What a great day for a road race! Many would say it was a bit chilly (around 2 degrees), but I was just happy it didn't snow... Bright sunshine and crisp conditions - sweet!
I woke up at my Dad's place (where we continue to live since my Dad is in Montreal and our house is not yet finished... Thanks Dad!). This may need to be a yearly occurrence as he lives about 4 blocks from the start area - no driving, no parking, no hassle.
So, the Sun Run is one of those events that makes you proud to be from this city - 59,120 registered! Are you kidding me?!! So awesome... And everyone orderly, polite, happy and ready to rock.
There's a bit of standing around that comes with a race of this magnitude... My early warm-up efforts jogging alone downtown and with friends near the starting areas were distant memories by the time the gun went. Oh well... the downhill start is handy in that you can maintain a great pace even cold out of the blocks...
It also worked well with my Race Plan. The first mile was completed in a scorching (for me) time of 6:10... I was a little scared/excited by that info as I passed the 1 mile mark - would I be bonking from the early exertion? Anyway, mile 2 (as reported by my Garmin 305) went by in about 12:40 which was still good and fast.
After that I settled into a more maintainable pace of between 7 - 7:45min/miles. I remember thinking that I was suffering at times but being happy about it as it was PART OF THE PLAN. Everything was coming together.
I really like the Sun Run course as it segments nicely and there is no part of it that is long enough to lull you to sleep... As I came across Cambie toward the end I was a bit concerned about my time - but I had forgotten the downhill there which boosted my speed to get me to the line in time for what I am deeming a Silver Medal. 43:35 (unofficial).
A note on outcome goals... It is generally not advised (by most book-writin' types) to set outcome oriented goals - like "Sub-43 minute Sun Run". Rightly or wrongly I sort of ignore this... It has never been an issue that has caused me to need psychiatric assistance so I continue to allow the clock to be a part of my goals from time to time. But this is how I do it:
Sun Run - 2008 - Goals
Gold Medal: Sub 43
Silver Medal: 43-44
Bronze Medal: 44-45:24
Ouch: 45:24+
I was very happy with the plan - to take a risk by going out fast. I was very happy with my discipline to follow the plan and bingo! the results were there. Sweet! A new Personal Best!
In the massive crowds after I met up with many of the Innovative Fitness runners (of which there were 157!!) - they all seemed very happy with their races. It's awesome to be a part of a group like that. I am hoping my time will be fast enough to be counted towards Innovative's corporate race time (top ten IF runners). Congrats to everyone!
If you do only one run/walk/stroll event every year this should be it.... proud to be from this city. Thanks for reading.
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