**I wrote this out a day or two after the race and didn't post it. I am posting it now, but be warned, I have not read over it at all. *****
The weeks leading up to Bazan Bay 5km and after the race didn't seem to go as well as I had hoped. My heart rate seemed higher than normal and my breathing harder. The day after Bazan I began getting headaches. They didn't last all of the time, but only when I walked down stairs, got up from lying down or bending over. My head would pound a few minutes and then stop. I figured my iron was low again, so I booked in to see a Doctor.
My original doctor has retired, then the doctor I normally see apparently moved out of town, so I was set up to see a female doctor from the same clinic. I went in and asked her to renew my lab requisition so that I could see what my iron was at. She told me that I would have to book a new appointment where she could go over my history to get to know me better and then she would decide whether I needed the test. Wtf? She looked at one of the results I had from early 2010 and proceeded to tell my that my hemoglobin was fine and that it didn't matter whether my ferritin was low. Oh and get this, before leaving, she states.... that I should look into getting my files transferred to her so that she could be my new family doctor. That had to be the funniest part of the whole thing.
Needless to say, I walked out of her appointment fairly pissed off. I stopped at the front desk and stated that I had just seen Dr. D-A and then before I could explain what happened, the girl at the desk said "don't take it personal." Apparently this crabby old doctor has a reputation, which you can actually see online if you google her. The girl then told me that MSP would only allow one appointment per day so I would have to come back tomorrow and proceeded to book me in to see Dr.B who she figured wouldn't give me a problem.
So back I went the next day and Dr.B was GREAT. He gave me a lab requisition for 2 years. Right after that I went back downstairs to the lab and had my blood taken. By 6pm that night, I had my results. Ferritin = 11 (15-180 is normal). While it isn't the lowest I have had it (under 5 initially) it was certainly much lower than the 22 I had in July 2011. Oops. Back on the iron supplements I guess. Apparently eating more meat simply wasn't enough. See Dr.D-A..... you are just a crabby old doctor and I will NEVER make you my family doctor. Thanks to Dr. B for getting me the test!
Even though my iron was determined to be low, which meant still struggling in my workouts, I decided to give the 5km another shot. I headed over to Vancouver on the Saturday morning 6:30am ferry arriving to Stanley Park at about 8:45 for a 10am start. I did not want to race when I got there. I was feeling groggy and off; however, I decided to give it a shot. In the warm up, I got to see the start and the finish. The start was downhill with a few sharp turns and not very wide. The finish on the other hand was pretty much 1km of hills. Oh yay, if I had known this I might not have bothered with this race.
It was nice to finally get a proper warm up this time, including drills and not having to rush to the start line. Before I knew it, it was time to get on the start line and we were off. The downhill start resulted in a fast first km of 3:25. Oops. I had wanted to go slower than Bazan's 3:28 but that didn't happen. Of course after that I slowed. I pushed along and passed a few girls and then settled in. Katherine Moore came by me. I settled in behind her and just went with it. I think around 3km I passed Kristin Smart and we ran together for a bit before she dropped back ever so slightly. I wanted to give encouragement but at that point I was just hanging on. At about 4km we hit the hill. ugh. What a crappy finish.
All of us slowed. Katherine was right ahead of me. I think I had just passed Lisa Brooking. The legs were dead and I knew my goal time was slipping away but there was nothing I could do about it. In the middle of the 2 hills, we had a short downhill before turning right and heading up again. In the end, Lisa passed me back right before the finish and I finished up 8th female (5th for the BC Championship) and 4th in my age group. I finished in 18:18. The time honestly disappoints me; however, knowing the course now, I believe I would have been under 18 without the hill. Should've, Could've, Would've right?
It was a well organized event and most people who had run the course in previous years stated that this new course was definitely slower with the hills in the end. Not exactly the result I was looking for time wise; however, I feel as though it felt better than Bazan Bay so that was a good sign. All it did was renew my competitive side and make me want to run another race! Sub 18 you have eluded me for now.... but I will get you once my iron is normal!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
2012 Bazan Bay 5km Race Report
I have a love/hate relationships with 5kms. I tend to lean more towards the "hate" side, but I am trying to teach myself to "love" them. The few days after the half, I dealt with some unexpected lingering knee pain. I took it easy for most of the week until the pain subsided. Thankfully it did. From there, I got back into training and ran a wicked tempo at Half Marathon pace. Some last minute speed type workouts came next, in order to fire up the legs so I could attempt the Bazan Bay 5km.
The idea for the race would be to get a good hard effort. I had no idea what kind of speed I could find considering most of my training has been "half marathon" based. The week leading up to the race was filled with ups and downs. My easy runs felt okay, but the workouts were a bit blah. I thought things looked up on Friday when my easy run felt effortless, but that was short lived when my easy shake out run on Saturday was filled with effort. Both my heart rate and breathing were higher than normal. I shook it off thinking it was just a bad day.
Last night I finally fell asleep around midnight and no lies, I think I woke up at least 7-10 times between then and 7:30am. On a side note, I woke up at 1am and it was quiet. I woke up at 3am and my neighbours were blasting their music. All I could hear was their base, so in went the ear plugs. Unfortunately this is a common thing. They seem to turn it on in the middle of the night (jerks). I woke up around 5am soaked with sweat. Lovely. I already felt dehydrated after slacking on those duties all week. I didn't need to sweat to make it worse! Needless to say at 7:30 when my alarm went off, I did NOT want to get up.
Still, I thought I would make the best of it. I have had crappy nights sleeps before races and ran well, so I thought nothing of it. I ended up carpooling down to Victoria and unfortunately my ride arrived in Victoria later than I prefer. I think I picked up my number around 10:20 (11am race start) and started my warm up at 10:30. Considering I do a 20 minute jog before even attempting any warm up drills, I was running late. It was a rushed warm up that included only a jog and a few strides. Not my preference to finish my 20 minute warm up only 10' before the race, but that is what happened today.
The race started and I had planted myself beside Care Wakely and behind Hilary Stelllingwerff and Marilyn Arsenault. All mega fast ladies. As we started, the timing mat actually slipped out under the first couple of people. I think I hoped over it to avoid falling or slipping myself. The race start was packed and there wasn't really enough room to get spread out before they careened everyone over to the left hand side of the road. I found myself struggling to find proper ground with jerks weaving left and right, nearly tripping people by cutting them off. At about 1km into the race, I yelled at some kid because he had nearly tripped me multiple times. He said sorry before taking off.
My race was..... well a 5km. I had a hard workout and honestly it didn't go the way I wanted it to. I screwed up my pacing between 1 and 3km. I lost a lot of time and couldn't make it up. My legs just didn't want to go. Claire Morgan passed me just after 3km and I thank her very much for the encouragement, but my legs just would not respond. My last 2km were more respectable, but by then it was too late.
In the end I finished in 18:03, which was technically a 22 second personal best though to be fair, I haven't run a 5km since March 2010. It is not what I am capable of and doesn't reflect my full fitness. I am relieved it was a Personal best, but not overly satisfied with the race. The 5km got the best of me today, but I will get my revenge. Till next time 5km.... till next time!
As a note, Malindi Elmore won the women's race in a smoking 15:48! Now THAT is fast! Full Results here.
The idea for the race would be to get a good hard effort. I had no idea what kind of speed I could find considering most of my training has been "half marathon" based. The week leading up to the race was filled with ups and downs. My easy runs felt okay, but the workouts were a bit blah. I thought things looked up on Friday when my easy run felt effortless, but that was short lived when my easy shake out run on Saturday was filled with effort. Both my heart rate and breathing were higher than normal. I shook it off thinking it was just a bad day.
Last night I finally fell asleep around midnight and no lies, I think I woke up at least 7-10 times between then and 7:30am. On a side note, I woke up at 1am and it was quiet. I woke up at 3am and my neighbours were blasting their music. All I could hear was their base, so in went the ear plugs. Unfortunately this is a common thing. They seem to turn it on in the middle of the night (jerks). I woke up around 5am soaked with sweat. Lovely. I already felt dehydrated after slacking on those duties all week. I didn't need to sweat to make it worse! Needless to say at 7:30 when my alarm went off, I did NOT want to get up.
Still, I thought I would make the best of it. I have had crappy nights sleeps before races and ran well, so I thought nothing of it. I ended up carpooling down to Victoria and unfortunately my ride arrived in Victoria later than I prefer. I think I picked up my number around 10:20 (11am race start) and started my warm up at 10:30. Considering I do a 20 minute jog before even attempting any warm up drills, I was running late. It was a rushed warm up that included only a jog and a few strides. Not my preference to finish my 20 minute warm up only 10' before the race, but that is what happened today.
The race started and I had planted myself beside Care Wakely and behind Hilary Stelllingwerff and Marilyn Arsenault. All mega fast ladies. As we started, the timing mat actually slipped out under the first couple of people. I think I hoped over it to avoid falling or slipping myself. The race start was packed and there wasn't really enough room to get spread out before they careened everyone over to the left hand side of the road. I found myself struggling to find proper ground with jerks weaving left and right, nearly tripping people by cutting them off. At about 1km into the race, I yelled at some kid because he had nearly tripped me multiple times. He said sorry before taking off.
My race was..... well a 5km. I had a hard workout and honestly it didn't go the way I wanted it to. I screwed up my pacing between 1 and 3km. I lost a lot of time and couldn't make it up. My legs just didn't want to go. Claire Morgan passed me just after 3km and I thank her very much for the encouragement, but my legs just would not respond. My last 2km were more respectable, but by then it was too late.
In the end I finished in 18:03, which was technically a 22 second personal best though to be fair, I haven't run a 5km since March 2010. It is not what I am capable of and doesn't reflect my full fitness. I am relieved it was a Personal best, but not overly satisfied with the race. The 5km got the best of me today, but I will get my revenge. Till next time 5km.... till next time!
As a note, Malindi Elmore won the women's race in a smoking 15:48! Now THAT is fast! Full Results here.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
2012 Vancouver First Half Half Marathon Race Report
Last weekend I headed over to Vancouver for the Vancouver First Half Half Marathon. I had come off of 3 big training weeks after the Pioneer 8km that had left my legs literally completely dead a week before the race. I was a tad worried about how the race would go; however, generally after 3 hard weeks I get 1 easier week and that is exactly what happened. That 1 easier week is also exactly what my legs needed, a "semi" taper.
The Wednesday before the race, my stomach turned on me. I struggled to get in food and fluid. I literally was force feeding myself as nothing was appetizing. Every time I attempted to eat, I lost my appetite and felt nauseous. Thankfully, by Friday evening it started to pass. A bit late for the hydration I had lost, but I attempted to stuff my face to get in some nutrition at least.
Then on Friday night while I was at work, my hip started to hurt. WTF?! I couldn't walk without pain, so I began to get worried. I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary and had no idea what was going on. I sent a few text messages to my wonderful Chiro Joe @ Island Optimal and he agreed to treat me at his house the next morning. Thanks Joe!
On Saturday I headed over to Vancouver on the 3pm ferry. I was lucky enough to have a stinky greasy looking guy sit right in front of me. Trust me, I debated moving, but figured the smell might get better. I wasn't sure if his hair was wet or in fact greasy; however, let's just say that it still looked the same at the end of the 1.5 hour ferry ride.... outcome = probably greasy. He had the fuzz ball neck hair on the back of his neck too. Yummy. The ferry quickly passed with a nap for half of it.
My sister graciously picked me up from the ferry and took me back to her place. This took WAY longer than anticipated as the traffic down Taylor Way was horrid. I swear it took 30 minutes to get down that one hill and onto the Lion's Gate Bridge. Stupid bridge only had 1 lane into Vancouver and 2 going out; however, the traffic was way worse going into Vancouver. Made no sense.
We spent the evening with her cooking me a yummy chicken dinner and then watching the Canucks Vs Calgary game. Thankfully her husband was out playing his own hockey game, as he is a Calgary fan. Unfortunately that game ended in yet another shootout in which Canucks lost (surprise surprise). I attempted to head to bed around 10:30, but found myself awake at midnight. Great, I thought to myself, only 6 hours of possible sleep. I never sleep well there. And this night was like all the others. 6 hours where I woke up at least 3 times.
Alarm was off at 6 in which I shoved in some food (food on race mornings NEVER works for me). About 7:15 I was on the side of the road in which Catherine and Melissa picked me up on the way into Vancouver. Catherine didn't end up racing due to an unfortunate incident so she dropped us off and we eventually ran into Natasha (eventual race winner) before heading off on a warm up.
Just as we started our warm up, it was raining quite steady. I had some knee pain in my right knee during the warm up, but I had felt that recently. As usual, it went away as I got warmed up. Bathroom lines were crazy, so we bombarded Subway across the road from the start. A few quick drills and it was go time.
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I wanted to go out somewhat conservative and then pick it up in the 2nd half. I had no idea what my body was going to let me run, but my ultimate goal this season is to get under 80' for the half. I wanted to get as close to that as I could. My knee hurt for the first couple of km which worried me, but then it went away and I didn't feel it for the rest of the race. I picked off women starting from 5km onward, never being picked off once (by another female that is).
I went through half way in 40:38 I believe and thought "crap, too slow" so I picked it up. My next 5km were the fastest of the entire race. The race only had mile markers, which I wasn't prepared for, and then markers every 5km. I ended up taking my 5km splits. I think I also ran the last half with another Saucony dressed runner named Sam. We pushed each other and picked off people one at a time.
I dropped Sam when we hit the lagoon. Not sure how far back he fell, but he caught me again in the final few km. I had a few issues in the last few km where my brain was taking over and it caused me to slow a few times (this is an issue well known to me and its something I need to work on). This lost me some time in the end, but I sprinted for home when I saw the clock at 1:20:?? and counting. I finished in 1:20:55 gun time and 1:20:53 chip time. This works out to a 1:02 personal best since my 2010 Eugene Half Marathon. I finished 6th female (4th from BC for the BC Championships) and 4th in my age group. Full results are here.
Not bad considering it was my first half marathon since October 2010. I am pleased with the time, though of course I felt like I have more in me. I am most pleased that I ran a negative split ever so slightly, 40:38 and 40:17. I NEVER run negative splits, so the fact that I was coming on strong for the 2nd half and other than the one mental issue, which caused me some time, I was definitely on a roll for finishing faster!
Thanks to Matt for his coaching, support and encouragement. Thanks to Marilyn for her kind words of support to go for it. Thanks to Saucony Canada for believing in me! Thanks to my sister for the place to stay. Thanks to my coworker for swapping shifts with me so I could attend the race. Thanks to all my friends/coworkers for their support over social media. And thanks to you for reading this! I cannot wait until the next one!
The Wednesday before the race, my stomach turned on me. I struggled to get in food and fluid. I literally was force feeding myself as nothing was appetizing. Every time I attempted to eat, I lost my appetite and felt nauseous. Thankfully, by Friday evening it started to pass. A bit late for the hydration I had lost, but I attempted to stuff my face to get in some nutrition at least.
Then on Friday night while I was at work, my hip started to hurt. WTF?! I couldn't walk without pain, so I began to get worried. I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary and had no idea what was going on. I sent a few text messages to my wonderful Chiro Joe @ Island Optimal and he agreed to treat me at his house the next morning. Thanks Joe!
On Saturday I headed over to Vancouver on the 3pm ferry. I was lucky enough to have a stinky greasy looking guy sit right in front of me. Trust me, I debated moving, but figured the smell might get better. I wasn't sure if his hair was wet or in fact greasy; however, let's just say that it still looked the same at the end of the 1.5 hour ferry ride.... outcome = probably greasy. He had the fuzz ball neck hair on the back of his neck too. Yummy. The ferry quickly passed with a nap for half of it.
My sister graciously picked me up from the ferry and took me back to her place. This took WAY longer than anticipated as the traffic down Taylor Way was horrid. I swear it took 30 minutes to get down that one hill and onto the Lion's Gate Bridge. Stupid bridge only had 1 lane into Vancouver and 2 going out; however, the traffic was way worse going into Vancouver. Made no sense.
We spent the evening with her cooking me a yummy chicken dinner and then watching the Canucks Vs Calgary game. Thankfully her husband was out playing his own hockey game, as he is a Calgary fan. Unfortunately that game ended in yet another shootout in which Canucks lost (surprise surprise). I attempted to head to bed around 10:30, but found myself awake at midnight. Great, I thought to myself, only 6 hours of possible sleep. I never sleep well there. And this night was like all the others. 6 hours where I woke up at least 3 times.
Alarm was off at 6 in which I shoved in some food (food on race mornings NEVER works for me). About 7:15 I was on the side of the road in which Catherine and Melissa picked me up on the way into Vancouver. Catherine didn't end up racing due to an unfortunate incident so she dropped us off and we eventually ran into Natasha (eventual race winner) before heading off on a warm up.
Just as we started our warm up, it was raining quite steady. I had some knee pain in my right knee during the warm up, but I had felt that recently. As usual, it went away as I got warmed up. Bathroom lines were crazy, so we bombarded Subway across the road from the start. A few quick drills and it was go time.
.jpg)
I wanted to go out somewhat conservative and then pick it up in the 2nd half. I had no idea what my body was going to let me run, but my ultimate goal this season is to get under 80' for the half. I wanted to get as close to that as I could. My knee hurt for the first couple of km which worried me, but then it went away and I didn't feel it for the rest of the race. I picked off women starting from 5km onward, never being picked off once (by another female that is).
I went through half way in 40:38 I believe and thought "crap, too slow" so I picked it up. My next 5km were the fastest of the entire race. The race only had mile markers, which I wasn't prepared for, and then markers every 5km. I ended up taking my 5km splits. I think I also ran the last half with another Saucony dressed runner named Sam. We pushed each other and picked off people one at a time.
I dropped Sam when we hit the lagoon. Not sure how far back he fell, but he caught me again in the final few km. I had a few issues in the last few km where my brain was taking over and it caused me to slow a few times (this is an issue well known to me and its something I need to work on). This lost me some time in the end, but I sprinted for home when I saw the clock at 1:20:?? and counting. I finished in 1:20:55 gun time and 1:20:53 chip time. This works out to a 1:02 personal best since my 2010 Eugene Half Marathon. I finished 6th female (4th from BC for the BC Championships) and 4th in my age group. Full results are here.
Last few km (photo credit Mark Bates)
Final kick (photo credit my sister)
Pretty sure this is when I rounded the corner and saw my time for the first time (I don't check my watch) and thought "damn too slow"
Sub 81' I want you!
Not bad considering it was my first half marathon since October 2010. I am pleased with the time, though of course I felt like I have more in me. I am most pleased that I ran a negative split ever so slightly, 40:38 and 40:17. I NEVER run negative splits, so the fact that I was coming on strong for the 2nd half and other than the one mental issue, which caused me some time, I was definitely on a roll for finishing faster!
Thanks to Matt for his coaching, support and encouragement. Thanks to Marilyn for her kind words of support to go for it. Thanks to Saucony Canada for believing in me! Thanks to my sister for the place to stay. Thanks to my coworker for swapping shifts with me so I could attend the race. Thanks to all my friends/coworkers for their support over social media. And thanks to you for reading this! I cannot wait until the next one!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Finally!
Just a short update. I FINALLY am seeing my fitness back to where I want it! A race report will come shortly (hopefully by the weekend) as I ran the Vancouver First "Half" Half Marathon this past Sunday. It was a good day that resulted in a Personal Best; however, that is not what I am most proud of. I am most proud of the way I raced it, but I will get into that in more detail later. Stay tuned!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Local Celebrity
A couple weeks back I went to the local pub down the road for my co-workers birthday. One of my other co-workers there frequents that pub fairly often. Her way of introducing me to everyone she knew in the pub was by saying "you know that girl that is ALWAYS running around Cedar, that's her." Which was generally followed by "oh you are that girl." One guy even told me that I was like a local celebrity. I also even heard that no one runs in Cedar unless they are being chased by cops. It was definitely an amusing night, I had no name it seemed, just that running girl or that girl. Another birthday coming up next weekend, looking forward to some new antics!
Otherwise, training is going fairly well at the moment. Feeling fitter as the days go on and that is all I can ask for at the moment! I have some lofty goals this season and plenty of hard work ahead of me to ensure that I hit them! Bring it on!
Otherwise, training is going fairly well at the moment. Feeling fitter as the days go on and that is all I can ask for at the moment! I have some lofty goals this season and plenty of hard work ahead of me to ensure that I hit them! Bring it on!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Volunteering 2012 Cedar 12km
This past Sunday I volunteered at the local Cedar 12km. Since the race actually runs by my house shortly after the start, how could I resist. I took tons of photos as I attempted to catch every racer at least once. It was neat to see Simon Whitfield show up and run a great battle against James Lander. Cedar is a rural community on the outskirts of Nanaimo, so to have Simon here and running where I always run was inspirational.
Anyways, I have noticed people arriving on me mentioning the Cedar race previous years. Common themes are 2012 cedar 12km results or cedar 12km photos. So here you have it everyone!
2012 Cedar 12km results here
My 2012 Cedar 12km photos here (located on Facebook)
Anyways, I have noticed people arriving on me mentioning the Cedar race previous years. Common themes are 2012 cedar 12km results or cedar 12km photos. So here you have it everyone!
2012 Cedar 12km results here
My 2012 Cedar 12km photos here (located on Facebook)
Thursday, January 12, 2012
2012 Pioneer 8km Race Report
I jumped into racing only a week into the new year. The plan was to train through this race and to not taper for it. I completed close to my regular week leading up the race and had no idea how the legs would feel. In fact, coach Matt had some plans for me post race too that I wasn't informed of the details until after the race.
I headed off around 8:15 for the drive south to Victoria. Of course, with my luck I swear I hit almost every red light possible. Not to mention I was terribly afraid that my lovely 91 tempo, which has been struggling lately, wouldn't make it. Already breaking down on the malahat once (post TC 10km about 3 years ago) I did not want a repeat event! Thankfully I made it down to the race start at approximately 9:45.
I did my usual thing of picking up my race number, chatting with a few people and hitting the washroom. Then off to my car to get ready for warm up. Just as I was heading out, I ran into Marilyn and Joey, so the three of us continued on for our warm up. A few quick words with Matt and I was back to my car to get ready to race. At this point I wanted a washroom but knew that with 15 minutes to race time, there would definitely be a line up.
I hit the line and before I knew it we were off. The first km is mostly downhill which meant for a quick start. I tried to hold back, but also didn't want to get left behind. A flat 2nd km lead into a hill. Here I went from 4th female to 7th female. My legs felt dead and just would not respond as Catrin, Care, Sabrina and Claire went by. Definitely fighting negative thoughts in my head from 3-6km. A downhill section into the half way point, which I hit at 14:31. With my next km 3:43 (according to Garmin, which I know is not exact), meant 5km at 18:14, which is technically a 5km PB for me (18:25 from 2010). That bodes well for the next time I race a 5km I hope!
We hit a hill, turn around and then downhill as we headed back towards the start/finish between 5 and 7km. After the turn around, which I felt I was moving quite well, I saw a split on my garmin that said 4:00 and I thought to myself, wtf?! This definitely feels worse than 4 min/km pace. I was slightly defeated at this point, thinking that I had gone out too fast and no longer would hit at least sub 30 like I wanted. At 6.5km I passed Sabrina who had unfortunately began a battle with her stomach that left her puking on course. I wanted out shout out to keep going, but she was mid puke as I went by. Thankfully she did keep going and finished not far behind me.
I kept plodding on, just wanting the race to finish. An uphill finish and I tried to pour it on, but just couldn't catch Claire and finished 6th female (50th overall) in 29:49. I was initially extremely disappointed in my time. I ran 30:05 in October and felt as though I was in WAY better shape than that, so to finish only 16 second faster did not impress me. But I chalked it up to being what it was and accepted that I had really run the race as a training race and my legs were far from fresh.
I chatted with Matt and Marilyn for a bit and then grabbed some clothes before heading off on a cool down with Marilyn (who also ran it as a training race on less than fresh legs) and Joey. We met Claire about half way through and continued with her. On the cool down, Joey mentioned that the turn around was actually in the wrong place and the course was long.
One of the PIH members Gary is always responsible for measuring courses, so he went and officially measured the difference which came out to 74.9m. Calculations say that it added about 17 seconds to my time, which means 29:49 turns into 29:32, only 1 second off of my best time, from a flatter course last January. That improved my overall outlook on the race. While I am not 100% happy with the way I ran the race and my mentality during the race, it is what it is and I am grateful for the experience.
Thank you to PIH for hosting the race and to Bob for everything he does in the running community. Results found here.
I headed off around 8:15 for the drive south to Victoria. Of course, with my luck I swear I hit almost every red light possible. Not to mention I was terribly afraid that my lovely 91 tempo, which has been struggling lately, wouldn't make it. Already breaking down on the malahat once (post TC 10km about 3 years ago) I did not want a repeat event! Thankfully I made it down to the race start at approximately 9:45.
I did my usual thing of picking up my race number, chatting with a few people and hitting the washroom. Then off to my car to get ready for warm up. Just as I was heading out, I ran into Marilyn and Joey, so the three of us continued on for our warm up. A few quick words with Matt and I was back to my car to get ready to race. At this point I wanted a washroom but knew that with 15 minutes to race time, there would definitely be a line up.
I hit the line and before I knew it we were off. The first km is mostly downhill which meant for a quick start. I tried to hold back, but also didn't want to get left behind. A flat 2nd km lead into a hill. Here I went from 4th female to 7th female. My legs felt dead and just would not respond as Catrin, Care, Sabrina and Claire went by. Definitely fighting negative thoughts in my head from 3-6km. A downhill section into the half way point, which I hit at 14:31. With my next km 3:43 (according to Garmin, which I know is not exact), meant 5km at 18:14, which is technically a 5km PB for me (18:25 from 2010). That bodes well for the next time I race a 5km I hope!
We hit a hill, turn around and then downhill as we headed back towards the start/finish between 5 and 7km. After the turn around, which I felt I was moving quite well, I saw a split on my garmin that said 4:00 and I thought to myself, wtf?! This definitely feels worse than 4 min/km pace. I was slightly defeated at this point, thinking that I had gone out too fast and no longer would hit at least sub 30 like I wanted. At 6.5km I passed Sabrina who had unfortunately began a battle with her stomach that left her puking on course. I wanted out shout out to keep going, but she was mid puke as I went by. Thankfully she did keep going and finished not far behind me.
I kept plodding on, just wanting the race to finish. An uphill finish and I tried to pour it on, but just couldn't catch Claire and finished 6th female (50th overall) in 29:49. I was initially extremely disappointed in my time. I ran 30:05 in October and felt as though I was in WAY better shape than that, so to finish only 16 second faster did not impress me. But I chalked it up to being what it was and accepted that I had really run the race as a training race and my legs were far from fresh.
I chatted with Matt and Marilyn for a bit and then grabbed some clothes before heading off on a cool down with Marilyn (who also ran it as a training race on less than fresh legs) and Joey. We met Claire about half way through and continued with her. On the cool down, Joey mentioned that the turn around was actually in the wrong place and the course was long.
One of the PIH members Gary is always responsible for measuring courses, so he went and officially measured the difference which came out to 74.9m. Calculations say that it added about 17 seconds to my time, which means 29:49 turns into 29:32, only 1 second off of my best time, from a flatter course last January. That improved my overall outlook on the race. While I am not 100% happy with the way I ran the race and my mentality during the race, it is what it is and I am grateful for the experience.
Thank you to PIH for hosting the race and to Bob for everything he does in the running community. Results found here.
One photo from the race so far, I believe mid race, courtesy of Noa Deutsch
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