Race-day came and it was a day that I was not in race-mode. I was feeling nervous about the race, my quality of sleep and my ability to perform given how terrible I'd felt just the previous week at the Thetis Lake Relay. Although the race did not begin until 1pm, I was helping out with registration, so I made my way to the race-site by 11am. It's fun to see the racers come in and put some faces to names that I've seen on race results many times over. It's also interesting to see the 'other side' and see a glimpse of what's involved on race-day.
I stayed until about 12:30, when I headed out to get changed, make a pit stop and get in a quick warm-up. The time flew by - not sure where it went - and before I knew it I had time to only do a quick 5 minute warm-up before it was time to make it to the start-line. Then, with only a few minutes to go, I was scrambling to find my race bib... luckily, it all came together, and I made it to the start, with 1-2 minutes to spare.
The weather was practically perfect. Cool, but not cold and no rain. The conditions were perfect for a good race, now it was time to see if I was ready for a good race.
The race started out fast - as the racers jumped off the line with gusto. I always tend to fall behind a bit on the first few road hills, as I don't have as much push in me at that point as many others, who push past me. Within a few minutes we funneled onto the trail, and the real race was on. I quickly found myself in the company of a few other women- and I wondered how we would fare - who would come out ahead. Cara Obee (Williams) was just ahead of me, and my goal was to stick with her for as long as possible.
As we bounded along the trail - I knew this was going to be a hard race. It's essentially a suffer-fest the entire way, as there's no breaks, and not the same rhythm as a road race. It was going to be: push as hard as you can until the finish line. It's also a test to see how you can handle some challenging situations - there's two ice-cold puddles in the race, and some gnarly technical terrain that's been added in for good measure.
This race attracts a few different types of runners – the trail runners, who only run on trails, the road runners, who with a few exceptions mostly run on road, the cross-country runners, who like the muck and sloppy conditions and then those runners who like to do it all. Because it is not as hilly as most trail races, this race picks up a few roadies who bring speed to the flat open sections. Thus, you never know exactly who your competition will be, or how they will fare over the varying conditions.
At around the 4 km mark, we hit the first puddle. This puddle has gotten more and more shallow over the years, as CRD Parks have actually filled in the ground beneath. It's a bit disappointing, as the extreme conditions give this race some of its character -so now rather than being knee deep, the puddle is only just over ankle deep. By this point in the race, I had been able to get ahead of some of the women that had been around me near the beginning -but Cara had also pulled away from me somewhat. I had noticed a few other women move past me early in the race as well, who I didn't recognize.
Now it was a race to stay ahead and hope that no other women pass me -and see if there were any more spots to pick up. Puddle #2 was not far after Puddle #1 - and it was definitely larger and deeper. There was also a log to hurdle over towards the end of the lake. I always try to move as fast as possible through the puddles, as they definitely freeze the feet, and it takes a few minutes for the numbing to wear off, and for your feet to feel normal again. However, this can also be a downfall, as I heard someone fall into the water after me, and I found out afterwards that it was Karen Laberee, an excellent masters runner. That would be quite a shock to the system, and I can imagine make it hard to get back into the race rhythm thereafter.
Immediately following this puddle, is a fairly steep downhill over some loose rocky terrain. While it's not super technical, the numb feet always make this little hill a challenge for me, and cause me to slow down more than I otherwise would. Luckily, it's a pretty short section - and after that it's back into push mode. Then, we got into a bit of more twisty trail, and some new single-track, that the race Director, Bob Reid, had added into the race to make things more interesting. Plus, with the single-track came some new hills as well, of course. While the hills were not super long, they were steep, and with their placement in the race, they were definitely a challenge. I grunted up then, as I heard the volunteers and fellow Prairie Inn Harriers yell encouragement to me. Wow, this race is hard, is all I could think, as I acknowledged them with a small head nod.
Now, the race was nearing the home stretch, as I made my way back along the Sue Reid trail, and the final somewhat technical aspect of the race. Once I turned off that trail, I knew I had no more than 10 minutes until the finish, and only a few little hills to beat up along the way. I'd had a bit of back and forth with a women, who I later learned was Katie Surguine from Nanaimo. She passed me along some of the broad, open trail sections heading towards Lower Thetis, and kept pushing the pace. I tried to stick with her, but the final three hills (Little Gunner, Big Gunner and Big Bugger) beat me up a little. My body was definitely worn down by this point, and I didn't have as much energy or gusto on the hills as I would have liked. I felt relatively good pushing the pace on the flats, but the hills were a different story.
I trudged my way up the hills, enjoyed the downhills and tried to not let Katie get too far ahead. Finally, the finish line was in sight - and there were only a few strides in the lake keeping me from the end. Ahh -- how good it felt for it to be all over. It wasn't the best race ever for me, but I had felt pretty decent, and definitely much better than at the Thetis Relay a week earlier. I was tired, but not exhausted, and felt I'd put in a decent effort. I ended up finishing as 8th women, 5th in my category (30-39), and 56th overall out of 297 - oh yes, and 14 seconds behind Katie.
Congrats to Shane Ruljancich, who pulled out another strong performance, winning the race and edging out some stiff competition from Jasper Blake.
Here's the results.
