Race Re-Cap - Comox Half-Marathon

Apparently it is much harder to blog about races you feel poorly about!!

So the night before the race I woke up at 2am with cramps. You arent supposed to take IBProfen before you race as its bad for your kidneys so I tried to wait it out. By 3:30 I gave up and said fuck the kidneys I need some relief and took some anyways! Woke up race morning tired and sore. 

Registration for this race closes at 10:15 so we got there early...too early in my opinion. I had about 90 minutes of standing around in the auditorium waiting for things to get started. About 30 mins before the race started my stomach started to growl...quite continuously. I hadnt brought anything extra to eat so I downed one of my gels because I didnt know what else to do. 

We went outside and took some start line selfies and I got a decent warm-up in.  

I started out feeling pretty good. This was one of my best races last year and I knew the key was to hold back a bit at the start save your energy for the hills. Ideally I wanted to be right on target or up to 5 seconds per mile slower and then power through on the way back. I was aiming for around a 7:20mins/mile average. The first mile beeped and I was averaging 7:06. It was too fast, at times it kept telling me I needed to slow down because I was faster than 6:45. 

That race day adrenaline though is a beast. I couldnt slow down. Next mile I came in at 7:09 and the third 7:15. Mile 4, 5 and 6 are all up hill. I pretty much new by the end of mile 5 I had screwed myself. My legs got tired and I knew my paces from last year and by mile 6 I was running slower than the last year when I ran a 1:39. Mile 7 was the turn around and the start back down the hill. I remember how strong I felt the year before at that point, knowing I was on target and I just didnt feel that way at all this year. 

  

The absolute highlight of the race though was my girlfriend came out to cheer me on and she had made this sign! Isnt it awesome!!! I laughed so hard and it totally perked me up both times I saw her!!

Mile 8-10 I was able to pick it up a little bit and come in close to target pace. By then the sun had come out and I was way over dressed. Why the heck did I wear a long sleeve on a half-marathon? The wind picked up and was blowing straight on us and my legs felt like lead and I totally hit a wall. I was like this running cloud of negativity. Totally beating myself up, getting slower and slower and hating every second. 

I am one of the happiest racers around my raceday photos are always with a stupid big smile on my face. I love the whole scene. So this was not like me. This finish line photo sums it up. In pain and just wanting to be done.  

I came in at 1:38:45, at least 2 mins slower than I had hoped and placed 4th so I missed the medals. I am well aware that I can be really tough on myself and coming in 4th in a race is a great achievement. But to me it was all about how I felt. If I ran a great race and came in 4th awesome. But no, I know that race well, I made some mistakes early on, ran a poor race and felt like crap.

My uncle also struggled coming in after the race closure time so it was a quiet ride home! I ran the last 200m in with him :)

 I was frustrated and feeling emotional. I dropped my uncle off and cried on the drive home. What a terrible feeling...lol. I cant wait to run this race again next year just to erase that negativity I have associated with it now! 

A comparison of my splits from the last 2 years:

The only silver lining was my running buddy kicked ass. I knew he was on the cusp of the top ten for his age group and had a shot at a ribbon. He ran an awesome race and I had a gut feeling when he crossed the line that he had done it. I checked his placing before I even checked mine and he came in 10th! It was his first time getting a ribbon in the Vancouver Island Race Series which is a really competitive series and he's in a fast age group. Proud of him and I get some kickbacks in the feel good department there because I play the "trainer" role :)