Today's race was Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K in Stanley Park, in support of fighting prostate cancer. I arrived there early but by the time I got through the parking ticket machine and porta pottie lineups it was getting close to race time, so I didn't get a chance to warm up. We started off at 10 AM, running along the seawall the whole way. I'd got stuck a little far back, it took me 16 seconds just to reach the start line, but it could have been worse, so it was hard getting past people for awhile. Soon it got a little more spread out, and I passed a lot of people steadily for about a kilometer, and continued to do so throughout the race, usually a few every kilometer, with the odd person going by me.
There were a lot of people up front who probably had never run an 8K before, because they sprinted out and then slowed considerably, and that's when myself and others passed them. Some only went a hundred meters or so before they "hit the wall", while others lasted a few kilometers, but after about the 6K point it was mostly people going at a fairly even pace in little packs.
It was a little cool, but not while we were running, and a bright sunny day, so it was quite a pleasant run. After we hit the 7K mark you could hear a piper playing. Every year they have a lone piper piping us in. It's inspiring, and when you hear him that's when you pick up your pace. He's usually close to the finish line though, this year there was still a few hundred meters to go after we passed him, so I had a little more trouble than usual legging it in when I finally reached the finish chute.
I crossed the line and got my race cap and Power Bar from a volunteer, and then I continued to tables that had gatorade, water, and juice boxes. I drank some water and got a juice, and then hit the food tables, which had bananas, cookies, and bagels. I waited for and cheered fellow club member Dan Cumming in, and then he got some food and drink and went off to partake somewhere. Drew Nicholson came up, he'd finished 10th overall and ran his second best ever 8K, so he was very happy. Ingo Jackish appeared, I'd seen him cheering me in. He's injured but came out to watch us. Drew took off to talk to his clubmates, and then Ingo and myself went to look at the results, and I was 8th in my age group so no medal today. I saw Tina Louise Harris and she'd finished 4th in her category, but 79th overall!
We were all a little beat and decided to head out before the awards. There were already many people gone by then, so off we went without a bunch of jockeying about in the parking lot.
Results are up http://sportstats.ca/displayResults.xhtml?racecode=101775 . I was 106 overall out of 1021, and 8 of 49 in my age group, with a time of 34:37 (34:21 chip). Drew was 10th overall with a time of 26:45, Tina was 79th with a time of 33:21, Teresa Nightingale was 80th and 3rd in her AG with a time of 33:22, Raymond Louie was 363rd, with a time of 43:28 (42:42 chip), and Dan Cumming was 640 overall and 12 of 18 in his AG, with a time of 49:36.
My next race is the BMO Sunshine Coast April Fool's Run, a half marathon starting in Gibsons and ending in Sechelt, on April 1st at 9 AM.
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