Victoria Half Marathon

This was pretty much a perfect weekend! Although many people have heard that a ferry caught fire or something on Friday morning, my commute over to the island really wasn't too bad. Only the shocking line and anxiety of getting on the boat was a result, and even that wasn't too much trouble because we left early enough that we could catch the next boat.

So Winston and I departed for the island with hopes of two new PB's! A few other UBC Triathlon team members were running as well, Melanie Van Soren and Kelsey Foote ran the half marathon with Winston and I, and Ceilidh Curtis ran the full marathon with his sister.

Winston and I stayed in the hostel which proved to be a pretty sweet lodging, I got to sleep at 10:15 and was good to go come my 5:30 alarm the next morning.

Had my standard bagels and gatoraide breakfast and at ten to seven we were out the door walking/jogging the 8 blocks to the race start for 7:30.

My main concern coming into this race was going to be my fitness. Having been sick I knew that I wouldn't be able to go out as hard as I normally would and wasn't sure how my lungs would hold out.

Conditions for the race were perfect, roughly 5-8*C when the race started and about 12-13 when the race ended. I remember thinking once at about 6-7k that my wrist were cold but after that I never thought about it again.

Deciding that the best game plan would be to start off conservative, I wanted to run my first 10k in around 39 (rather than my previous plan of 37:30ish).

1) 3:49 - 3:49

2) 3:52 - 7:41

3) 4:00 - 11:42

4) 3:46 - 15:28

5) 4:00 - 19:29

6) 4:09 - 23:38

7) 4:08 - 27:47

8) 3:58 - 31:46

9) 4:02 - 35:48

10) 3:58 - 39:46

I ended up going a little slower than expected but sub 40 was still fine. I knew I was well in control and could hold this pace. The first few km were really hard because still being a little sick I had a really stuffed nose and throat and it took about 8-9k to clear up. Water stations were REALLY important for me to clear my throat and mouth. Km 5/6/7 were all kinda hilly in the park and are the explanation for the slow pace.

Once I saw that things were going well I decided I just wanted to try and hold 4 minute pace. This was going well until about 12k when I had a really bad aid station. Marathon walkers could start early to ensure finishing at a reasonable hour, and as a result right about this time is when I was catching up to them. Right before an aid station a woman jumped in front of me because she needed my powergel that I already had my hand stretched out for. This made me have to stop to get another one (I really needed to fuel up because I wouldn't have a chance again until 17k). This only really caused me about 2-3 seconds which shouldn't be a big deal, however, I lost the group I was running with and you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get back into a rhythm once its been broken. Even though I was working harder, I was losing ground.

11) 4:05 - 43:52

12) 4:04 - 47:56

13) 4:08 - 52:05

14) 4:00 - 56:05

15) 3:59 - 1:00:05

16) 4:05 - 1:04:10

17) 4:04 - 1:08:15

18) 4:05 - 1:12:20

My goal continued to be run 4 minute pace and as you can see I hover between 5-20 seconds over pace. Then all of a sudden km 19 was slight downhill and wow, a 3:46km. This brought me back into contention for sub 4 minute pace and when I realized I had a little zip in my legs I decided that 4 minute pace (1:24:24) was no longer my goal, but I wanted to run sub 1:24:00. The last mile was definitely the hardest one of the race, rolling little hills and lots of turns. I had to fight really hard to go sub 1:24. Hitting the flags at 100m I could see the clock ticking past 43,44,45 seconds so I just gave'r and managed to go under the flag in a gun time of 1:23:59! SUCCESS!

19) 3:46 - 1:16:06

20) 3:48 - 1:19:54

21.1) 4:03 - 1:23:57 (1.1km)

Last Mile in 5:58

Last 800 2:58

Last 400 1:25

My final chip time was 1:23:57. I'm super pleased with this especially since I was so unsure about my fitness. The only kicker, I placed 6th in my age group, 4th and 5th were the two runners ahead of me and only by seconds. Oh well.

After this successful day I decided that I wanted to put in another hard month and see what I could do at the fall classic in November. The season never ends!

Thanks for reading.

Oh! and this is a PB, by 6 minutes!

Two other PB's on the day, Winston beat his two year record by 19 seconds and Melanie beat her time by 8 minutes I believe. So great day.

Photos to come.