Sun, Smiles and a Record Crowd for the 22nd Vancouver Sun Run

Yesterday - April 23, 2006, in the 22nd running of the Vancouver Sun Run, a record crowd took to the streets under blue skies in beautiful downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada.  Over 50,000 (50,746 to be exact) registered entrants participated in the Vancouver Sun Run 10K and the 2.5K mini Sun Run, turning the Sun Run into the country’s largest 10K running event.

Similar to the Boston Marathon one week ago, the top male and female finishers were from Kenya.  On a side note, maybe the more serious competitors should try some training in Kenya before their next road racing event, or is it just simply genetics?  Isabella Ochichi was the top overall female, completing the race in 30 minutes and 55 seconds, not only did she complete the race with over one minute between her and the second place finisher, she also broke the 1996 record by 10 seconds.  The top male was Gilbert Okari with a final time of 28 minutes 25 seconds.

Myself and my family joined the massive crowds in Vancouver for the run.  As we stood in the starting gate waiting to move up through the crowds to actually start running we were aware and totally fascinated that the winners had already finished the race.  The views, WEATHER, bands and enthusiasm was widespread throughout the throngs of runners, walkers and wheelchair entrants.

I love the Vancouver Sun Run for what it does for our fitness conscious community.  For some it is just an addition to their normal workout routine, for others, who are not regular runners, it is their yearly goal to complete the Sun Run.  The Sun Run helps us to stay on top of our fitness goals and to be more mindful of our health, all the while being supported through weekly articles with training and injury advice, running gear suggestions, personal stories and a running and walking program printed in the Vancouver Sun Newspaper.

Vancouver Sun Run

[photopress:tri.jpg,thumb,alignleft]I have been running now for over 20 years and love it. In the past I have led Sun Run training groups and have shared so many tears of joy with Sun Run participants who achieve goals that they never thought possible. My greatest “Sun Run” joy was training my 12 year old daughter to run the Sun Run in 2005. After the initial excitement of signing up, she experienced days of frustration and disappointments even to the point of giving up the training and not wanting to participate. However, she made it to the starting gate, got caught up in all the mass excitement and ran the whole Sun Run in just over an hour. I have never seen her so proud of her abilities as when she ran through that finish line and we shared our greatest tears of joy. She has already entered for Sun Run 2006 - with confidence!

Is your child a runner?  If so, I would like to share a few tips that I feel are important if you are going to train with your child.
1.  Make sure your child has appropriate running shoes.
2.  Let your child drive the running program - not you.  It is important that they have fun!
3.  Children need to drink water every 10-15 minutes when exercising.  Either run on routes that have plenty of opportunities for water.  My daughter likes to run with her camelback.  It also makes a great diversion from the actual run, when she has something else to fool around with.
4.  Watch the temperature - your child is more susceptible to extreme temperatures then you are.