Comox Valley Half Marathon - Race Report

The comox half is really one of my favorite races of the VIRS. A slow uphill until the half way mark, and then downhill the whole way home, the course sets you up for a solid time every year.

Since my triathlon training has been really heavy, I had no plans for any kind of slight taper before the race. That was ok with me. I just love racing, and since I missed my interval workout this week, racing allows the legs to get a good ass kicking, while still being fun!

Other than being sick, I don't think I could have had a worse pre-race routine. I had two hard workouts on Saturday (including a 2.5 hr hilly bike), and worked Saturday night until 11:30 pm. I proceded to get to bed by about 12:30, and woke up at 6:30 to drive up to comox. I few timmys later, I was at the race ready to go! I was just happy to be there, and to get to run with my Dad, so I toed the start line in a good mental stage. I didn't really think of a goal time, but Jeff asked me in the lineup and I guessed that 1:21 would be pretty good for me.

This may sound silly, but I have improved so much from last year's times that I cannot really accurately guess my times this year. When the gun went off, I had a quick thought that today might not be as good as it could be. After all, I can't have every race be a PB in points and times.

The first few km went by nice and quick. For some reason, I was slightly dissapointed with kms of 3:45 and 3:42, don't ask my why. Guess I'm used to 5 and 8k races. As usual, I just concentrated on sticking with Gary and Simon for the first few kms. I am a slow starter, so it's nice to have Gary to keep me working hard at the start.

After the first 5km, Gary and I hit a nice pace. We let Simon go ahead of us, as he was looking super strong. When the uphills really started around 8km, our pace slowed to just over 4 minutes. I hated seeing a four minute km on my watch! But I knew we had to take the hills conservatively, and I trust Gary's pacing better than mine. At around 9km we suddenly caught up to Simon. I was secretely wondering what the hell happened to him, because all of a sudden he was running way slower than before. I was even more surprised at the turn-around to see him almost 400m back. Pretty strange to gain 400m in about a kilometer. On the downhill Gary and I started to increase the pace, and it felt really good. Almost too good, since once the road starts to flatten out again it feels like you are running really slow! Gary and I started to catch up to Sarah, who I assumed was the lead lady. It took us about 5 km to reel her in from about 200m ahead of us.

As we caught up to her, guess who showed up??? Simon! (see picture below of him stalking me from behind!) I was actually thinking to myself "wow that is the most unorthodox pacing style I have ever seen!" Again he looked so strong. I decided to try and tag along with him, since I felt like I could ramp up my game a little more in the final stretch. All of a sudden, Sarah decided that she didn't like her new company, and blew away from us. Simon attempted to catch up, but I think the pace was a little too hot for him as well. Both him and I got stuck in a bit of a no-mans land from km19-20. I could hear Gary catching up to me from behind, and I debated whether I should push to catch up to Simon, or drop back and run home with Gary. I decided to try for Simon. I seriousely have no idea how I caught up with Simon. He was running so strong, and I was in a sort of an unconcious state of mind where I wasn't even paying attention to the road. But with 200m to go, we were neck and neck and I became excited with the prospect of a sprint finish. One of my goals this year was to get in as many sprint finishes as possible to toughen me up for Worlds in september.

I find that the only way to start sprinting when you are hurting that much is to just start moving your legs wildly and your mind follows suit. Simon and I did the best sprint we could muster, although I laugh when I think of what we must have looked like to the spectators. We were trying so hard but I doubt we were going very fast! My last km was not exceptionally fast, even though it was my hardest working! Simon just took me at the line, and we both shared the feeling of a great finish and a great race!

I finished in 1:22.05, good enough for 24 OA and 1st in my age group. I was more excited at the 24st overall, since my age group was pretty diluted without the likes of Nick Best and others.

Still, that time is over 6 minutes faster than last year. Also my highest points total to date (732).

Monday Dan gave me a recovery day, which was nice. I could catch up on some of my thesis work. Today is a hard bike, which I am excited for!