So happy to be home!!!
It was a tad nippy in Canada, totally not what I was used to, lol, and I actually looked forward to my Arizona temps! Anyway, I arrived to Canada Thursday evening and we immediately went to dinner. It was absolutely amazing–steak and salmon for the win!
The race was on Friday night, and earlier in the day we toured the city–I musta walked like 5 miles! We had amazing lunch at this place called Joe Fortes (to die, seriously!) and we were back at the hotel around 3 for an afternoon siesta.
When I awoke, I got dressed and ready and we walked the about a mile walk to the race site. I was hoping I’d get my usual pre-race jitters (i.e. need to use the restroom) but I didn’t have to go. This was a little disconcerting considering I had two big meals still in the stomach.
Anyway, what was nice about the race was that it was at beautiful Stanley Park
Surrounded by water the entire way 🙂
and there was a building at the race start where runners could hang out in–this was GREAT for me because I was freezing. They were playing music, there was a photo op place, FREE McCafe, and even a no-line bathroom! (Except I still didn’t have to go 😦 )
Freeeeee!!!
It wasn’t long before it was time for the 10Kers to line up. The 5k runners had just left and there was about a 10-15 minute wait before our turn.
There were no corrals but “fast” runners were told to head to the front (this is where my husband left me, lol!)
The countdown started and we were off! The beginning portion was a downhill and really, I should have kept this in mind for later–I didn’t.
I was gunning for an 8:45 average pace and when the first mile beeped 8:45 I was THRILLED. I had this guy in front of me who was running a good pace so I stuck with him.
The view were uh-mazing. This was Stanley Park after all. The sun was setting and the colors on the water were so beautiful. We had the city lights behind us and the green trees next to us; it was awesome.
On one side, water….
on the other, city….so beautiful! (pictures are pre-race, lol!)
The second mile beeped 8:35 and I was happy that I was still feeling pretty good. I kept it going with my “pacer” to mile 3 and that beeped at 8:45!
And then my pacer slowed down 😦 I wanted to yell at him, “Keep it going!! I need you!!” lol, but of course I didn’t and I told myself to put my big girl panties on and do it myself.
Yeah, that didn’t work out so well.
Almost immediately after crossing the 5k mark, I begin to falter.
And maybe that guy knew the uphill was coming or something, but I didn’t. I felt like I was still going my pace but mile 4 beeped away at 9:04 and I was buuuuummed.
I tried to get it together and at least keep it under 9 minutes which I barely managed to when mile 5 beeped 8:58.
Mile 6, 8:53.
I was so happy to only have .2 left. SO happy.
And then the goddamn hill. Yes, the one that when I started, took me on a nice swift decline.
I had been trying so hard to get sub 9 miles that I felt I had nothing left to give on that effing uphill–I practically crawled up it and the last .28 took me 2 minutes and 50 seconds (a 10 minute pace). Seriously, Helly.
I crossed the finish line in 55:49 missing my sub 54 goal by a minute and 50. Ugh.
On a positive note, I was pleased my overall pace was under 9 at an 8:53 pace, so YAY to that!! 😀
On an even more positive note, my husband finished 10th overall!!!
The post-race was super cool–they fed us a burrito, fries, and a beer–and they had a DJ playing music. We were inside a building, nice and warm too so it was definitely comfortable and fun.
The DJ announced he’d be awarding top overall male and females so we hung out to see the speedsters. The top 3 men and top 3 women were awarded their medals and then the DJ went back to his music right afterward.
Aaaaand this is when things went awry. About 30 minutes later, my husband and I decided to head back to the hotel. It was late, about 10 o’clock, and we didn’t want to be out in the streets at dark. As soon as we got to the hotel, we checked our results again but this time online. My husband said he’d gotten 1st in his age group!!! Woohoo!!!
Seriously, not about 5 minutes later, I posted our Instagram pic with the hashtag #NightRunVancouver and #RunVan and when I searched both tags, I saw a guy showing off his Age Group medal! Whaaat??? How in the world did we miss that??? We had been inside the ENTIRE time and not once did they announce Age Group awards! I messaged the guy and he told me that he had seen a table with medals and that was how he had gotten his. Whaaaat???? No announcement? No sign? Nada???
We decided we’d head to the running store the next day where packet pick-up for the race was. My husband ran the mile to the store Saturday morning only to be told by the employees there that they had no idea what he was talking about.
My husband returned bummed but over it–it was just a medal.
But I was upset! I don’t know why, maybe the Type A organizer in me, but c’mon! So I e-mailed the race director who responded the next day, Sunday, the day we were leaving, that he’d drop off the medal at the running store my husband had been to the day before, lol!
That e-mail was sent right before we got on the plane to come home, so of course there was no going back to the store.
Bummer, no medal (and again, my husband did not care, lol!) but it peeved me a little that there had been NO announcement whatsoever post-race and I made sure to let the race director know that that was an area which needed improvement–because besides that, it had been a great race. And during my Instagram search, I had found another girl who experienced the same thing.
Not how we wanted to end the race but we decided to solely focus on the positive (or really, my husband kept telling me to focus on the positive, lol!!). The race had amazing views the entire way, it was a single loop which for 10k’s I’ve run is rare, and it had great pre and post race festivities. If I was to eliminate the medal fiasco, this would definitely be a race I’d recommend. Thanks for making it this far and sorry for my long-winded vent, lol!
I’ll be re-capping the rest of my amazing trip later this week–I hope everyone had a great weekend!! ❤ , helly
–Have you ran a race and missed the medal?
–Ever ran a race with super cool pre and post race parties??
Well, congrats to the hubby, but yeah, super frustrating! And to get kind of jerked around like that, and when you are tired and it’s late… no bueno. C’mon Canada, I thought you were supposed to be nice! ;D
Yeah, the people weren’t very nice when my husband went to the store to ask 😦 But overall, everyone everywhere else was very nice 🙂 I hope Chiagoans are nice 😉
Aw, bummer about the medal. I would have been disappointed too. I got 3rd in my AG once but didn’t stay post-race to find that out, so I didn’t get whatever the award would have been. Regardless, sounds like a beautiful and fun race!
It def was a beautiful race despite the medal fiasco 🙂
Wow that is so annoying about the medal! That would drive me crazy too, especially since you were there the whole time and they didn’t announce it or anything. My boyfriend missed his medal on our first ever 5k, but it was due to our own mistake and we were able to pick it up later. The pictures really look beautiful though.. sorry you didn’t get the time you wanted!! so close, ah!!
Exactly, the fact that we were there is what irritates me the most–and NOTHING was said. Oh wells…lol
Bummer you guys missed it on your *first* race but cool you got it later!
Awe, that really sucks. I’m sorry about the medal thing! That blows!!! How disappointing. I love the burritos and beer thing though. I did a race in Vancouver where they had a huge BBQ after and a beer garden. It was pretty sweet.
Seriously, it looks like Vancouver does races right!! ❤
I’ve missed a first place medal before! They were handing out sticks and I was the first female in my age category as there was only youth ahead of me at the finish line. The first place trophy went to someone who finished behind me – I was disappointed but didn’t bother to say anything.
Other then the medal, looks like you had a fun time! Now you just need to come run on the East Coast of Canada 🙂 We’ve got some good races here !!!
It’s definitely on my list!!! 😀
I have definitely missed an age group award before. Major bummer! So sorry to hear that. My husband would have been the same way about it too and I would have been the one upset. One time we ran a North Face Challenge and when we picked our shirts up at the store they were cool but only had the race logo on the sleeve. Meh, okay. Well we drove out of NYC to the race the next day and there everyone was with their shirts and they were silk screening your race distance on it. What?! No one told us this. How were we to know? So now we have a blank race shirt….and of course the silk screen was soooo cool looking.
Oh, heeelllll no!!! I would’ve been so upset!!! 😦 Super bummer. I bet it’s a good conversation starter though– “Hey, why is your race shirt blank?” LOL
That totally stinks about Ben’s medal, but seriously, they should have offered to mail it to you, that is ridiculous and I would have been annoyed too! Great job on the sub 9 overall, that is amazing Helly! Glad you guys had an awesome time!
I didn’t meet my goal but I was happy about my sub 9 average 🙂 Thank you, Sara!!! ❤
Congrats on a super strong race! You rock! My friend lived in Van for a few years and we visited her once. Stanley Park is lovely, and this race sounds awesome. I can’t BELIEVE the whole medal thing for your husband – that is so lame! I got 3rd in my age group in 2014 at the Knoxville Marathon. I’d run the race as a training run and with no watch, and just left after the race was over. Found out later I got 3rd in my AG, called up to the running store where they were holding onto the unclaimed awards. I was already on the way home, and they told me that they were going to hang onto them through the end of the week and then mail them out. I never got it! I don’t even know what the award was. I was bummed!! Sounds like you guys had a great trip besides that!!!
Bummer!!! Yeah, besides that, it was a super fun race!!! Looks like you’ve been racking up the awards lately 😀
good work my friend!! I always get so excited when races start downhill but quickly forget what goes down, must come back up. 🙂 such a bummer about your hubby’s medal!! can they not mail it? ugh… but that’s AMAZING! he’s speedy.
I know, right?? I got all excited about it starting off that way totally neglecting I’d be coming back the same way 😦 ja!!
Congrats on the sub-9 min pace! Given that this race wasn’t run in the morning like most races, & you didn’t get the pre-race jitters/urge to go, I’d say that’s pretty darn good 🙂
Congrats to your hubby as well! I’m on the same page as you about the award- poor judgment on their part not to announcing anything about AG awards. Smart of you to give that feedback though so the problem doesn’t continue!
I’ve missed getting my award before from a half marathon a couple years ago when I left early, & was too far away to go pick it up days later. Irritated the heck out of me at the time, but I’ve gotten over it as there will always be new awards to win 🙂
Thank you!!! Yes, I wondered how I would’ve done in the morning at a “usual” race time but I guess I’ll have to wait for Chicago to find out, lol!! (eeeek!)
Congrats on an AMAZING race with solid, consistent paces!!
I’m sorry about the medal…Race organizers have mailed me medals I forgot to pick up before…they may send his. He may not care, but I’m with you…I’d be irked!
I’m hoping they do but since it’s international, I”m not getting my hopes up, lol!
Thank you!! 🙂
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This looks like an awesome course and where is that room?? I’m definitely doing it next year, looks like a cool course and also a good post-race party.
Lol and congrats at your husband’s 1st AG place! Yeah that’s how they do things in Canada road races, no announcements for AG places. You get used to it and you get in the habit of checking the results yourself though, and “finding the table” haha.
Except the trail races like 5 Peaks usually have presentations for AG places. The last time I missed my result was at the Summerfast 10k here back in July where I came 3rd AG, I was halfway walking to brunch but I bolted back to get the medal and the arm warmers prize 😉
I didn’t even realize that maybe it was a custom thing, lol!! But you’re so right, it could def be a Canada thing and here I am being an angry ‘ol American, lol!! I guess I would’ve liked to have known there would even be AG awards–the website mentioned nothing of it. Oh well! 🙂
The “room” was a building inside the park. They had port-a-potties outside but there was a washroom ( <—totally Canadian, lol!! We say bathroom or restroom) inside the building that people could use with NO lines. It was pretty awesome 😀
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