CCRC Vancouver Lake Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

This was a flat course but an extremely un-interesting one. I would not want to run out there by myself. I had fun watching other runners and silently competing. I started in the middle of the pack but got passed A LOT and ran BOP the rest of the way. I had a great start though. My first mile was 9:21 and I found my pace quickly and was able to maintain until about mile 10. I did walk through 2 water stations but skipped the last one because I would have fallen behind my goal pace. (10min/mi) Mile 10-13 was hard. I had taken some Clif Shot Bloks as fuel but they did not agree wtih me (maybe not enough water??) even though I had used them before in my long runs. I had some pretty bad stomach cramping. I did slow down a bit but was still able to squeak in at 2:10:38. I was happy with that!

Hydrate more; wear my fuel belt

I didn't warm down too much. Light cool down then jumped in the car to go p/u my daughter. I did a lot of stretching and icing at home. Legs feel great...stomach not so much even later this evening.


Lack of hydration/stomach cramps.


This is a no-frills race. Only a couple of hundred runners...mostly pretty serious/fast runners. No hoopla...finishers medals were for first timers only and they were left overs from 2005 which was pretty lame. The posted course map showed port-o-potties at miles 5,7, and at the last turn around but they only had them at the start/finish. I saw several people heading for the bushed along the way. But there was plenty of volunteers handing out water and the course was well marked. It started on time and was efficient. At the finish they handed out bottled water and there was a tent where you could get a couple of homemade cookies or a baggie of pretzels, or gummie bears. There was one sponsor, Fit Right NW that had a tent but that was it. Saw lots of familiar faces from the club and everyone was really nice and helpful.