This winter/spring, I signed up for the Island Race Series again (a race every second week, starting in January, 8 races in total, ranging from 5km to 21.1km. I skipped a 10k and the half-marathon) and I ran 6 of the 8 races. I had PBs in 5 of those races, some of them quite significant. Based on my faster paces, I thought I was capable of a sub-2 half-marathon and maybe even 1:57 or so. Mike (aka Turd Ferguson) volunteered to pace me to a sub-2 and to get me across the finish line in time to meet my goal, even if it meant throwing me over his shoulder and carrying me across. Thankfully, it didn't come to that!
I left Victoria on Friday morning and met Running Goddess on the ferry and we headed downtown to the expo and then to lunch. I spent the afternoon with Holly before heading to Jennifer's for the M&G. It was a fun day, and it was great to reconnect with previously met Maniacs and to meet new Maniacs. Jen - thanks again for hosting us all!
On Saturday, I spent the day with deerdree and we covered a lot of ground, all on foot. We got tired at one point and sat on a display couch in Sears for 30 minutes just chatting.
We had Thai food for lunch, and spent a great amount of time in Safeway (no pancake mix was purchased) and we also went to the Expo to get Krista and Carla's race kits - not all in that order. It was another great day, although it probably wasn't that smart of me to spend so much of it walking around. I ended up with a small blister under my little toe on my right foot while wearing the running shoes I was going to be wearing the next day for the race. It was all worth it though as I had a great day with deerdree. Due to the lack of transportation from North Vancouver, where I had spent Friday night, I needed a place closer to the race on Saturday night. Running Goddess kindly offered to share her hotel room with me. She was upgraded to a two bedroom suite so I actually ended up with my own bedroom! Thanks again for letting me stay with you! On Sunday morning, I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn and had some fruit and half a bagel with PB for breakfast, along with two tiny cups of lukewarm coffee. I got ready for the race and was out the door and heading to the skytrain at 5:50am. I was greeted to a lovely sunrise while waiting for the skytrain to arrive. I headed down to the starting area and met up with Mike after a visit to the porta-potty. While checking my bag, Hammie spotted me and we chatted for a moment. It's always great to see familiar faces before the race. Mike and I sat down on a curb and just hung out for awhile and JWolf found us and we all chatted for a moment. I cracked open the free oatmeal bar that was in our race kit and ate half of that and threw out the rest. It wasn't good and is not something I'll ever choose to buy. Mike and I then lined up in what I think was Corral 1, but was the second corral to go. Did the Elites get their own wave? Anyway, we were pretty close to the front, and I think we placed ourselves pretty well. I ran into a friend from Victoria in the corral and chatted with her for awhile. She got a few feet ahead of me when we shuffled forward so we didn't run together.
Mike and I set off and started running. Despite the race starting with a bit of an uphill, I didn't really notice it. I was caught up in the excitement of a beautiful morning and the buzz of the crowd. The race soon headed downhill and I didn't find this too bad. I thought I would have a harder time holding my pace back than I did. Mike and I had mentioned aiming for 5:30/km but I figured we'd be a bit ahead of that on the downhills but would slow down on the flat. Around 4.5k, a man running near us commented that we were almost at the 5km mark. I couldn't believe it! I hadn't been paying attention and I only thought we were around 2.5km. Time was just flying by and I was feeling good.
We continued running on, always ahead of our 5:30/km goal. Km 6 was a bit slower, and I think that was the first water station that I ran through and grabbed some water. I mostly kept pace and didn't stop to walk. We kept running, while enjoying the perfect weather conditions. It was bright out, but not completely sunny, there was no wind, and the temperature was just right for the outfit I chose. We ran past a huge sign that said "Alix, we're pregnant!". Lots of comments were made about whether or not Alix would be happy to read this announcement while running by.
I ran through a water station after we saw that sign and tried to get some water. The guy I should have grabbed the water from was about 6'5" and was holding his water up, instead of holding it out at a natural height. I missed grabbing the cup because it was so high up, and I knocked the cup out of his hand. I might have knocked the water all over him, but I'm not sure. I managed to get a cup of water from a volunteer a few metres past him. After this, we headed into the park. Mike stopped for a porta-potty visit and managed to catch up to me after running a very fast km. While I was running alone, I saw a couple of friends from Victoria and called out to them. Everybody looked to be having good races. Mike and I kept running together, although I was getting up the hills a bit faster than he was, but he would then catch up to me. Around the 15km mark we agreed to finish the race on own and that we didn't need to find each other if we got split up. Around 16.5km (I think) I got ahead of Mike and just continued running on my own. I was still feeling good and was enjoying the scenery and the views and the great course. At about the 18km mark, I could see my friend up ahead and I called out her name. She waved and gave a thumbs-up and kept running. I was starting to get tired at this point, but seeing her gave me something to focus on, and I just kept my eye on her purple shirt and kept running. I eventually caught up to her around the 19.5km mark, and we chatted briefly. She got ahead of me by a few feet as somebody got in front of me and slowed down a bit, so I lost her as I went around that guy.
I headed for the finish line without looking at my watch too much, so I had no idea how many metres I had left. I knew I was in the last half-km, but I had no idea just how close the finish line was. I had only been looking at the pace on my watch and had no idea where I was time-wise. I only knew that I was going to make my sub-2 goal because my km splits were fast enough for that. All of a sudden, we turned a corner, and the finish line was right there! I sprinted over the line and managed to just zip past my friend. We had a few photos taken of us together, and some separate, and then we got our food and headed our separate ways. I was wandering in the direction of the gear check when Jen spotted me and called my name. We chatted for a bit and then I spotted Mike. We eventually wandered into the gear check (horrible lack of organization in that area!) and Carla found us in there. We chatted a bit longer and then headed off for showers and coffee with plans to meet up and cheer at various other spots.
Overall, it was a great race! Running with Mike was fun, and having company always makes the time go by faster! Everything came together and I felt good the whole way. The legs did get heavy and tired at the end, but nothing hurt more than anything else except the blister on my little toe. When I looked at it later, I realized that my blister had a blister.
The rest of the day was great and I really enjoyed myself at the meet and greet - other than the two flights of stair to the washroom!
It was great to get together with (almost) everybody and to have a couple of beer and a big meal. I'm already looking forward to next year!phew - that as a long race report.
Race stats:
Bib # 15151
Overall Place: 2026
Overall Time: 1:57:21
Chip: 1:53:39 (Previous PB: 2:01:20, a difference of 7:41!!!)
Pace: 5:24
Category: Female 30-34
Place: 168/888
Gender Place: 792/5243
10.98km: 0:57:32
10.98-21.1km: 0:56:08
My km splits according to my Garmin info imported into SportTracks:
(Not sure why the km splits aren't really even and why the pace doesn't match the time.)
) and on June 3rd, a local 10k race. After that, I'm done racing until October when I'll run another half-marathon. In 2013, I might tackle the full marathon again and see if I can actually get across the finish line this time.
