Run For Their Lives Vancouver Island 2013: Campbell River to Courtenay

After two full days of rest,  my legs were getting pretty anxious to resume the run.

Since we wanted to get through Campbell River before the traffic starts getting too busy, we were up at just before 6:30am. We started that day’s run at around 7:00am. There were not a lot of cars on the road, which was great.

By the time it got to be 10am, I was nearly 30km into the run and still feeling really good. Again, I stopped and downed some Cytomax Energy Drops and drank some water.

Above: “Raise your Cytomax.” Photo by IMS FotoGrafix, clothing Public Myth.

I wanted to go a little bit faster, but I also wanted to conserve my energy and avoid injury. I also thought to myself “I’m going all the way.” Ian, the other member of team “Run for Their Lives” said, “If you want to run 50k and get a personal best, then today is a good day to do it.”

A couple of truck drivers, who would be giving us encouraging honks along the way, also pulled over and gave us a donation.

Encouraging honks, donations and people cheering from their cars are definite morale boosters, especially when you are attempting to run a distance beyond what you thought you could do.

At around 42km, we started to see some signs that indicated Courtenay was getting closer and closer. At that point, I knew that I could make it to 50k. I thought that if I go faster, then I will get to my goal sooner. I sped up a little bit. Each time a vehicle went buy and someone waved and honked, I was motivated to keep on going strong.

All of a sudden, my Garmin indicated “47k”. With only 3 more km left to go before reaching my goal of 50k, I was extremely thrilled that nothing was hurting and that I felt as if I was just at the beginning of a run. My legs were still feeling fresh.

We finished that day right outside of Courtenay. It was amazing to be able to say that I ran 50k without a huge struggle. It took me 4 hours and 15 minutes. Of course, I was going slower than race pace, but the bottom line is, this was a race against myself. Sometimes, we get too caught up with “pace” that we miss out on the joys of running.

This long run has made me realize that it’s not all about stressing over pace and time. Yes, setting time goals is good, but sometimes you just have to be willing to go the distance. Once you’re able to go farther, you can begin to work on going faster.

HAPPY RUNNING!!!