Monday, November 1, 2010

Race Recap & Halloween pics

Another amazing weekend!

First, there was Fran's Virtual Pink Dress Run. For me it wasn't a long or fast one, but it was a fun one!  I had planned to participate both Saturday and Sunday, but as you will see below, I wasn't able to work in the pink on Sunday.

We went out for another nighttime trail run. This time on a safer trail. It was only 2.5 miles long, but it sure is alot of fun running in the dark. So quiet, a bit mysterious, challenging not being able to see exactly where you are.  We put a flashing LED on the dog and let her rip around. She looked like a little UFO.  Here's me in my cheesy pinkness:


Sunday morning we had a race.  It was the 40th Annual James Cunningham Seawall Race.  If you are ever in Vancouver, take the opportunity to run around the seawall.  It's just gorgeous!  And if you are local, try out this race.  The distance was a bit odd at 9.5K (5.9 miles) but it is the distance of the entire seawall - which the race represents.

As I said the other day, this race was about participation, location & FUN!  It was definitely all of that and more.

When we started out I had no intention to actually "race".  I was going to run at a comfortably fast pace and just enjoy the route.  At the start line I contemplated running with our friends, but quickly decided that I wanted to run a little faster than that.  However, I didn't bother weaving through traffic like I would normally if I were racing it.  If traffic opened up I moved through, but I took in the scenery and enjoyed checking out all the costumes.

I had made a conscious decision to NOT look at my Garmin until at least the 5K mark - just because.  I wanted to run by feel and just see what happened.  I expected to finish between 55 minutes up to an hour, or about a 9:30 pace, give or take.  Around 3K though I was feeling a bit tired and wondered if I even had it in me.  I've been running alot of 10:00 paces lately due to a variety of reasons and had no idea if I was capable of more right now.

At the 5K mark my husband asked me if we were at a 9:30 pace.  I checked and was shocked to see that we were at an 8:35!  Especially since we were running in costumes (which you will see shortly).  This inspired me to put in the effort to hold, or improve, on this pace.

By about 8K I wanted to be done.  This is tyipically where I fade on this distance.  I just wanted it to be over.  I was HOT and parts of my costume were beginning to bother me.  My husband also started to get bothered by chafing from his get-up.  But I wanted to finish strong and do the best I could do on that day.

We crossed the finish line together at 50:02.  My Garmin said 49:59, so I was happy to be under 50 minutes, but I must have missed the first timing mat.  Oh well, close enough.  Our average pace was 8:27, which is faster than the last race I did (without costume and with a faster start). 

I was 10th out of 59 in my age category.  I'm pleased with that!

Every race sure teaches me more and more about my strong & weak points and I'm learning where to make little adjustments.

Now ... for the costumes.  We had decided as a group to go as cats, however my husband couldn't wrap his head around that for himself (and neither could I really).  He likes to go big or stay home.  When we were in high school he dressed as a caveman for Halloween once and spent the whole day grunting instead of talking and he ran around hunched up and sniffing everyone, climbing on lockers.  He considered dragging out this costume again ... which immediately made me think of the Geico commercials "So Easy A Caveman Can Do It".  I told him if he was going to wear the costume, he had to carry a sign with that saying on it.

Here we are pre-race:






As soon as we arrived people starting asking for pictures.  The race photgrapher grabbed us immediately.  I can't find any race photos posted yet, but I'm sure we will be in some.  The entire race people were laughing at his sign and couldn't believe he was running in that outfit.

The sign provided quite a bit of wind resistance and by the last half of the race he said his shoulders were feeling it.  My boa wasn't nearly as annoying as I thought it would be, but certainly added some unnecessary warmth.  I worried that feathers would get stuck all over me, but it wasn't an issue.  The great thing about my feathers was that they fell off constantly, so our friends behind us had a good laugh knowing they were trailing us the whole time.  They kept watching to see if my feathers trailed off to a washroom - which I'm pleased was not an issue this race (yippee!).

After the race we scored WELL!  There were a ton of door prizes to be given out and we stayed for it all.  They started out calling bib numbers, but most of the people weren't there, so they resorted to calling random things - which is my favourite!  I'm very keen when it comes to that game and almost always leave with something.

They called out for the first person who has bunny ears ... first person who is bald ... etc.  Finally they got to the first leopard and I dove to the stage and won myself a $10 Subway card.  Moments later they called out for someone with ears (as part of a costume).  I didn't want to go as I had just won something, so I shoved my friend who was in the same type of costume.  She was a moment late, but she sprinted and then literally flung herself on stage doing a roll into the announcer saying "Me, I have ears!".  It was hilarous.  She won a $50 gift certificate to a swanky restaurant.  I don't remember what the call was for, but my husband then won a visor and key chain.

The announcer was running out of ideas and so she called for the first three people to do 5 push-ups.  My friend and I didn't even consult one another.  We both lunged to the stage and dropped for 5.  Though I literally dropped!  I went down and crashed belly first to the ground with barely the strength to get up.  But I squeaked them out and I won a $25 running room gift certificate and she won a $10 Subway card.  SCORE!  It amazes me how many people don't even bother trying for these things.

Then it was time to announce the costume award for the day.  They chose 3 people to come up to the stage and then the crowd got to cheer individually for each one to choose the winner.  My husband was among the 3 ... and he easily won!  WOOOHOOO.  I have quite the hollering cheer so that helped, but he had tons of crowd support.  Funny thing was he didn't even know there was going to be a contest.  Numerous people came up to him earlier saying they hoped he would win the prize.  He won a Polar Heart Rate Monitor.  I'd say overall we more than got our low entry fees back.

Aside from the prizes, it was a fantastic race and I will definitely enter it again.  The location is gorgeous.  The entry fee is low.   Seeing so many people in costumes is fun.  Just awesome!

This is post race, at home again.  Make-up a little smudged, but still happy.  After this I showered and crashed.


Keep Active!

Heidi
♥♥♥♥♥

10 comments:

Jennifer said...

Great post. Very inspiring! And I love the costumes!

Jennifer

kimert said...

Awesome race! Love the costumes!! You guys totally rock!!

Marlene said...

Totally loving the costumes!!

SCORE on the prizes! Congrats on the race too. :)

Fran said...

What a great post to read, I enjoyed every minute of it. I love all of your costumes, fantastic! And of course I love the pink of Saturday!

You've won some cool prices, now go use that $25 certificate for a running jacket you wanted.

Thanks for participating in the virtual run, it's amazing to see people all across the world run "together".

linda said...

Thank you for the great race report! As the Race Director of the event, I'm proud to be a part of it all and to be able to provide a fun-filled day for our participants! Congrats!

Anonymous said...

What a fun race! And I loved the outfits. You guys looked so cute. I think that would be have been hard to run with a sign in hand - so props to the hubs! And you looked super in your outfit too! And yay for ALL the prizes!

Laura said...

Prizes are the best..great costumes!

Fran said...

You'll have to check out my blog tomorrow! I've got a surprise for you on it!

Nej said...

LOVE the costumes!!!! I really need to come up there an run with you guys....looks like it's a hoot! :-) :-)

Syl said...

loved the costumes Heidi, you guys looked great - I haven't been to a halloween party as an adult, never dress up but it looks like a blast! We are usually to busy getting the kids organized for their stuff ;-)