Hallow's Eve - Half-marathon

October 24, 2010

This race is part of the Run the North Shore series in the Vancouver area (trail races).  Every once in a while, I try to seek out races in other cities, to add some variety to the standard fare of races we get on the Island.  While we have a number of excellent races to choose from, it's nice to check out some different venues and trails.  Shane and I also picked this race, as a way to visit friends on the mainland.

The original forecast for the weekend looked ugly - rain and potentially high winds. It looked like it could be a sopping wet day out there.  Luckily race morning we woke up to an overcast sky, but no rain - at least yet.  I went into this race with more calm than many other races.  I felt like there was less pressure, partly because it was a different city and because I didn't know my competition, so I didn't know who I was 'supposed to' be ahead of or behind.  Also, having completed the marathon only two weeks prior, I knew there was the potential that my legs were not quite recovered.

The week prior to the race, my hamstring had still been bugging me -- and I was concerned that it would impair my race.  I could have opted to do the 10 km, but deep down I really wanted to do the half-marathon.  After a wonderful trail run at Thetis Lake the week prior to the race, my stubborness held fast, and I registered for the half-marathon.

As this was a 'Halloween' race, there were a number of people dressed up.  My favorites would have to be the group of men and women dressed up as playboy bunnies, men with wigs and everyone with huge breasts plastered on.  I wondered how comfortable their get-up would be to race in- and if the fake breasts would actually stay on the entire race.

Back to the race -- We lined up at the start line, and soon enough I knew it would be a competitive race.  Tamsin Anstey, a very fast and accomplished trail runner, and Jen Segger, another strong trail runner were both lined up at the start, in addition to Katrina Driver, who held the course record for females. The race director gave us the 10 second countdown and we were off.  Shane and I had previewed the course map so we knew to expect 1 main large climb near the beginning of the race, another secondary steep climb, a long downhill and a final shorter climb near the end. I'd also read that there is a long stair section. Other than that, I didn't know what to expect.


The first kilometre or so was on the road, and then we soon made our way onto the trail.  My main objective in this race was not to get beaten by any woman who was dressed up.  I really didn't know how fast most of these women were, and there very likely could have been a fast woman who'd decided to don an outfit, but it gave me something to strive for.  It ended up that within the first few kilometres I had managed to pass all women who had donned outfits.

At about the 2 km mark, there was a steep descent, that while not very long (about 100 meters), I knew that this was the last climb that we'd need to ascend at the end of the race.  I evaluated it as I went down, knowing that if I'd be able to run it at the end of the race, it would be a fantastic day.  At the top of the climb, the race organizers had littered fake body parts and RIP signs - it was a nice mood lightener.

The trail that we were running on was littered with boardwalks, and it changed between muddy sections and potentially slippery wooden boardwalks.  The boardwalks made the race more treacherous, as I would slow my speed somewhat on them to avoid a nasty fall.  Soon enough, after only a few kilometres we hit the nasty set of stairs.  The stairs were very narrow and were quite long.  I started running them, but soon I slowed to a hike - definitely the longest flight of stairs I've ever experienced in a race. But, unbeknowest to me there was another set of stairs to come just a little ways off.  Around this time, I saw a woman just ahead of me, who I was gaining on.  I put on some speed to try and pass her, and just as I got past I noticed that it actually wasn't a woman, but a man wearing a wig -- it was one of the Playboy Bunnies! It was slightly disappointing, as I thought I'd caught up to another woman, but put a smile on my face at the same time.

Before hitting the main climb, we had a short section of relatively flat trail.  Over the last couple kilometres or so, I'd been running with a group of women.  This was a very odd experience for me, because I'm not used to running with so many women so close together.  At one point, I think there were 4 or 5 of us running in a row.  I passed a number of them on the flattish section, but as the climb began, I was passed back.  Climbs are definitely not my strength, and given that I hadn't done many hills in the past few months, my abilities were even less.  Nonetheless I tromped on, as I watched a number of the women climb on ahead of me.

We hit the highest point just before the 8km mark, then we were into some fun downhill.  My comfort with downhill technical varies - although it often improves in races.  This particular day I was feeling relatively comfortable - unfortunately, it was a narrow trail and I got stuck behind a couple of slower people that I was unable to pass right away.  However, once I got past, I felt like I was able to pick up some good speed on the way down. At this point, I was running right next to Allison Ezzat, from Vancouver.  She knew the trails well and gave me a few tips about what was to come. 

Once we got to the bottom of this hill, there was about a 2 km section of slight uphill on a wider non-technical trail.  This part of the trail was next to a gushing river, and I was able to catch a quick glimpse of the view - but that's all I saw, as I was so engrossed in concentrating on the race and catching my competition, who were just ahead of me.  I was slowly catching up to a few women who were running together on this section, and almost caught up to them, just as we hit the second major climb.

But - I was reduced to a hike as the climb started.  I didn't have it in me to run it -- and let the other women get away.  At this point, Allison passed me, and I was determined to not let her get too far away.  I was able to stay pretty close to her as we made our way up the climb.  It wasn't long, but it was a steep bugger, and I knew that I had to keep pushing it, as there was another woman close behind me.  I felt that as long as I could beat her up the climb, then I could beat her overall, as I was better at the technical downhill.

I got to the top and then there was another fun downhill section - where Allison and I stayed close together.  At this point, I couldn't remember the race course exactly and thought that we were closer to the finish than we were.  As the descent levelled out and we headed onto flatish trail, I started to push my pace, as I figured we were almost at the finish.  However, in reality we still had about 5 kms to go.  As I started to think that the race was over, I really started to hope that the race would soon end.  The last kilometres were back on the trail with lots of boardwalks and muddy sections, and during this section, I couldn't wait for it to end.

For this race, I'd decided to carry a 500 ml handbottle - which added extra weight to my arms.  It was a bit of an annoyance during the race, and after about 15 kilometres, I got tired of carrying around the extra weight and dumped out most of the water.  I thougth I only  had a few kilometres to go, so wouldn't need to water anyway.  However, I had more distance to cover than I thought, and soon thereafter I started feeling dehydrated and wished I'd left more water in my bottle...

After one final major descent, including the mega set of stairs we'd ascended earlier in the race, we hit the final climb of the race.  Allison had pulled away from me a bit by this point and made up even more time on this climb.  I didn't have the climb in me - and felt like the race had taken it out of me.  As predicted I ended up hiking this climb - there was definitely no running for me at that point.  I was soo happy to make it to the top, as I knew that was it.  Now, just a few kilometres of flat and downhill and the race would be done.  Only a few more boardwalks and muddy sections to go!

During these last kilometres I got a horrible pain in my left shoulder.  The pain caused me to slow, as I tried to make it go away.  I tried relaxing my shoulders, massaging it with my right hand - but the pain persisted.  Contrary to what I would have thought, it actually felt better when I hunched my shoulders up.  Luckily, by the time I was spit out onto the last stretch of road, the pain had gone away, and I was able to finish the last bit strong.  Although, I actually did have a moment of confusion near the finish.  I passed a course marshal, who directed me onto a very short trail, and then I popped out on the other side - but I saw two roads in front of me, and I didn't know which one to take.  In actuality both roads led to the same spot, and they were only separated for maybe 100 meters.  But I stopped and yelled: "Where do I go -- I don't know where I am going!"  I didn't get any response, so I headed on, and then realized my confusion was naught.  Oh well - it only cost me a few seconds.

By this time I could smell the finish line -- I put on my speed and blasted down the last hill and was happy to have a downhill finish.  I crossed the line at 2:06:49 (chip time).  Allison had ended up putting a full minute on me in just a few kilometres.  After seeing the results, I felt like I should have pushed more, but was nonetheless happy with my result.  Especially since it was simply a race I threw in last minute, without any specific training for.  I ended up being 8th woman overall (6th in my age category).  Tamsin Anstey took the female win in 1:48:36, 6th overall, beating Katrina Driver by 2.5 minutes.  Blazing fast times. 

Shane had a fantastic race and ended up winning the race - first overall!  He had been battling it out during the entire race with Simon Driver, who holds the course record, but Shane outclimbed him in the last 2 kilometres and ended up beating him by 1 minute.  Shane finished in 1:36:04 -- which is close to my best road half-marathon time! What a crazy fast time!  I was happy to hear he'd won and had such a fantastic race. Race results here.

The rain also mainly held off for us.  The rain started to pick up mid-way through the race, but it didn't bother me too much, as we were under the trees, so it was not a full onslaught.  However, not too long after I finished, it started to completely dump rain -- and many of the competitors got quite wet.  One of the last finishers who I saw come in was completely drenched and was covered in mud from head to toe.  Despite it all, he still had a smile on his face, and had apparently enjoyed the race - rain, mud and all.

I quite enjoyed this race, and was glad that Shane and I decided to head over to try it out.  It was a very well organized event (except for running out of fruit post-race -- but they did go purchase more to please the crowds).  The trails were a joy to run on  -- although I could have done with a few less boardwalks -just to minimize the slip factor.  But overall - huge kudos to the race organizers for a fantastic and fun event!