. Very nice, very nice indeed for a "smaller race".
926 runners signed up. 826 finished. Not sure how they managed to lose 100 runners along the way - the Insta Kilts were not THAT amazing. Fun for sure... but difficult to work with. If I do it again - I may have to invest some time and energy in shopping the local Goodwills for one.
Be that as it may - it was not a run for a PB ifnya were going tee wear your wee kilt!

What was a treat was the fact the staging area was inside the school! BONUS!! WARMTH and coffee, tea and hot chocolate! I could see this was gearing up to be an AWESOME apres run do! I was giddy with anticipation. My kilt was pinned as best as I could muster. Rectangle doesn't fit curves well.

So Terry, Joy, Keith, Veronica & I milled about the school and bumped into Tigera and her two friends as well as Nancy C & her girl friend at the start. A nice showing of RoadRunners for a first outting to the 30th annual running of the Robbie Burns 8K Road Race.

I had my Garmin on and no intervals set. I was going to work on my speed, my biomechanics and run without my water belt. I only had a Cherry Halls in my running capris. I think it was about a year old by the looks of it - but beggars CAN NOT be choosers at this point in the game. What doesn't kill me....

Off when the buzzer and over the start line I went. I had Kevin's voice in my head the whole time. "elbows down, shoulders down - less breaks." " elbows down, shoulders down - find your pace" " elbows down, shoulders down ...." Yeah okay Kev I get the picture .. argh.. come back when I'm about to pass out from a lack of oxygen okay buddy? sheesh.

I managed to maintain under my race pace - at the 3K mark I took what I thought was a quick break to unwrap my vintage Halls cough drop and pop it in my mouth - with out dropping it. I know what I'm like.
Then a quick one at 6K mark cuz I promised myself one at 6k. I was almost done my Halls - I was still maintaining under my race pace. And then off to the home stretch and stretch it was. Off in the distance I almost make out the school. Not long now. Nancy's friend Hilda was wonderful enough to run a short way with me to help me dial it up a notch. Kevin rejoined my head with a " finish strong!!" " finish strong" AAAAAAARRGHHh Fine fine fine...

I'm a tad bit disappointed - I was slower than the Slainte 8K run - but then I wasn't wearing a ankle length cocktail skirt / towel/ kilt. But happy I could figure out my pace as well as minimize my break time. So really a success if you look at it through squinty eyes. Honest.

Would I do it again? Definitely. It is great fun. I mean they were serving freshly made PORRIDGE... bagels, bananas & the tried and true Canadian MAPLE COOKIE. After the race for the awards ceremony we all gathered in the auditorium. Keith Lascelles won a nifty prize for being the first kilted runner across the finish line! Way to go Keith! Nancy was 3rd in her age category 44-49 and Terry ended up on stage showing off his grand kilt in their annual Best Kilt - Male category! Unfortunately the competition was a bit too fierce - several of the lads bowed out when twirling in their kilts looked to be the only way to win this highly sought after competition.
It really was a lovely kilt Terry!

It was a great day and a fun run!