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Comments: EXCUSE TIME: For this race, I had not set any major goals which was probably the first major issue....not having a pace I wanted to hit affected me later in the race. I also hadn't run a lot of hills this year. I was also sick all of last week and have barely done any running because of it. My kid had a breakdown on Friday before I left town so I didn't even get a little run to warm up my legs. I've been doing an intermittent fasting thing (long story) so didn't have my nutrition figured out. I am also too heavy right now. OK....enough of that. Good things: loved being in Vancouver, it is amazing. The weather was incredible! Saw many, many friends. Gorgeous course, loved the downhill start although I overheated a little bit due to too much headband. Loved my running mix that I made for the race. The performers along the course were great. The fans, oh wow, sooooo many people. Running the final stretch to the finish was mind-blowing. THousands of fans lined the streets. I was going pretty slow at that point because, well, my legs hurt and I was tired....so I just enjoyed it and took it all in! For the first half of the race I was feeling ok, but after the halfway point my intestines were hurting, I was thirsty...I took a gel and walked through a lot of water stations....I didn't stop in a toilet because I knew I would have an awful race time and not sure it would help anyway. So I just kept going. Was a bit discouraged by the uphills because my calves were getting really tight after so much flat running this year. However, I had a great time once I let myself off the hook and quit caring about my finish time. What would you do differently?: Dial in my nutrition. Train on hills. Lose weight. Set a goal. Stick to goal pace. Not be sick before the race, this is 2 of 2 half marathons this year where illness was a factor. I need to stay healthy.... Maybe have an actual training schedule instead of winging it.  Post race
Warm down: After the finish you get funneled through a chute where they give you your medal (there is one for women and one for men, which is cool). Then a water and a bag of food--although there was more food on the other side, like bananas, which I could not get to because of the crowds of people. I posed for about four finish shots since that was the side I was walking up. :) Found my friends who had already finished, picked up my gear at gear check and went back to our hotel, which was super close to the finish. Showered and then sat in the hot tub with champagne for a while. What limited your ability to perform faster: If you don't know by now, you have not been paying attention. Event comments: This is the best-supported race I have ever been to....a zillion volunteers, so many water stations, everything went very smoothly. The city really comes out for this one. I highly recommend this race to everyone!!! Last updated: 2013-02-28 12:00 AM
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Canada
Vancouver International Marathon Society
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1108/6360
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 165/900
Arrived the afternoon before and picked up race packet and wandered in Vancouver a bit, ran into some friends, which was nice. Dinner out with other friends and tried to go to bed early, managed about 6 hours of really good sleep which is rare for me!
Got up at 4:45, ate plain oatmeal and coffee and left at 530. Took subway to race start, walked about 15 minute to start corral. Hit porta potties twice, just in case. Checked most of the clothes I had worn--spare long sleeved shirt, arm warmers, gloves....because it was balmy! (Should have also checked my cute new headband--ended up wrapping it on my arm in mile 2).
Stretched and bounced a bit....the 15 minute walk to the start area helped too. The race start was delayed by 15 minutes which was irritating. It was nice lining up by corrals, though. I was in the first one, so I didn't have to worry about mile after mile of going around slower runners like I did a couple of years before.