What a weekend it was for me.
Hello and welcome back to Tyson's Thoughts, which I'm fairly sure is one of the longest running columns here on the North Island. I've been working at the North Island Gazette for nearly 10 years now, and I have to say it's been a really rewarding experience getting to write about my hometown where I was born and raised.
With that little introduction out of the way, let's get back to my weekend.
I ran the 5k Terry Fox Run on Sunday, Sept. 15 and I was the first person to cross the finish line this year with a personal best time of 26:10. It sounds like a pretty simple achievement when you sum it up in one compact sentence like that, but in reality, a lot of hard work went in behind the scenes leading up to me achieving my goal of beating my previous year's time of 27:30.
To be blunt, I'm not very fast. I've always been a 27-28 minute 5k runner. I've only ran 5k under 27 minutes twice (26:56 and 26:58) since I recently started timing myself, and I've never broken 27 minutes in an actual race with someone else timing me.
Due to a hip injury, I hadn't done any serious running since the 10k/half marathon in June, but when I tested my hip out at the Orcafest Fun Run in August, it turned out I was completely pain free again so I went ahead and started training to get ready for the Terry Fox Run.
If you're wondering, I have a free app on my phone called Walkmeter that I use to time my runs, and I started out really slow by running 5k around town in roughly 29-30 minutes. Not a great time, but hey, everyone has to start somewhere.
Lo and behold, the more I ran the better my times got. On Saturday, Sept. 7 I ran 5k in 27:22, which is when I knew for sure I could set a personal best so long as I continued to prepare properly.
And I'll admit it. Training for the run wasn't easy. I logged a total of 55 kilometres over the two weeks and ended up developing a bad case of bursitis in my right heel. I didn't let that stop me though, I pushed through the pain and kept on training.
The week of the run, I got two easy 5k runs in on Wednesday and Thursday after work and then rested my legs Friday and Saturday to get ready for Sunday.
As I lined up at the starting mark around 10 a.m. I felt a little nervous, but I managed to push those feelings away as I was determined to not only beat my previous time, but shatter it completely.
The first km along the waterfront was easy. I got out to a fast start and attacked the daunting Tsulquate Hill with as much "kick" as I possibly could, before setting a solid pace from Port Hardy Secondary School all the way down Thunderbird Hill towards the old Robert Scott school. As I passed the school, my good friend Paul Cagna somehow managed to catch up to me and we basically ran side by side all the way down to the Seagate wharf, neither one of us wanting to give up the lead.
At that point I knew I still had some energy left in my legs so I "bit down on my mouthguard" and started sprinting as hard as I possibly could around the wharf and then down the waterfront towards Carrot Park.
I quickly pulled ahead of Cagna and just kept on kicking as hard as I could, flying across the finish line officially in a time of 26:10 and then collapsing on the grass in complete and utter exhaustion.
Not only did I shatter my previous year's time and set a new personal best for myself, but I was also the first person to finish the 5k run.
I want to be completely clear about this though so no one thinks that I'm bragging. The only reason I was the first person to finish the 5k is because there were a few key people who weren't able to make it to the run this year. Alex Biah, Brian Texmo, and probably Dr. Nataros, they all would have beaten me if they'd been able to make it, and I would have been totally fine with that.
All I cared about was posting a better time than I did last year, and I'm proud to say I did that in spades.
Now that my hip isn't bothering me anymore, I'm going to enter every local race here in the North Island that I possibly can, and who knows, maybe I'll tackle a marathon down island one day.
Remember, the sky is the limit. Don't be afraid to shoot for the stars. Even if you miss, at least you can say you tried.
Tyson Whitney is an award-winning journalist who was born and raised in Port Hardy. His family has lived in Port Hardy for more than 40 years. He graduated with a degree in writing from Vancouver Island University in 2008. Email: editor@northislandgazette.com
