Prince George Family Y 1/2 Marathon

Feelin' good, feelin' great!  Feelin' good, feelin' great! 

This was a little sing-song my roommate made up in university that we would sing on our way to exams.  I can't get it out of my head now, because I'm feelin' good, feelin' GREAT!

That is not at all how I felt when I woke up at 5 am this morning.  I think I actually rolled over and said whined, "Why did I sign up for this hideous race?"  I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, had breakfast and then had a little grump-out at the BF and Grandma because we were later leaving than I wanted to be.  (Oopsies).  Let's just say I was definitely not at my best.

We managed to make it to PG with time to spare being Sunday morning, no traffic or logging trucks and no construction slow downs on the way.  I had eaten breakfast at 5:30am, so I took a gel before the race even started, just as I was getting out of the car around 7:15.  The BF and Grandma were kicked out of the closest parking lot to the start line, so they didn't watch me start because the other lot was too far for Grandma to walk, but that was ok.  I walked around the track a couple of times, made not one, not two, but three trips to the bathroom.  Stretched a bit, and chatted briefly with a friend of the BFs who was also running.

I was feeling a bit better by 7:55 when we were lining up at the start line, but really wasn't sure I was up to a half marathon this morning.  I was excited for my two other races, had good (nervous) energy and couldn't wait to get started.  This morning I felt like asking, "Um, can we just have 5 more minutes?"  But of course, it doesn't work that way.  I placed myself near the back of the pack, and we were off.

I quickly realized I should have been a little more ambitious in moving up to the start line, but it wasn't long before I passed enough people to be running with a comfortable little clump.

The first 3K had some little uphills and downhills, and went by quickly.  I felt good, but took a 30 second walk break to sip water.  I find if I drink and run at the same time, I mess up my breathing and end up with cramps.  One woman asked if I was ok as she passed me - maybe I looked more tired than I was, or maybe she had seen my dismal face pre-race.

The beginning of the race ran south, did a loop around a few residential blocks and then followed the same road back north.  Before I even got to the turn off for the loop, the leading runner was heading the other way.  That guy was FAST! 

I ran until 7K and then took a Gu.  I had planned to give myself 2 minute walk breaks for Gus.  I didn't look at my watch, but I didn't take the full 2 minutes, that's for sure.  I downed that thing and then kept on truckin'.

At kilometre 8, those pre-race "Why am I even doing this?" feelings resurfaced, but only for a minute.  There was a big hill at the 9K point, so I gave myself another 30 second water and walk break when I was half way up.

At 11K, I passed a man who called out, "2 hours is in the bag!"  What?!  I hadn't really been looking at my watch.  Sure enough, I was ahead of my planned pace of 6 minutes a kilometre, though I began to worry I'd gone out too strong and would die in the second half.

At this point, there was a big down hill.  The BF and my grandmother were there.  We forgot the camera, but the BF tried to take some pictures with his cell phone but they didn't turn out.  :(  There were a few women who had been running around me for most of the race.  I passed them on the next uphill, and never saw them again.  I was feeling GOOD.

At 14K, I walked and took another Gu.  Again, I didn't pay attention to how long I walked for, I just walked enough to get it down.  By now I was on familiar territory.  I was near the house the youth program I work for uses in PG.  I had run on this street before, and my 5K route and 10K route that I've done while visiting follow the road I was on.  I knew there was a big hill coming up, but I also knew I'd run up it many times before and it was the last BIG uphill on the course.  As I ran past on a woman on the way up the hill I let her know it was the last one, but she didn't look too impressed.

I wasn't expecting to see the BF and Grandma again until the finish line, but around the 16K mark they had found a place to park facing the road so Grandma could see me without any walking.  We waved.  Here, I looked at my watch.  I knew I had beat my 2:06 goal, but by how much?  My legs were feeling pretty tired.  I would have had to run my fastest 5K EVER to make it under 2 hours.  I knew I couldn't do that.  We were in the sun with no relief from shade, and I was actually feeling a little woozy for the next little bit, but just kept running because the end was near.  At 18K there was a water station with Gatorade.  That was the pick me up I needed to finish strong.

The course finished with a kilometre slight steady downhill stretch, slight uphill and then back onto the track to the finish.  I gave it my all at the end - that last K is my fastest for the whole race, and came in with a chip time of:

2:00:53

This is a full 10 minutes faster than the half I ran in Vancouver a month ago, and nearly half an hour faster than my first (incredibly slow) half I ran last fall in Quesnel.  A sub-2 hour 1/2 marathon is so close I can taste it!  I'm already looking for the next half I can sign up for!

Of the three half marathons I've done, this has to be my favourite.  Kinda like the Three Bears, it was not too small, and not too big.  It was juuuuuuust right!  There were 113 people running the half, so there was no chaos at the start, not much weaving in and out, and no getting stuck behind slower runners in crowded streets.  But there were enough people that I could always see at least the next few in front of me, which makes it easier than the really small race in Quesnel (33 people) where I couldn't always see the next runner ahead.  It was a hilly course, but mostly small, manageable hills, or long, gradual inclines, rather than steep, intimidating climbs.  The volunteers were fabulous, they had free massages and sandwiches at the finish line, and even though there was traffic on the roads, the police kept the intersections controlled and drivers were better than patient as they often turned into cheerleaders!

My only complaints are that the water stations were JUST water stations except for that last one that had Gatorade.  Sometimes it's nice to have a sports drink to get a little electrolyte/sugar boost.  The only other thing I thought was strange was that though the last intersection of the race had flashing red lights to make it a four-way stop, there was no cop there to control traffic.  It wasn't the busiest intersection, but still, at the 20K mark, us runners are tired and might not be as alert as we might have been earlier in the race.  Even a race volunteer or two could have helped there.  That's it.  Just two complaints.  The good definitely outweighed the bad and I would definitely do this race again next year.

I wish I had some pictures, but, like I said, nothing turned out!

Feelin' good, feelin' great!  I can't stop singing it!