Today was the Max Muscle Vancouver 25k, Half Marathon and 8k. I'm always looking to add up those miles so of course I decided to do the longest - the 25k - 15.53 miles. And lucky for me, Sue decided to do it too! (Thank you Sue!!) The route was challenging - can you say HILLS?! - and the weather was perfect!
I started the day 'not feeling it' and didn't really care about my time. (Yeah, you've heard that one before!) It was my first official 25k race so no matter what speed I traveled, I was going to set a Personal Record for this distance! haha Always look at the positive side, right?!
It took less than a half mile for me to start 'feeling it' and off we went! The first 3.5 miles were pretty much all down hill. Sue and I were able to make really good time without pushing ourselves too hard, knowing these were the same 3.5 miles we had to come back UP at the END of the race. To my big surprise, we covered the first EIGHT MILES in 1 hour 50 minutes! Whoa. Go us!
The middle of the route was on the Salmon Creek Trail. The path is relatively flat, winding around wildlife interpretive areas, wetlands and ponds, duck nesting boxes and restored habitat. [I totally lifted that description off of the Park's website!] It is such a beautiful area to walk through. Today we saw turtles, ducks and Osprey, as well as plenty of people (Hellllooooo Bryce and Lindsey!) taking advantage of the nice weather and walking their dogs. We also saw a bald eagle in a tree not ten feet off of the path! That was a majestic sight to see but there was no time to stop because we were on a timer, by golly!
We left the park and went about a mile and a half - up hill - to reach our turn-around point. I often enjoy routes (like today's) that have a halfway point where you turn around and retrace all of your steps. You know exactly where you are going and what you will encounter. Sometimes the unknown is nice too. I don't really have a preference.
Once out of the park again, we started our 3.5 mile climb back UP to the finish. I started feeling the hills in my calves and heel - which obviously has not fully recovered yet. The thought of having to walk up hill at the end weighed heavily on my mind for a lot of the race but once we were actually doing it, it wasn't all that bad. No, it wasn't easy or 'fun', but it wasn't going to kill us either. Sue and I were tired but kept moving at a fast walking pace (jogging was out at this point). I never let myself REALLY slow down at the end of a race no matter how tired I am because it is ALWAYS in my mind to FINISH STRONG.
And we did just that... we 'ran' (it was honestly more like a shuffle) through the finish line completing 15.53 miles in 3:38:52, averaging 14:06 minute miles.
Another well-done race notched on our belts.
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Thank you Max Muscle - Tracy and Trevor - for this great event! The bling - so cool! I'll be back again next year for more of the same [torture!] because ... 'I love hills!' ;)
Thank you Doug / Vancouver Fit - your smiles and encouragement ALWAYS keep me going!
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| Vancouver Fit group at the Max Muscle Marathon |
