07.05.06
Vancouver International Half Marathon
Well it was time for me to run a half marathon. Working in a running shop and having customers come in and talk about races all the time made me decide it was time to step up to the plate myself. I decided to run the Vancouver Half Marathon. 21k of fun!!!
After going to the Hockey the previous night (My Giants are 2 games to zero in the best of 7 WHL Hockey Championships) i was ready to get as much sleep as i could. I had planned to get up out of bed at 5:20 to be ready for Todd to pick me up 6:10. During the night i got worried as to what time it was, and for good reason too, i had set my alarm for 6:20 not 5:20, and it was now 5:50! Crap! I looked outside and it was just what i hadn’t wanted. about 5 degrees and raining. I raced around threw down some corn flakes, and next thing i knew Todd and Laura were at the door. After picking up Sara and Nathalie, who run in the store’s clinic, it was down to the start at BC Staduim. Todd and Laura dropped us off and said he’d meet me to grab my bag before the race.
Having been rushing around at home i had not had time to do the usual pre race mens room visit. Unfortunately the line for the men’s was really long, which meant i spent most of the pre race time lining up. After getting done in the Men’s it was only minutes away from start, i was running around trying to find Todd to no avail. Running with a backpack wasn’t what i had planned. Luckily i ran into one of the stores better customers who said she’d look after it until she could pass it off onto someone else. By this time the half marathon had started and i joined in towards the back of the pack crossing the start line four minutes after the start, thank god that the race is timed by timing chips so you get an exact time.
For the first two to three kilometers i was running through heavy traffic, but eventually it thinned out enough for me to get into more of a rhythm. I had been expecting to run about 4:45 per kilometer pace but found myself running closer to 4:30. Luckily i was getting instant feedback from my running computer. I felt good at 4:30 and settled in wondering if it would come back to haunt me later. I went through the 10k mark in 44 and a bit and felt good. At about the 12k mark was the big hill on the course, i knew if i get get up the hill in one piece then i would be able to get home from there. Despite two aid stations not receiving there water supplies, forcing competitors to run for more than 10ks without any supplies I was able to continue at a good pace despite being unable to wash down the gu i had consumed. That wasn’t sitting to well. In the end I think i might have just run a negative split to go through in 1:32:53.
I was out there representing; running the race in my Port Adelaide guernsey. A few people who were spectating obviously recognised it and yelled out a few Australian comments.
All in all, it was an ok day, with the exception of the water station debarcle, which has me wanting to write a letter to the editor of the paper, which is also the race’s sponsor complaining.
Anyway i am done.
Aaron