Thetis Relay

November 11, 2011

I'm writing this a bit out of order, as prior to this race I competed in the Shawnigan Kinsol half-marathon at the end of October.  But, as that will take longer to write up, I thought I'd start with a quick entry about the Thetis Relay.

As always, the Thetis Relay hosted by the Prairie Inn Harriers is a fun and popular event.  This year I joined a team with Cara Obee and her Pura Vida Fitness Bootcamp.  For the first time ever, I was going to run the first leg. I'd always shied away from the first leg, as I wanted to avoid the masses.  But, this year I decided to try something different.

Luckily, the weather cooperated with us. Earlier that morning, it was pouring rain and I was worried that it would be soggy uncomfortable run. However, the weather gods prevailed, and the skies cleared in time for our 1pm start.

I joined the start line with the other eager racers - quite uncertain of how the 5 km loop would go.  I had felt pretty tired during my warm-up and feared that this would not be my best performance.  But, at least it was just a fun run, and the time was really only important for myself.

Bob Reid did the countdown and we were off.  Due to the mass start, the first leg is slightly different than the subsequent legs, as it starts up the road before merging onto the trail a few hundred meters later.  Ugh - that first climb did not feel good - the legs felt heavy and the body felt tired.  It probably did not help that I'd done a hill workout the evening before up the Observatory Hill.  It wasn't all-out intervals, but still sufficient to feel it the next day.

I felt it hard to get into a groove with so many people around.  I wanted to go faster, but it was hard to pass due to the narrow trail, plus although I knew I was capable of more, my body wouldn't give it to me.  Okay - I resigned myself to just survive this run, and push as hard as my body would allow.  I ended up running just behind this younger female (likely in her early twenties or late teens) who was definitely competitive and not wanting others to pass her.  I paced right behind her for the first 2/3 of the race, and then passed her on a flatter section.  I held onto this lead until the last hilly section.  This course is known for its brutal finish, as in the last section of the course, there are 3 steep bugger hills to go up - and while they are not super long, it's just enough to push you over the edge at the end of a hard race.  As a result of the tiredness in body and legs, this young woman blew by me and put on some significant distance.

For me it was now just a struggle to get over these hills and push to the finish.  Luckily once the final hill is done, it is followed by a lovely downhill where you can let your body go.  Unfortunately, just before the finish line is the last kicker hill -- this one on the road.  It's much shorter than the other 3 hills, but still an energy grabber - and it took all I had left to make it up and over this hill to finally pass off to my next teammate.

Ugh -- I certainly was happy when that was over.  However, given how I felt, it wasn't a horrible performance. I finished in 21:13 - still somewhat faster than last year (although on a slightly different course). Plus to top it off, our team actually came in 3rd place in the open women category!

Afterwards, I did a very leisurely 45 extra minutes of running to get in some extra distance for the day.  Still a fun day despite not feeling as well as I would have liked.