The day started out well, I woke up, decided not to shower (I normally do to wake myself up). I just got dressed, grabbed a bite and headed out the door. I arrived with plenty of time and it was very chilly, I kept my eye out for the people from the Running Room I go to on Wednesdays/Sundays, but I didn't see anyone. I looked at the mile long bathroom line-up and decided that wasn't going to happen so I headed straight to the fire to stay warm:
I wore my new "powered by chocolate milk" shirt, lulu swiftly long sleeve, and my 'magic pants' (CWX 3/4 compression tights)
They had 3 different starts for the half marathon (each consisting of 200 people), the girl I was standing with convinced me to start in the second corral, I was planning on the 3rd (just in case there were a bunch of elite runners) but I decided to go for it. It ended up being fine since it was up to each individual, there were people of every level in that starting group. I always get nervous especially when it's up to the individual because people often place themselves in the wrong group. I remember when I did the Sun Run, there were people with strollers in the 1:00 finish corral. I wish that all the race organizers, especially with the larger races, made you prove your finish time with a recent result from a race.
Anyways, within a couple minutes of lining up we were on our way. I felt good for the first 5 or so kilometres... then we hit 240th, the first of the substantial hills in the race. I knew they were coming but I still wasn't ready. I pushed as much as I could but I ended up walking the last half of it. At this point, I knew I was behind where I needed to be and I sort of lost motivation, I was still running 10/1s but I was feeling pretty down. Just then, a friend from the Running Room tapped my back and ran up beside me! It was great, I totally needed that push. Tracey was on a slightly different 10/1 schedule because she started in the 3rd group, so I got on hers and we ran together. She is a faster runner than me, but that's what I needed to get me back up to a decent time. We powered through the last of the hills and down a really curvy hill (which was really rough on my knee) and then down onto river road, a good flat stretch. I told Tracey to go ahead somewhere around the 15km mark, I knew I needed to slow down just slightly as my knee was starting to give me trouble after all the up/down. I adjusted my pace and decided I needed to get this over with. I'll admit this was probably one of the most difficult races for me, besides Nevada, I can't think of a tougher one. I wanted nothing more than to be done. I chuckled slightly at these signs, there were various different sayings:
Not a great picture but I wasn't really stopping: It says "Chop down your time!" with a picture of a man chopping wood.
My laughter was brief, finally we were back on Glover Road, a stretch I drive almost every day. I was so close, 2km left... There was no more stopping. Finally... finally I was done, with a time of 02:20:49, not so bad considering my PR is 02:17:38. After that difficult of a course, I'll take it. Even though I live in Fort Langley and I love it, I didn't love this race. It was beautiful and the organization was all good but it was a personal struggle for me. I've never loved hill training and this pushed my limits, not as bad as Nevada but it was REALLY hard. Thank you Tracey for helping me get through the majority of the race and thank you to all the organizers/volunteers of Try Events!
When I got home I was eager to put my CEP compression socks on, have some chocolate milk, and relax... well relax with Griffin, so I think I sat down for a minute or two...
I can't believe I've done 10 half marathons... 4/16 done for the year, I'm well on my way to completing the 13in2013 challenge! By the end of the year I'm definitely going to be out of room on my medal rack, I'll have to look for something different, perhaps when I go to the Disney Wine & Dine Expo (I remember they had some neat ones at Tinkerbell).
So now it's on to a couple of shorter distance Sunday's and then the Golden Ears Half Marathon followed by NYC!
Maybe I'd like some wine with my whine fest, yes, yes that sounds much better than cheese...
