The racing season has come to a close with last weekend’s race. Yay!
It was my biggest race year with 3 10K runs (Sun Run, HBC Run for Canada, Fall Classic), 3 half-marathons (First Half, Vancouver, Scotiabank), 1 marathon (Kelowna), and 1 relay (Haney to Harrison).
Originally, I was to “retire” from October until early next year, or even spring, if I could handle it.
Then I decided not to take dance lessons this year so I went ahead registering for a November race and then losing a lot of sleep to register for the First Half half-marathon in February. So I’m training in some capacity through the winter.
It’s been a strange year that landed squarely in the middle of my race accomplishments. Other than a 10K personal best (which was no more than a minute faster than last year), I logged near-personal worsts (First Half, Fall Classic) and near-personal bests (Scotiabank, Kelowna).
Most alarmingly, I lost the consistency that I had and took for granted in previous years. I need to get it back. You could suggest that I got stuck in a rut and I agree – it’s true for both my running and non-running life. Here’s to pulling out of the rut in both sides next year.
Not surprisingly, I already have an idea of what I’ll be doing next year….
* Volunteer in a half-marathon clinic (it has its perks)
Update: * Do the Personal Best clinic
* Race the First Half half-marathon (Feb.10’08)
* Maybe do the Sun Run – I only do it because everyone else does
* Gasp: Not race the VIM (half-marathon). Would consider a relay team – but I don’t know anyone who does the relay. I would seriously consider volunteering for the event.
* Race the Scotiabank half (June 22’08)
* Probably do a marathon in the fall. Portland?
Update: * Haney to Harrison relay in November – staking my claim on the fourth leg already ;)
* Some other 10K runs (through the Timex series?) – maybe the same as “usual” (HBC) and maybe some new ones!
Wow!! You are a running machine!!
And here I was, so proud of myself running a 4 mile race last weekend, my first in almost a year…I’m so not worthy (sob).
THB: Of course you are worthy! For everyone’s information, THB is a super-lawyer, accomplished musician in an orchestra, world-traveller, and planning a wedding surely to be spectacular. Meanwhile, doing none of those things listed above, I just went running.
Reading that post made me feel like I had just done a whole load of exercise… ;-)
Hey you …
I think its time.
Its time for you to start winning team awards and/or age group awards.
*DO* the RRS – and come in the top 3!! Only 7 races =)
Cheers,
H
p.s. do the E2E – its in early/mid June
Wynne-
You probably don’t know anyone who does the relay event at the Vancouver Marathon because they only started it this year, and there weren’t that many teams. I konw one person who did it, and she said it was a lot of fun–although it couldn’t be as much fun as H2H. Speaking of which– why is that not on your list? You’ll certainly be doing it again next year, right? :)
The Sun Run is my favorite race of all times and one where I always post my best time of the year. But I also love the HBC Canada Day 10K.
You’re volunteering in the half-marahton clinic? For some reason I thought it was the marathon clinic. There aren’t a whole lot of perks, but it is fun. I’ll see you there.
Henry: The Timex running series would be a guide for some of the 10Ks I would do, I’ll figure it out over the holidays….
Jennifer: I did indeed forget about H2H and have adjusted my list accordingly!
The crowds at the Sun Run don’t bother me nor affect my time – but sometimes waiting in the cold makes me swear I won’t do it again the following year! :P
I’m volunteering for the half-clinic (if they will have me) because my longest-distance race in the first half of the year will be a half-marathon. I’m entirely certain that I won’t train for a full marathon in spring ’08 so I wouldn’t pace the marathon clinic and do their training distances *for fun*. :-)
re: waiting in the cold
If it’s cold I often will wear a throw-away sweatshirt that I get at Value Village (or one that I don’t mind parting with. But the past couple years, these weren’t needed at the Sun Run.
One more thing– the Timex series is not all 10K races. There are some great 5K races, too, including the Spring Classic for the Parks in March in Stanely Park. I highly recommend this competitive, club-run race. They have some great home-made treats at the end, too.
Hi Jennifer,
Absolutely, the idea of wearing a Value Village sweatshirt and tossing it when you warm up is often mentioned. And I could go to the Salvation Army or Goodwill shops since I can’t think of where the closest VV is to where I live. I think for most/all races, what is discarded gets picked up, washed, and donated to another charity.
Last time I was in VV looking for such a sweatshirt (or shirt), I was quite picky and didn’t come away with anything/cheap enough. Fortunately, NPY was at Victoria to hold on to my jacket when we started! I have resigned to wearing a garbage bag as the disposable 100% waterproof garb – maybe next time I’ll wear a “pretty” translucent blue recycling bag!!
The Timex series has a representation of 5K, 8K, 10K, and one half-marathon. In the comment section of this post I used the 2007 dates for reference and considered which races I might do. I didn’t rule out 5K, and shouldn’t, for I have never officially run 5K before. Partly, registration fees do not scale linearly down (they don’t scale linearly up, for sure) so I would only do the bare minimum and make them “worthwhile” 10K, maybe. (I’m mildly impressed yet also daunted by the bill I managed to rack up this year in registration and running-related costs.)
Heh, even though 10Ks are now “short races”, I still put myself through the pre-race anxiety because it’s a 55-minute-ish run. *Not sure* about doing that for a 27-minute 5K – there’s a whole different kind of training and racing strategy to that distance that I’m not yet planning to train for.
The short races have their own challenges, but are no less demanding in terms of training and reward. Personally I like that they are over faster. :) More time to enjoy it. Racing is painful at any distance. I didn’t specifically train for the 5K I did last year, but I did it as part of training for the Sun Run and the Vancouver Half. I had only just begun to do speedwork (maybe 3 track workouts beforehand).
I’ve considered doing the series for points (where you need to do seven of them), but since I’ll be out of town this year for both the Sun Run and the First Half, I likely won’t be able to do enough of the races. Not that I’d get any points in those, but they would count toward the seven. There are 15 races in the series but they are not all in the Vancouver area.