In the last few weeks I have been in discussion with my coach
Matt as to what races to attack in the upcoming weeks. Whether it would be 5km then a half or 5km and
then a 5km. I was leaning towards the double 5km; however, that small part of
me that is in love with half marathons, wanted another attempt at that distance
after a less than satisfying First Half last month. With a half scheduled for
the end of April (Montreal) I thought a half in February, March and April might
be a bit much. In the end I decided on the double 5km.
After Bazan went so well, I was eager to try my hand at a 2nd
race; however, I was well aware that while the St.Patricks course was altered
this year to be faster, it still wouldn’t be quite as fast as Bazan. Not to
mention the races were 6 days a part. In fact, I did a mini workout on the
Wednesday between just to spin the legs and I felt like I was sucking wind and
dying. My legs weren’t sore from the race, but they simply would not run fast.
As days passed though, things felt better.
Initially I was hoping to catch the float plane from Nanaimo
to Vancouver, but with “sales” less than ideal, I opted for the cheaper (but
still not cheap) more time consuming travel of the ferries. That meant after a
night of minimal sleep, I was up at 5:30am and on the 6:30am boat to Vancouver.
Thankfully I caught about an hour sleep in the backseat of my truck! I even
packed a pillow and blankets to keep me company. Anyone who knows me will be
well aware that when I travel via ferry with my vehicle, I do not tend to leave
my vehicle and opt to sleep instead. Ask my sister, she is the same. Blame it
on riding the ferry hundreds of times as kids.
I arrived to the mainland and found it was raining,
surprise! I arrived to the race site at 8:45am and picked up my race number and
hit the washrooms. I had a quick look around for Catherine Watkins but in the
end I could not locate her so I headed out on the warm up alone. I checked out
the first 2km of the course and then cut through the middle to check out the
final few km. I followed my same warm up from Bazan earlier in the week. I
found my legs feeling pretty decent. Some drills and strides at the start line
and I finally found Catherine along with Ellie Greenwood.
The race started fast of course, doesn’t almost every race,
not to mention 5km’s? It was basically a downhill for the first km.
Unfortunately, I am not much of a downhill runner, so I didn’t find too much of
an advantage of this. Right after the km marker, there was a sharp turn to the
right to head down onto the seawall where we were met with a bit of a headwind
(yay). I found myself right with Catherine and Ellie while Sabrina Wilkie was
slightly ahead. We hit the mile marker at 5:20 with Catherine a second ahead of
me. Unfortunately, Ellie’s shoe came untied and she had to stop so she had
dropped back slightly by this point.
Just after 2.5km we hopped up off the seawall onto the
sidewalk, then a somewhat sharp corner across the road onto a gravel trail
briefly then across the road and back onto the seawall around 3km. Catherine
was still slightly ahead of me with 2 other guys between us. We stayed on the
seawall until just over 4km in which I know Catherine and I both tried to pick
it up and I even thought to myself “thank god Catherine is here” as I pushed
along. We then made another really sharp turn off the seawall and then began
our uphill climb to the finish.
While the climb was certainly not as long as last year, it
still wasn’t easy. Catherine and I both slowed on this final climb and probably
were both cursing the hill. As we began the final portion, Catherine had a
supporter who told her that I was right on her “right shoulder.” We crested the
hill and I could see the finish so once again I gave it my final sprint and
managed to make it past Catherine to finish 2nd in 17:16 (17:14
chip) with Catherine also 17:16 (17:15 chip). Sabrina wasn’t far ahead taking
the win in 17:07 (17:05 chip).
I am proud that I was only 11 seconds off my time from 6
days earlier at Bazan Bay, especially since it was a slightly slower course. I
am pretty sure I lost a good chunk of that in that final hill so without that
hill, Catherine and I figure our times would have been similar or possibly
slightly faster than Bazan. Another good sign.
We got changed and headed out on a nice 30 minute cool down
before getting back to the awards just in time. The one bad thing about this
race is the struggle it takes to get inside the pavilion where the awards are
held. I ran into this problem last year and then again today. The security at
each door wants everyone to enter through the big long line out back.
Eventually with some arguing and convincing that we need to be inside for the
awards we get in, but it still a pain sometimes.
In the end I claimed 2nd female and 1st
in my age group (30-34). I finally broke the curse of finishing 1 spot out of
the money and 1 spot out of the championship medals! Woo hoo! Catherine, Ellie
and I collected our awards and then while everyone else stayed for the
spectacular after part, we bolted and I rushed off to the 12:30pm ferry.
Top 3 women and men L-R (3rd Catherine, 2nd myself, 1st Sabrina, BC Athletics Maurice Wilson, 3rd Forrest Simpson, 2nd Clifford Childs, 1st Geoff Martinson)
Ellie and myself collecting our 30-34 AG awards
Thanks to Karen and Steve at St.Patrick’s 5km. You guys run
an incredible race and we are always well taken care of, not to mention one of
their awesome sponsors happens to be Saucony Canada themselves!
Results are found here.
Athletics Illustrated race recap here.
Video below
