Race morning was awesome not to cold and no chance of rain. So I wore my shorts, my "I Run To Be Sexy" lucky Nike shirt and sleeves. Met up with my group and planned our races. Ironfriends were pacing me, my other friends were all chasing other times so we agreed to meet at the finish and have a great race day. So we lined up in the completely wrong spot 2:15, way to many walks and plodders so we lost alot of time there. Once things spread out we found our pace and things started to get interesting.
This is a tricky course it looks flatish but there are false flats that take their toll after a while. First gel went down at 8k with my first gulps of water. 8k is also a nice down hill stretch but with that is soon turns into a nice climb. At 10k we were 57 min and change. I knew that was because of the start line mess and we were going to have to pick it up. Around 14k is the turn around and my legs were starting to feel heavy and I was losing my pace bunnies. I was ok with this but Kirk was not so he would pace Steph for a bit then come back and pull me up. I was now in the puke zone and we were headed to the 2 km climb I had been dreading. So I had one more gel at 15k and grabbed some more water and got in the zone for the climb. Kirk stayed with me for the this nasty part and I really needed him or I might have stopped. He pushed me when my legs were screaming, encouraged me to pass people when I didn't think I had it in me. I really hated him!!! So we made it to Mile Zero but lost some time so I knew Sub 2 was not going to happen, but Kirk never gave up he continued to push me, I continued to push back. We got to the 1Km sign and he told me to go hard so I did, there was not much left but I ran hard and it hurt like HELL, I wanted to cry and puke. So my time was 2:02 same as San Deigo in June. This was lot harder, I do not know why. Yes my hamstring hurt but it was not to bad.
After thinking this race through I still do not know why it was so hard. My legs are thrashed today and I spent most of the day yesterday feeling like I was going to vomit. I raced yesterday and left everything out there, so I am pleased with myself for that. I do not think I have ever raced like that before. I was thinking about many of my fellow maniacs yesterday. Karla, Lesley, JoJo, Spirit and Jen how they always put it on the line and do not back down to the challenge, this help pull me up many times. Thank you. One saying stayed with me most of the race, " Suck it up Princess" so I tried to suck it up and I think I did. Will I be back here next year to try for that sub 2, maybe. Rock N Roll Marathon in Montreal is a real possibility and if that is the case then Victoria would have to be for fun. Next year will be my sub 2 year without a doubt maybe Vancouver in the Spring. Next up Vegas 1/2 and the Bear Mtn 10k in November.
Splits according to my Garmin:
Lap 1: 6:07
Lap 2: 6:02
Lap 3: 5:49
Lap 4: 5:28
Lap 5: 5:43
Lap 6: 5:35
Lap 7: 5:40
Lap 8: 5:26 gel
Lap 9: 5:42
Lap 10: 5:28
Lap 11: 5:36
lap 12: 5:43
Lap 13: 5:41
Lap 14: 5:49 gel
lap 15: 5:39
Lap 16: 5:51
Lap 17: 5:56
Lap 18: 6:11
Lap 19: 5:38
Lap 20: 5:49
Lap 21: 5:45
Lap 22: 2:02
Summary: 2:02:59 Distance: 21.43 Avg Pace: 5:44
Do I have what it takes for a sub 2????
Why do i feel so bad today for letting my pace bunny down?
Next time, for sure! Get the hamstring fixed first though!
