The route was a clockwise loop starting and ending at the scenic Granville Island. The first few turns zig-zags a few streets with escort until we reach the Burrard Bridge. After crossing the bridge, we wrap around the seawall.
Overall the route fun and challenging, but I was happy to get out on the nice day. I started a little too quick with the leaders and then settled into a steady 3:50 per km pace. I still felt the burn from the lungs and legs from Montreal.
There were people dressed up for the event, which had a prize at the awards. Officially I placed 4th in my 10-year age group, so I went full-on for several rounds of the delicious warm chili's with both vegetarian and meat options.
Funny story, as I was enjoying the chili, the race organizers wanted to expedite the age group awards and presented them in a funny way. Jen placed in one of the top spots for overall female category so we had to stick around. They started calling out all the 3rd place age group finishers by 10 year age groups by genders.
Next was the all the 2nd place age group podium finishers. I was enjoying my chili and counting the number of male 2nd place finishers. There was a man in his 80s that finished and he got a standing ovation, deservingly so. I was secretly judging because there was only 7 people up on stage to collect their medal. One person had missed their chance for glory.
During the presentation, Jen asked one of her friends Hans if they had called up me, and he said yes! While I was pigging out the chili, "ah crap" I realized that the missing person and idiot was me! I learned afterwards than the overall podium leaders were taken out of the age group awards. I was embarrassed that I was caught eating the chili but luckily the race organizers were kind to hand out my medal afterwards. I'm sure this can of course happen to even the best of us. ;)
