Plan was to start slow, settle my breathing down and get into a comfortable pace. I've learned a lot about pacing myself better over the last few races. Starting off easy pays big dividends over the course of a race.
Huge crowds already filled the yellow bib staging area so I had to wait outside the fencing with many other runners. Crossed the start line 2+ minutes after the horn and just kept pace with the mass of people starting down Georgia Street. Nice downhill section right away but difficult finding a good line to run. Saw a guy running ahead of me at my planned pace so I stayed behind him and let him blaze a line through the sea of people.
Came upon the first corner, went wide and ran into someone in front of me who had stopped at a watering station! This happened about 500m into the race. Why they have a water station so close to the start I have no idea, not like anyone has even broken a sweat yet at that point.
Anyway, kept going and couldn't pick up the pace even if I wanted to, just too many people to dodge around. Things started to thin out a little bit around the 3km mark and I managed to increase my stride a little bit. Feeling pretty good, keeping good rhythm and pace to that point. Around 4km I felt the beginning of a blister forming on my right foot, damn! My CoolMax socks were in the laundry so I substituted for cotton ones instead. Thought that might not be a good idea so decided to put the dirty (and smelly) ones on anyway before I left. Long story short, I just plain forgot to change them.
Powering on through the next few kilometers increasing my speed and taking in the sights and sounds of the Sun Run.
Felt really good as I climbed the ramp leading to Granville Bridge and got inspired by the large crowd of cheering supporters at the crest of the bridge, that was loud and awesome. Kept good pace going over the bridge and tried not to think too much of the blister on my foot.
Body was telling me to slow it down a bit by kilometer 8 but I was having none of it. Tried to keep my knees high and stride on my forefoot as much as possible. Felt like I was slowing a bit though and felt like my time would be around the 45 minute mark, which is what I was aiming for anyway. By kilometer 9, I was getting tired and not feeling good going over the Cambie Street bridge. I recalled last year's race where I really picked up the pace at this point but the Simon Whitfield kick just wasn't in me for this one. Started thinking I was going to have a crappy time but managed to pick it up a little bit for the final 150m to the finish line.
Finally saw the clock and was shocked to see a time of 46 something! Quickly crossed the finish line, took a few breaths and headed for some water. Looked at my Garmin and couldn't believe the time it showed, a new PB! By over one minute! Great!

Not much, pretty happy with this one.

No real warm-down, just walked until my heart rate came down to a reasonable level.


Well, the socks and blister didn't help. I biked 140km's the day before the race which probably didn't do anything for my time either. I got caught up in a couple of water stations with people stopping right in front of me so I would be more careful picking my line though those in the future.
I think I left a bit out on the course for this one. Still learning the whole pacing thing, feels like I'm getting better at it every race.


I enjoy running this race. The sheer size and magnitude of it is inspiring. Lots to see and hear along the course and nice to see everyone out to cheer on the runners.