I decided to run a half-marathon about an hour before it started :) A friend at work had told me about it the day before. It was a mid-week Winter Solstice Marathon, half-marathon and 10k being held at Westwood Lake. It seemed like the perfect opportunity since I had missed my long run on the weekend from being sick and the run was being held on the first day of my Christmas holidays. It was also a fundraising event for LGBTQ youth in Nanaimo which is a cause I feel very strongly about. I was told it was a small, casual event and was given the Facebook link. I looked up the race and saw there could be two problems. One of them was that due to the amount of snow and ice they were considering cancelling the run or holding it and recommending everyone have Yak Trax (metal cleats) that strap on your runners. The other problem was that I had been up most of the night before with a puking child. So I wanted to see how the night went and only go if I got some sleep. But the FB page said they didnt want anyone to do morning of registration. So I resigned myself that it just wasnt going to work out.
The next morning I woke up and saw a note from the event organizer that the run was on and they were going to allow same day registration. She posted that the trail was full of ice though and still recommended Yak Trax. I dropped my kids off at daycare at 8am and the race started at 9. I decided to go and check it out and if it was too slippery I could always just go for a run somewhere else. I whipped home, got bundled up since it was -2C, stole the $20 race fee from daughters allowance jar :)
The sun was just coming up when I got there and it was cold but beautiful!
I saw only about half the folks there had metal cleats and the other half was just in runners so I decided to go for it. I paid my entry and warmed up a little bit and chatted with the rest of the folks. I put my predicted time at about 2hrs, giving myself an extra 30mins due to the conditions. Lots of folks had signed up for the half and were down-grading to the 10k. There was actually 2 or 3 people who had started early with the intention of doing the full.
We got to the start-line and I think there was probably about 30 of us racing. My racing bib was a 1/4 piece of ripped up paper with my name written on it in pen lol. Timing was approximate, as were the distances. But I didnt care, I was just running for fun and to get out of the house.
We started out and turns out they were upgrading one of the boardwalks so we had to detour down this road to get around the area being repaired and back on the trail. That entire corner was black ice and we all had to stop and walk carefully over it so we didnt bail!
Most of the trail was compacted snow that had turned into ice. You had to watch every step so carefully and there were sections you had to just walk and/or slide down. But it was fun, we laughed at the craziness of the situation and then continued on.
There were some bare patches but never enough that you could get any speed up.
The lake was completely frozen over and it was so beautiful! I had to stop and take a few pictures.
I felt great! Half way through I seriously considered switching to the full...silly endorphins! This photo totally depicts a happy hopped up on running adrenaline Jess :)
That lasted till about 18k and then my legs got sore. Running on so much ice was tough! The impact was hard on the knees and I felt like I was constantly bracing my core and quads with every step so that I didnt fall. You couldnt just zone out and run, it was mentally tiring! Watching every foot placement so you didnt hit a root or ice patch.
I finished the race at just under 10 mins miles...about 35mins slower than my last road half. But I had a blast and ran for the joy of running and not caring about time. Everyone who had signed up for the full ended up bailing at shorter distances, it was just too rough out there.
The race finished and I got to enjoy some baked goods and hot chocolate. I also got a very cool medal with a rainbow strap :) Fun day and awesome way to start my Christmas holidays!
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