Great Start - First Half RR

I managed to set a new PB (just barely) at the First Half marathon by breaking my previous best from more than 4 years ago by a little over 30 seconds. Talk about a bad running slump finally being broken, and it really has been long overdue.

Cool fridge magnet! 

The good (or ehem bad) news is according to the McMillian running calculator I can still theoretically go much faster based on my result from the Chicago Marathon last year.



Hey it's still only February! ;)

Forgive me for the bad puns...but they are truly endless...here's some highlights.

1) My First Half race

Who knew for such a small event the race field would be so deep? I didn't even crack the top 100!?

I knew my fingers had to be fast just to even register for this race (sold out in 7 hours) but who knew all the fast runners in this city would also showed up! It's like running with the all-stars. From Olympians, pro-triathletes, ultra-runners, top running clubs, to master runners, and me! Oh my goodness, there's a lot of fast runners and pretty neat to see them all co-exist in the same event. Plus...I got my behind digitally spanked by all of them! There's a lot of fast runners in this city, not that that should be any surprise.

Lucky for me, the volunteers driven race was really well organized and I was impressed with the little details. From draw prizes to digital finishing videos and many FB updates, it's no wonder this race is so popular. Check out these super cool nerdy statistics. I don't say this often but I'm impressed! Those Pacific Road Runners really know how to put on a good show.

Here's some results eye candies...

• Link to play a simulation of my run on a map. Click here.
• And also check out these slick bar charts of my results. Click here.

2) My first half marathon of the year

I had very little expectations coming into this race. I had some minor setbacks coming in. The weather for training hasn't been exactly cooperative. Trying some new shoes also didn't help in avoiding the blisters department. I tried doing a 10K LT run in the weeks leading up to the race but couldn't hold pace and had to eventually break it down into two sets of 5K.

3) My first half split was a confidence booster

Going through the minor setbacks, I had nothing to loose. My race strategy coming into this race was to stay on the aggressive side, meaning push push push and then ride the autobus to the finish line. Not pretty. But it's how I usually get PBs. I was happy that I got to run the first 10K in sub 40minute pace considering I failed so many times in training this year. Here's a dorky graphy to show the splits and comparisons with my sun run times (red and purple) and a half marathon from last year (blue).

The latter half of the race had some killer headwinds as you make your way counterclockwise of Stanley Park seawall and into English Bay. The last km leading into the finishing shoot also had a little uphill underneath the Granville bridge. It was a crap shoot. My PB was almost in jeopardy and had to really dig deep. Many runners have been steadily passing me.

I don't know how the website warns for speed bumps and not the killer finishing uphill parts. At least now I know. :)

 

Thanks for reading.