Sun Run Race Report

What a weekend!  I am E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D!!!!

Friday morning I went into Vancouver with a few of my running friends.  We had to pick up our race packages and figured while we were down there we would do a little, easy run on the Stanley Park Seawall.  It was an absoluely gorgeous day and I REALLY enjoyed myself.  Afterwards we went to a nice little Sushi place .. YUM!

I had been having some pretty big fears about getting an upset stomach again during a race.  So all day Saturday I was pretty obsessed about what I ate.  I ate pretty clean and included a banana and basically plain pasta (which I like) for dinner - which was eaten early.

When I woke up at 6AM on Sunday my tummy felt off, but an hour later everything was fine.  I didn't eat breakfast, as planned.  I wasn't hungry at all and I didn't want to risk anything.  We left home around 7:20.  We had planned to take the Sky Train downtown (as is suggested) but my husband missed the turn-off and traffic was flowing so nicely that we just kept going.  It turned out to be a good choice.  We got there way faster than we would have on transit and even managed to find free parking - a small miracle in itself downtown Vancouver. 

Though the parking we did find was about 2Km or so away from the start.  We jogged very slowly over to the start, with a short bathroom stop at a Starbucks (WAY better than the huge line-ups for the porta-potties at the start area).

We still had plenty of time and walked through the crowds to find our starting corral.  When we got there we found a couple of people from the walkers division had pushed their way in.  This really bothers me.  I heard them talking and they were planning to walk the whole thing anyway.  So why would you jump the line and get in other peoples way???  I found out today that at least one of these people didn't even finish the race.

This was from us to the starting line.  There was probably 10 times this many people behind us.

Towards the start

Now ... you know it's going to be a good race when your bib numbers include two of your favourite numbers (17 and 7).

Waiting to get into the corrals

The elites took off then it was our turn to move towards the start line. We managed to get ourselves up pretty close to the start line. That was wonderful! Immediately we got off to a good pace. About 10 seconds into the race my husband gave me a kiss and said he'd see me at the finish line.

The start was incredible!  We moved up a division from last year and it was an awesome decision.  Yes, there was still alot of weaving, but in general most of us were pretty even paced and most runners in this section seemed experienced and were respectful of each others space.  So nice!

I felt fantastic.  I've been having off/on pain in my leg and have been taking things pretty easy to let it heal.  I had NO pain during the run ... and still don't.

I heard my Garmin go off at mile 1.  It seemed early and I debated looking at it, but caved ... so curious.  I nearly fell over! 7:25 for my first mile.  WHAT?  I have NEVER done a 7:25 mile, even on a single mile.  I think a grin came on my face then that never really went away for the rest of the day.  My aim was to have an average pace of 8:30/mile.    I was ecstatic to have so much wiggle room.

Mile 2 my average pace was still well below my goal.  Then mile 3 ... I was still well below ... 7:42 average.  My time at the 5K mark was 23:53 - blowing nearly a minute off my previous 5K PR ... and this was for a 10K.  I was in shock. 

Though in all fairness I will say that this course leads itself to giving you a wicked time on the first 5K.  Alot of gradual downhill and easy flats.  Not there is much in the way of hills on this course, but they are definitely in the second half of the course.

It was getting pretty hot and I could feel fatigue setting in.  I started dreaming of finish times that I had not even considered.  I already knew I was up for a killer time and decided to just enjoy the rest of the race.  I could kill myself, but decided to leave a little on the table and just be super happy with what was going on.

I had to take a moment to pull out my camera when these guys went passed.  They were hilarious and it was quite fun running in their vicinity for the last few Kms because the crowd really got going for them.

Around 8K I was T-I-R-E-D.  My body felt fine and my breathing was fine ... I was just a bit drained.  The heat was probably the biggest factor as we haven't had very warm weather lately.  We came up over the last bridge and I picked it up a notch.  Finished my last 1/2 Km at 7:19 pace.

Final time .....

50:59 (chip time)

60 / 1203 Age Group (35-39)

3885 / 39855 Overall

I was in the top 10%.  WHOA!  I still can't believe it.

My goal for this year was to run a 10K under 52 minutes.  WOOOHOOO!

And yes ... I did follow through on my promise.  Here is me with my shirt off on the streets of Vancouver. 

Though I don't believe I made the news as there was a stabbing incident going on at this time.  We didn't witness it, but did see an ambulance about 10 minutes after this picture was taken.  There apparently was also a death later that day, which police have classified a suicide. Something about a man taking off his clothes (including a race day shirt) and going into the water. 

I knocked 8 MINUTES off of last years time.  Never, in my wildest dreams......

Funny thing, there are four ladies I went to school with that do this race together every year.  They have been WAY faster than me.  Last year 3 of them finished under 49 minutes.  This year ... I beat them all!  Two of them by less than a second .. but still. 

My husband rocked his time too.  Last year he was about 52:40 ... he took 7 minutes off and finished in 45:43.  WOW!  I bow to him.  Doubt I'll ever be that fast.

What an amazing day and an amazing race.

I had a smile on my face ALL day!

Heidi

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