For this year, this was scheduled as a"B" Race and, it was also a final opportunity to tet my race fitness in heading to Vancouver Marathon, in three weeks time. The goal was to run it at, steady tempo effort, which would be at least a sub 1:40:xx, which would be at around a 3:20:xx marathon pace (my whisper goal potential from MacMillan) ... Tempting, as it was, I did not want to risk going out and doing something st*pid, in attempting race it for a PB (current PB is from last October at 9-run-run with a 1:32:35) so close to Vancouver, and figured that something around 1:35:xx to 1:37:xx would be a nice compromise ...
As it turned out, I was well rested this week, as I ended up taking a mini-taper, after my final build week, last week, which would give me a 4 week taper period for Vancouver, and with the conditions, almost perfect at a mild 10-15C and overcast this morning, I just ran by perceived exertion ... Kept it at a nice controlled pace, never really feeling stressed at any point in the race, although, as a forefoot runner, I did suffer some blisters on the balls of my feet
... So, perhaps my socks will need to be replaced for the longer distances/races 
As always, always nice to meet up with some friends before the start, MikeM, Mark, Beth to name a few from RM, and a few others from my Euro-Sports Running Team, as well ...
As usual, it is so easily to get s*cked in with the lead group when the start gun/horn goes off, so why would this be any different .. running the first KM in 4:01
... After the first KM, I settled myself down, and was able to find my comfortable steady tempo pace and just ran .At the fisrt 5K turn-around, speed up a bit as I was approaching the Orange RM Waterstation, and gave a low-five to Maniac Mabel
... a quick check on my garmin indicated that I hit the 5K in 21:36 .. The return trip to the start line was uneventful, just monitored my breathing and effort, and holding a comfortable pace, and crossing the 10K turn-around at 44:03 ... quite happy with that ...On the second loop, just continued holding my pace, at this point, the course was thinning out, as the 10K runners crossed the finish line, while we ran out again .... With only about 177 participants on the 1/2 marathon event, it got pretty boring, as there was usually quite a bit of distance betwen the next person either in frotn or behind me ... it was tempting to pick up the pace to catch the person ahead of me, but, I resisted, as I knew that I still had add a few KMs afterwards, as a cooldown ...
Upon passing the RM Waterstation, somehow Maniac Mabel ended up jumping into my arms, and I carried her to end of the area and handed her off to an unsuspecting spectator ..
On the second loop we had to run an extra 500m to Dow's Lake to make up the extra kilometer before the turn around ... and, on the return trip, I took a bit of a quick stop to get some positive vibes with a pat on Caleb's back and head ... such a mild mannered and calming puppy he is ... After that, just cotinued to run the final 5K to the finish line at a comfortable effort ... With about a kilometer to go, took a peek at the garmin, and realized that I had a slighyt chance of breaking 1:34:xx, so picked up the pace, but, did not sprint it in, with about 200m to go ... Crossed the finish line in 1:34:06 about a 4:23 course PB ..
Quite happy with my results today and definitely looking forward to see if this training cycle has also improved my race fitness level beyond that of the half marathon and 30K (ATB) level this year ?
pray: As I ended up running a bit faster than I had originally planned, I will now have to re-evaluate my goals and paces for Vancouver ... 
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