For my last race of
the season I decided to head over to Vancouver to take part in the North ShoreCredit Union Longest Day 5km (June 14th) because this was race usually has a pretty good field. Ever since the Montreal Half Marathon I had struggled to find my legs again. While I had some success
in the Ottawa 10km, I still didn’t feel like they were truly back. Nevertheless, I decided to take part in this race to see what I had left before
my midyear break.
I headed over to
Vancouver with Melissa Ross on the 12:50pm ferry from Departure Bay (Nanaimo)
to Horseshoe Bay (Vancouver). It was nice to catch up with Mel as we hadn’t
really hung out since we caught the ferry back together after the Vancouver SunRun in April.
The race was
scheduled to start at 6:45pm and while the 12:50pm ferry got us to the race
really early, as in I think we were there by 3:30, the 3pm ferry (the next
option) would have been too rushed, especially dealing with rush hour traffic
on a Friday. That is okay; it gave us time to check out the course adjustments
due to construction this year.
I have only run this
course once (last year) and it was memorable because I broke 18 minutes for the
first time, finishing in 17:57. The course had a downhill start and a downhill
finish with hills in the middle.
This year, due to
construction near the former start, they changed the direction of the course so
we would run backwards. That way, by the time we hit the construction and had
to go off road onto a side paved trail, we would be strung out enough to not
have any issues (I imagine some of the 10km runners may have had trouble when
they did 2 loops starting at 7:05pm).
I ended up meeting up
with Catherine Watkins for warm up closer to 5:50pm. We checked out the last
few km of the course along with the first few. We chatted about how we both
felt so tired and that even the warm up didn’t feel that great. We had hoped to
break 17 minutes at this race, but now with the change of direction and the way
we were feeling, neither of us was too sure anymore.
At 6:45 we were on
the line and ready to go. The gun went off and we were on our way. I quickly
saw that Sabrina Wilkie took off out front and I found myself slightly behind
Catherine stuck in the middle between her and this guy. I actually felt like it
was affecting my arm swing and stride at the time and it probably lasted this
way for almost a km, but I felt trapped. I would have really had to slow down
to get around it, but eventually the guy moved over a bit and I felt free.
I pushed on and
pulled ahead of Catherine and simply ran. Sabrina held 5-10m on me pretty much
the entire race after that. I pulled closer, she pulled away, I pulled closer, and
she pulled away. I just could not close the gap. The course had a lot of
corners on it where speed was lost, but I did my best to take them at an angle
that wouldn’t slow me down too much.
I didn’t look at my
splits once; I just kept Sabrina in sight and kept pushing. I kept counting
down, 2km left, okay that is no more than 7 minutes if I run 3:30’s. Running
around this time I actually thought “damn it, I can’t seem to close this gap.” We
headed down to W 16th Ave and this is where we hit the final hill
around 4km. I kept working hard, but this hill hurt. I closed the gap slightly
and when we took the driveway from the road to the paved path, which was
steeper, I closed the gap a bit more.
As the course leveled out we came off the
path across some grass and onto the road. At this point I was right behind
Sabrina with less than half a km to go.
We hit the downhill
before we turned onto the grass field finish and she gapped me again. I
actually thought “oh well, 2nd is awesome, hopefully it is a good
time.”
We hit the slight hill onto the grass and I heard Sabrina’s husband Mark
yell at her that she had to kick. Up this hill I closed the gap again and found
myself a few meters (if that) behind. I noticed that (no offense Sabrina) her
kick didn’t really result in a huge change of speed so I decided to try and see
what I had left. I kicked and I went by. I was just hoping that she wouldn’t be
able to react. I kicked as hard as I could towards the finish and saw 16:xx on
the clock as I came to it. I sped right through the finish and nearly ran into
the fencing for the kid zone that was only 10-15m behind the finish.
I sent my coach a
text after…… it said “I won.” I was shocked. I went into this race with a 17:03
PB from March and I finished in 16:47 (Sabrina 2nd in 16:50 and
Catherine 3rd in 17:09 PB). Sabrina had gone in with a 16:40 from the
same race in March, so I honestly expected her to run away with the race;
however, I did finish ahead at the Sun Run in April so I guess the race was
more up in the air than I originally thought.
I do owe a huge thank
you to Sabrina for being there and for pushing me. I always feel bad passing
people in the final stretch, but I know anyone would do it. I would have liked
to help pace Sabrina as well, but unfortunately I just couldn’t seem to pull
even with her in the race. I also don’t feel as though I sat on her throughout
the race either. I raced hard; I just had a little more left at the end.
So that is it, my last
race of the first half of 2013. I am now on a break and while I was counting
down for it to happen, I am on day 3 and I am over it already. I know in the
long run it will benefit me though. It is simply hard to just stop after such
an amazing race. Then again, it might be best to end on such a high note.
This season has been
more than I ever expected thus far. If you had asked me in January if I would
have run sub 17 for the 5km and sub 35 for the 10km, I would definitely had
said no. All I know is that it is nice to have my hard work and dedication
finally pay off. I have reassessed some goals for the year and am excited to
see where I can go from here. I ran
these times with sprint finishes, so I think deep down there is some untapped
speed left in my reserves! Only time will tell!
Results are found here.
