Valley Harvest Half Marathon

Last weekend I had the opportunity to run my first half marathon through the rolling farm hills of rural Nova Scotia. I've been running for quite a while now and have had the Valley Harvest Fest half on my bucket list for a few years. However due to different circumstances each year, I never ended up being able to make it. The race is nearby to my hometown in the Annapolis Valley and is held yearly during thanksgiving weekend. Every year when I'm home to visit family on this weekend, I would see the runners passing by, being cheered on and hope that the next year I would be able to make it. The year before, I tried to enter and was too late as the race was sold out!

This year was though, I made the commitment during the summer to finally attend, and registered WAY in advance. Somehow, I was also able to convince a couple friends to join in on the race festivities as well!

The months passed, the leaves changed colour, fall was finally here and so was thanksgiving weekend. The night before the race was spent celebrating Thanksgiving with family and stuffing our faces with Turkey, veggies and of course.. Stuffing!

The next day after loading up on plenty of carbs the night before, race day was finally upon us.

It was a chilly morning, fresh crisp air and clear skies. The perfect day for a run. My boyfriend Kirk, my friend Erika and myself all met early at Acadia university to warm up and prepare ourselves for the race. (I'm in purple, Kirks in the middle and Erika in green - no we did not plan on matching, ha ha). 

We lined up shortly behind the 2:30 pace bunny and waited for the gun shot to go. Excitement was rushing through me (with a mixture of nerves too). 

Due to circumstances out of my control (more on that later), I was unable to train for 6 full weeks before the race. The fact that we were about to run 21.1km in a row was very daunting. At this point, the furthest I had ever ran was about 16km.

After waiting for this day for basically 3 years though, I knew that I had to run, or live with the regret of missing the race again this year.

The countdown ends and the race begins, marking the first steps of the race. We start off with a steady pace, on track with completing the race within 2 and a half hours, or less. We hold this pace for around 8km. Around this point, I start to feel a familiar sharp pain in my left hip joint. We continue on with running until the pain was bad enough that I needed to walk. You can see where the pain started on the map, and where we had to walk in red.

Lost a lot of ground and time by having to walk, but sometimes preventing further injury is more important. We slowed down the pace by a lot, luckily Kirk is very patient, and this race was for fun for us, not time... And we stopped to take cute selfies!

It didn't matter how much pain I was in.. Or even if I had to crawl across that finish line.. I was going to finish the race that had been on my mind for years.

Running with my hip hurting so badly was almost unbearable, however, being able to run through such a scenic route did make it much easier, especially since I had such great company! Look at him, not even breaking a sweat, haha.

We ran by farms, fields of corn and cows and a gorgeous view of the basin. Then, after over 2 and a half hours, we finally made it to the last stretch of the race. Exhausted but also elated from finishing the race, Kirk and I crossed the finish line together. Look at that big smile!!

To me, just being able to finish the race with someone I love and no injuries, (we hope.. Seeing a chiropractor next week!) meant the world to me. It was such a fun weekend spent with friends.

Erika continued on when me and Kirk slowed, to beat her personal goal and actually passed the 2:30 pace bunny (way to go girl!!). You showed that bunny! Here's us reunited after the race.

The finish time really doesn't matter to me (although I am glad we still made it plenty under 3 hours). I've already caught the race bug and will be registering for the hypothermic half marathon put on by the RunnersRoom that takes place in January! My new goal for this race is under 2.5 hours (and to not eat it on the trail that will more than likely be COVERED in ice and snow - gotta love Nova Scotian weather, eh!)

Overall, it was such an incredible experience and I had an amazing time. The race was really well organized (props to the coordinators and volunteers!) and the race swag was great. We got awesome fleecy blankets as well as bright yellow wind breakers (what kind of race gives out such nice race kits?!, love it!). The medals are so pretty too. Well worth the wait and will definitely be returning next year to race again. 

For now, I'm going to enjoy some relaxed fall running, and heal up for my next race.

Happy running friends,

The Rural Runner