Liverpool is a cute little town in Queens County, located on my favourite area of Nova Scotia (besides Cape Breton Highlands), the South Shore. The south shore has many small communities with a lot to offer, including Historic sites, beaches and small shops and restaurants. This made the hour and a half drive up worth it, and very scenic.
A picture my sister took while we explored on the drive home.
We went up early to pick up our race kits, and in hindsight, should have just rented a hotel room for the night before the race, opps, we will be more prepared next time. However it was a fun drive, catching up with my sister and blasting the pump up music!
There wasn't too big of a crowd, as this race is only in its 3rd year and had a cap of 200 people. I love small local races though, they feel so much more intimate.
We got our race kits with some coupons, ads for upcoming races, a nice blue Run Our Shore tank, and our bibs. Once we pinned the bibs on, we headed over to the start line, and of course took a pre-race selfie first :)
This is my sisters second race of the year, as she did the Hypothermic Half in February (that I was unable to attend). She hasn't been able to train too much lately so we decided to run the 10km together and just have fun.
We started off away from the main town, across a small bridge and past some big old fishing boats.
Bridge selfie
The most scenic part of the run
Once we were about half way done, we saw my mom and grandmother who had driven all the way down there to cheer us on!
We waved hi and continued on the course. There were about 4 water stations along the way and we stopped at 2 for a drink, taking our time and enjoying the run.
The route was a bit of rolling hills, along a road with just houses, some businesses and a motel. The only really scenic part was around km 3 and I was a little disappointed that the course didn't run along the town and across the main bridge in town (I had been expecting that because of the name of the race). However, it was a very well organized race with some amazing volunteers on the course to point you in the right direction.
We switched between running and walking for quite a bit and it was so great to be able to run with and support my sister. I love to encourage others to get out and run and I know that she will continue on with training to be able to run another race, especially since we had such a great experience at this one.
We reached 10k at an hour 19, which is very exciting because it is a new PR for my sister and 3 full minutes off her previous time! Im so proud of her for pushing herself and completing the run.
We crossed the finish line smiling ear to ear. My mom and grandma were waiting at the finish for us, and I went to say hi while Lisa grabbed us water and some bananas. After that we took some pictures and then headed over to the post race presentation and awards ceremony.
Nanny, Lisa, me, Mom
Im so glad that my family came to support us, it really made the day special!
After the awards were over, we left for the drive home, and took a few more pictures along the way.
Later that evening, we met up with my dad and his fiancee Judy for a nice dinner on the waterfront at Gahan House brewery and pub.
I had some celebratory beer and a delicious salad with onions, strawberry, blueberry, goat cheese and oatmeal, topped with a vinaigrette dressing. So good!
I also had the brownie for dessert (which I ate WAY too quickly to take a picture of). Since my boyfriend Kirk and I decided to go sugar free for the month of May, this was my last sugar treat for 31 days! Hopefully I can survive a month of no froyo or donuts.
It was a great end to a great day and I'm happy my first race of the year went off so well.
I have another race coming up this weekend in Fredericton, NB and will be running the half. This race I will be doing by myself (Kirk will be there with me, however, he is aiming for a time of 1 hour and 30 minutes). I am hoping to beat my previous half time and come out with an official time of anything below 2.5 hours. I'm not the fastest, but I just keep going no matter what. We all start somewhere :)
Happy Trails friends,
The Rural Runner
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