I raced today at the Mississauga Criterium women's 10k (more accurately, 9.8k). Truth be told, I think I really should skate the fitness category but since we are short on girls, it makes sense that we put all the female skaters in the same category. As a result, we had skaters of varying abilities vying for the podium. Since we all know each other, we have a pretty good idea of our "pecking order" and for me, it would be a fight for the third spot on the podium with CC and GC.
This road course was smooth and was divided quite evenly into half downhill and half uphill. It's actually not at all steep judging by the fact that I could comfortably skate through the downhill portion without feeling scared of the speed. However, the long uphill climb was grueling in this heat. When the starter siren went off, SH and KS took off and I skated with CC. We skated together for about three or four laps, changing leads on every lap. Eventually, I dropped her in the uphill and I just kept my pace steady. Instead of skating down the downhill, I took the opportunity to stretch out my back before getting ready for yet another uphill climb. 10k seemed much longer than I thought! SH lapped me when I was on my second last lap but I managed to stay ahead of CC and not be lapped by KS. I came in 3rd with a time of 21:30, still far from breaking 20 minutes.
Even though this is not the first time I stand on a podium, I felt absolutely fantastic for the very first time because I earned my way there. In all my previous podiums, I was there by default, regardless of my performance. This time, as small a field as it may be, I raced and came out ahead. I'm very proud of myself. :)
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