Since I’ve been working for CytoSport doing Muscle MLK demos for quite a while now, I was asked to work at The Q’s Victoria Run Series track meets this year.
I first heard about The Q’s Victoria Run Series last year, but I did not participate because I was busy training for Run For Their Lives Vancouver Island 2013.
My friends told me that those races were a lot of fun and that they are a great way to meet some awesome like-minded people who share my love for running.
One day. after a previous track meet, the organizer, Chris Kelsall, said to me: “Yana, you can race and hand out Muscle MLK at the same time.” I was absolutely stoked to hear that!
On June 7, 2014 was the first time that I took him up on that offer.
The track meet was super awesome. I watched my client Stephen achieve a personal best in the 800m. I was also thrilled to be out there handing out tasty Muscle MLK to all the runners who finished racing.
Then, came my turn to race. To start off, I signed up for the 1500m. I haven’t done a 1500m race since high school provincials back in Grade 11 (which is about 6 years ago now).
When asked how fast I predict I can do it, I said: “Hopefully something under 6 minutes. I don’t really have too many expectations since I didn’t do any specific training for the 1500m.”
When the gun went off, I had a great start. I wasn’t wearing a watch, so I only tried to catch the guy in front of me. Man, he was going fast! Then, with one lap left to go, I still had no idea what time times would be because all I really wanted to do was pick up the pace and finish strong.
When I finished, I was the 1st female across the finish line in the open-mixed 1500m. I thought, “I must be under 6 minutes.” I found out later that my time was 5:18, which I was happy with. At the end of the 1500m, I felt like I had more to give, so I spontaneously signed up for the 5000m, which was the last race of the night.
After the 1500m, I got some great bonding time over Muscle MLK with all the runners who also finished the race.
Here’s the race video!
Then came time to race the 5000m, which is 12.5 laps around the track. I said I would do it in about 20 minutes because I just raced the 1500m. I thought of the 5000m as a much needed tempo run, rather than a race. That way, I was feeling super relaxed at the start line.
By the time I got to the 10th lap of the 5000m, I was starting to feel a little tired, but kept going to finish in 20:02. Perfect. Right on target and good enough for 2nd place overall in the open-mixed race.
Below are my 2 medals from the track meet. 🙂 A gold and a silver. 
You can see the full results from the June 7, 2014 meet here.
Let’s put it this way: I had a BLAST! These meets are great for runners of all levels and ages, not to mention there are some awesome draw prizes and giveaways.