Race Report: Vancouver "First Half" Half Marathon

Yesterday was race day for me: the Vancouver First Half Half Marathon.

My good friend and running buddy, who I've done most of my races with and all of the "big" ones, is on a bit of a hiatus from running at the moment so race morning was a little different, getting myself organized with no one to message/Facebook about the event. Thank God for Twitter to keep me entertained (distracted?) while I ate breakfast. This has become my pre-long run staple: oatmeal with almond butter stirred in, and a sliced banana. Fabulous. And coffee.

Normally before a race, a couple of old friends drop by the night before to offer their own special brand of encouragement. They hadn't shown up the night before, and weren't even by the morning of while I was getting ready. Where were they? I began to worry. And then they turned up on the drive in. My good friends Nervousness and Self-Doubt. I was wondering where they had gotten to!

Hubby dropped me at the start while he went to find parking. Actually, he dropped me at the porta-potties beside the start line, and they were, oddly enough for 30 minutes before start-time, completely desserted. I popped into one and emerged as though from a time machine, to long line-ups. I swear I was not in there that long. This is really just to illustrate what a trendsetter I am.

It was a gorgeous sunny Vancouver day. The weather report had promised nothing but sunshine. No worries about keeping dry, or even working hard to stay that warm - once you get going. Here I am huddled with my daughter before it's time to be herded into the start corral. Keeping warm in my husband's jacket. I love him.

I head in to every race hoping to PR. My best half marathon time was set 3 months prior, at 2:25:35. And this new PR was a huge gain for me. My previous best Half time was 2:45:14 so that was an improvement of nearly 20 minutes. I hoped to finish under 2:25 but didn't think taking a ton of time off was possible, given the big drop a few months prior. Plus I had dropped a couple of 5-lb dumbbells on my foot in November and had to take three weeks off running. Then I had surgery in January and missed a long run. Still, the goal tacked up on my bulletin board for this one was 2:10-2:25. My first goal was to get under 2:25. My second was to beat superwoman and local runner Betty Jean McHugh, whose best time for this race is 2:27. And oh yeah, she's in her 80s.

I started out, a little on the fast side, but feeling comfortable, loving the weather and that calm feeling that washes over me as soon as the start gun goes and we're off running. At about the 5K mark, I did the math and thought for sure I would come in on the low end of my goal time but wondered if I could sustain the pace I was running at. Around that time, a dozen seagulls decided to take flight from the grass beside me. A bird swarming. I have a bird phobia. This was the low point of the race, I put my arms around my head, kept running, and was sure had I not had ear-buds in that I would have heard a chorus of "Mine. Mine. Mine."

When I hit the 10K timing mat, my Garmin said 1:01:15 - which is faster than I have ever run 10K before. Ever. I thought to myself "I'm going to kill my time. I am a BEAST. I'm going to eat a hamburger tonight - and eat both sides of the bun!" That last part was totally the endorphins talking.

With about 6K to go, still feeling really comfortable, I realized I was probably going to finish better than the low end of my goal time. I'd been doing the math all the way through the run and kept coming in at under 2:10 but telling myself that I would probably slow down in the second half. But that didn't happen. I just felt awesome. And strong. Coming up the short hill in the last kilometre to the finish, I thanked GEB and Hammond (my hill training nemeses) and powered past the people ahead of me. Here I am coming into the finish, big smile because I am so happy with my time.

So what was my time? Official chip time: 2:07:45. I felt like a friggin' rock star.
(Superwoman and octogenarian BJ McHugh finished in 2:32. She's my hero.)

I'm pretty surprised to have taken close to 18 minutes off of a time that was a 19-minute PR just a few short months ago. Especially since I'd lost some training time, a long run, and reduced the number of days a week I run in order to accommodate Half Ironman training and be a little kinder to my knees. I have concluded there are 2 things contributing to this:

1) Running the 5K time trial with the tri-club I joined, and pushing to try and crank out a sub-30 5K (first ever) caused me to question some of the limits I had placed on myself. I'd never be able to run a sub-30 5K. And then I did. And the self-talk becomes: You can do it. Are you willing to work for it?

2) FOOD. Average daily calories in the weeks leading up to the November half marathon were 800-1100. Average calories in the last 2 weeks prior to this one: 1800-2000. If someone had told me that I could improve my race times by eating more, I'd have dismissed the idea out of hand. This is very tied up with the challenge of living on the "other side" of weight loss for me. I'm trying to focus on body composition changes (getting leaner) and performance goals, and that requires more food. But 20+ years of working to lose weight have trained me to restrict and that less is better. It's a different world. But like running a sub-30 5K and setting a new benchmark for what's possible, hopefully these experiences will help me to eat the damn food without worrying that disaster is looming.

Next race to be conquered: Vancouver Marathon.