Sun Run 2009

Try and find me. Hint: I'm wearing blue

What a successful day! The UBC Tri Club had a pretty strong showing with ~15 athletes running and we are aiming for the team title. 

Weather was almost perfect for the race. was around 12*C and overcast. Couldn't have asked for anything better.

My pre Sun Run was pretty much the same as last year. Head downtown real early, then hang out in the lobby of a hotel using their bathroom and taking advantage of the heat to pass the time until go time. 

I wasn't feeling so hot before the race. All along I was going at it with a pretty casual attitude. Having done a hard TT effort on Friday along with an abs/legs workout at the gym, followed by a decent ride Saturday I wasn't hoping for anything too spectacular. To go along with this laid back attitude, I justified it alright to have half a pizza for dinner Saturday night instead of my typical pasta dinner. 

Prior to the race my stomach wasn't feeling so hot. Normally before races I'm quite nervous which gets my stomach going and I'll spare you the rest of the details. However, pre-race I was too relaxed and as a result my stomach was a bit upset during the warm up and start of the run. 

Fortunately I was seeded this year, and didn't have to contend with the 55 000 people, and was nicely placed in the first 250.

Check the photo on top, try and see if you can find me. I'll give you a hint. I'm in blue. Also in that photo you can see Facundo, Kevin and Barry. 

Gun went off and there I went. I kept it really controlled the whole race. I wasn't wearing a watch (which is new for me in running races) and so I was just trying to push my limits without going too far. 

Coming up to the finish I had no idea how fast I had gone. I knew I was below 40 minutes, but by how much, who knows. Finally about 150 meters away from the finish line I was able to see the clock tick passed 37:20. Oh MAN! If only I had been wearing a watch and known I was going so fast. If you look at the right hand panel of my blog you'll see my 10k PB is 37:27. I ended up crossing the line in 37:47 (176/55 858). For sure I could have skimmed 20 seconds from the race somewhere. Oh well. For an un-tapered, non nutrition controlled race I think I did quite well. 

Others from the team. Sorry if I forgot anyone:

Facundo Chernikoff: 34:24

Barry Claman: 36:46

Kevin Donak: 36:59

Derek Westra-Luney: 37:11

Amy Kirkham: 38:57

Matt Reeve: 39:05

Winston Guo: 40:37

Andrew Wight: 40:41

Thomas Fritz: 41:47

Claire Askew: 41:53

Jared Penner: 41:55

Nynne Warring: 44:18

Nathaniel Janzen: 45:28

Such speedy friends!

Hopefully we can win the team title. For that they take the top 10 times and add them up.

Running, and doing well has motivated me to want to do some more running races. I've looked up a few in the Vancouver area, so stay tuned. I may be running a few more this summer. 

Oh and in case you couldn't find me in that photo above...