PIH - Thetis Lake Relay

November 11, 2009

This is the third year that I have participated in the Thetis Lake Relay.  It's a fun event that transforms an individual sport into a team event - with teams of up to 4 people completing 4 laps around upper and lower Thetis Lakes.  The total distance is approximately 20 km (each lap is just under 5 km).  This year I entered with a team of 3 other fast PIH women: Julie Van Veelan, Camie Bentham and Claire Morgan. I was looking forward to the event, knowing that we had a chance of placing.  It's amazing how popular this race is - there were 149 teams with 600 people participating.  It's great to see such a low-key event (where everyone is responsible for timing themselves) see so much interest.

About a week before the event, I went for a run at Thetis Lake in the pouring rain.  It was an incredibly soggy run, and there were puddles everywhere. If the day of the Relay was anything like this one, I thought, it would be one wet run.

Luckily, the day of the Relay was beautiful. I woke up and was amazed to see the sun shining outside.  Shane and I got to the race just barely in time for the start.  I wasn't running until the second leg, so I wasn't pressed for time, but as Shane was running solo, he barely had enough time to register, get into his running attire and down some liquid before the start.  5-4-3-2-1- and they were off.  I jogged over to see the start, and then I headed out for a warm-up run.  I'm not always consistent in doing a warm-up before a race, but I usually do them before either a short race or a hilly one.  As I'd been battling some tiredness in the past few days, I was curious to see how my body would feel.  I did a 15 minute warm-up and didn't feel too tired.  I had just enough time to make it to the start line to see Julie bounding along the beach to the transfer point.  Then, I was off.

I knew that out of my team, I was the slowest runner, but I hoped to be able to push hard and have times not too far off of theirs.  Immediately, my breathing became laboured, as I pushed to get into a rhythm.  One young boy passed me during the first few hundred meters of the lap, but shortly thereafter I passed him back, as he had slowed down quite a bit.

I enjoyed the first half of the course.  The trail winded around, with a few small undulations up and down- it  wasn't too mucky, although there were definitely a few muddy sections.  I kept pretty consistent with the other racers around me as I rounded the lakes.  I passed a few people, but wasn't passed by anyone else during this first section.  I knew these trails fairly well, but I was still surprised to see the half-way mark sign.  At that point I thought that for sure I was further than half-way.  I already felt tired, and think I went out too fast, as I didn't feel that I would be able to sustain that pace for the rest of the loop.  It's a short loop, but it still provides the possibility of a start that is too fast to maintain- especially since the last part of the course is the hardest.

As I rounded my way past Upper Thetis Lake towards Lower Thetis Lake, I knew that the three bugger hills still lay ahead.  While these aren't particularly large hills, they are steep and definitely take something out of you at the end of your race.  During this loop, I had managed to pass a few people, slowly decreasing the gap between myself and them.  It was fun to spot someone up ahead that I thought I could pass, and try to narrow the gap and finally pass them.  Near the end of the race, I had been running near one other woman, although I hadn't been able to pass her.  As we crossed the last bridge, I gave a little push and made my way past her.  However, next came the first of the three hills.  The first one nearly took it out of me and I felt like I might vomit.  The woman who I'd just passed ran past me up the hill.  On each of the subsequent hills, I would catch up to her on the downhill and she would make up some distance on the up hills.  After the last hill, there was a nice amount of sustained downhill.  I was able to let my legs go as I descended, and made my way past her just at the end of the loop.  I ran onto the sand and knew that my loop was almost over.  I passed onto Camie, and made my way to the side to catch my breath.

I was pretty happy with how I'd run - finishing in 21.22 - and I was especially elated that I hadn't felt too tired during my lap.  After finishing, I headed out for a second lap, at a more controlled pace.  It was interesting to watch the other racers from a non-racer perspective.  I was surprised that during my cool-down lap I still managed to pass a few people.  It was interesting to observe my competitive spirit - even though I wasn't racing, if I observed someone up ahead who I thought I could pass, I would pick up the pace to get by.   Even going at a slower pace, the three hills at the end still took it out of me.  I was happy to see the beach up ahead, as I finished my run.

I went and stood in the lake for five minutes, as I waited for Shane to finish his race.  He came by in just over 1:10, good enough for first place in the solo category.  Then, we waited to see Claire finish it off for our team.  Overall our total time was 1:21:08.  Good enough for second in our category of Senior Women.  It was a fabulous day - no rain, fairly mild, and not too muddy on the trails.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and I was happy to have raced a solid race with such other speedy women.

Now I have a couple of weeks off of racing, and then three in a row to finish off my racing season for the year: PIH Gunner Shaw, Gunner Shaw in Vancouver and PIH Stewart Mountain.