Victoria Marathon Race Review

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - the 29th running of the Victoria Marathon.  My 3rd running of the Victoria Marathon.  Along with the marathon, there was also a 8K and half marathon events taking place.  The marathon started promptly at 8:30.  And prompt it was, I know because I was still sitting on the porta potty.  That was a first for me.  The lineup for the porta potty just didn’t go quick enough even through the encouragement of the fellow marathoner standing in front of me as he called out to those in the porta potty to “pick up the pace”.  It didn’t matter too much, as by the time I got out, scuttled across the racers (as they were moving forward) to meet my husband on the other side and run through the starting gates, only 1 minute and 40 seconds had lapsed.  Because we were using timing chips, it was all irrelavent.

Other than the shaky start - the race day itself was beautiful.  I had heard that there were 10,000 racers out that morning.  We were treated with sunny, clear weather and phenominal views!  The race course itself winds, twists and undulates and was much more challenging than I had remembered it being in 1997.  Runners run through downtown Victoria and Beacon Hill Park before hitting the coastline and smelling the salt water and feasting their eyes on stunning water views.

Personally, my race was great.  I was pumped and in a very positive frame of mind.  After the half-way mark, I was still feeling great, so I just kept my pace up.  I passed runners who were starting to fade and I have to admit that it felt great and fuelled my fire even more.  My goal for this race was to beat my Vancouver Marathon time earlier in the year (4:24), I didn’t care how much I took off, but I knew that I had trained more for Victoria and had the distance under me.  You can only imagine how proud I felt when I came through the finish line at 4:04 - a whole 20 minutes off my Vancouver time.  Next year my Boston Marathon qualifying time is 4:05 - I now think that I can do it!

Innovative Fitness Half-Marathon

The Innovative Fitness Half Marathon, Ekiden Relay, 5K took place yesterday in “sunny” White Rock. This is a great community event with lots of local runners taking part. I enjoy going out to a race with so many familiar faces. Along with the Half Marathon that we took part in, is a relay event with 4 legs and also a 5 K, so there is really something for everyone. With the relay exchanges throughout the course there’s loads of encouragement along the way and varying speeds of runners. Just when you thought that you were into your run and found your pace, you’d be overtaken by a speedy relay runner with fresh legs.

It really is a well organized event with plenty of food, coffee, juices before the run and more than enough water and Gatorade stops along the run course. You started at the new South Surrey track with a loop of the track in the beginning of the run and at the end of the run, which helps the spectators to become more involved and cheer on their runners. The course was very scenic taking you through South Surrey and White Rock, twisting and winding and keeping the runners quite challenged. After the run, again there was loads of food and drinks and I really liked that the awards got underway promptly. No waiting around. All the volunteers were gratefully recognized with prizes. The grand prize was a mountain bike donated by Penninsula Cycles which you had to be there to claim. It just so happened that the woman that won the bike was walking the half marathon course at the time of the draw. I was delighted to see that the race organizers overruled and decided to make an exception and awarded the bike to her even though she wasn’t present at the drawing. Kudos to the organizers!!

Half Marathon winning times were:
Men - Drew Nicholson - 1:17:34
Female - Mary Walsh - 1:29:12

My Race(???)

I was very excited when I woke up yesterday morning to cloudy but clear skies – what a relief after the pouring rain that we had all day Saturday. The temperature was about 14 C. I felt well rested, not having run for 3 full days. I was ready to run.

The half marathon fell perfectly 3 weeks before the Victoria Marathon, so was a no brainer to include in our marathon training schedule. My last long run was 1 week ago, where we ran 23 miles and I felt great – mentally and physically. I was looking forward to running the half. I haven’t run a half marathon for six years now and have never clocked over 2 hours. I didn’t want today to be that day but feared that it could be. I think my times have gotten a bit slower over the years. However, my run went great. I felt strong for most of it and I was determined to beat that 2 hour mark. I was ecstatic when I crossed the finish line at 1:58:43. Roll on Victoria Marathon – I’m ready!

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