About one week after I finished the Goodlife Fitness Marathon, I walked into Frontrunners (great running store!) and saw a stack of fliers with information about Bear Mountain Half-Marathon aka “Canada’s Hardest Half-Marathon”. That peaked my interest for sure! So, of course, I took one.
I went to the website and after reading the course description and everything else, my fingers automatically guided the mouse to click on the word “register”. I mean, how could I resist?
Call me crazy, but I love taking part in athletic events which challenge my body and my mind. (The mind actually plays a big part in racing, which I will probably discuss in later posts).
The race was on November 17, 2012. Although it was far from warm outside, I still decided to wear a sports bra and spandex shorts for the race. I knew that a jacket and long loose pants would slow me down since I wouldn’t be as aerodynamic due to the wind. It was more of a thought process that I was going through, where I believed that if I felt like I was fast and looked fast, then I would be fast.
The ladies at the start line behind me asked: “Aren’t you cold? I don’t know where you’re from but don’t you know that it’s winter here?”
Although I was shivering at the start line, I refused to believe I was cold and deep down I knew that as soon as the gun goes off, I will be warm.
About 10 minutes or so into the race the wind started blowing and it started to rain. My goal was to run it in 1:45, so my pace had to be just under 5 min/km.
Some people thought that was a pretty steep goal given that my best flat half marathon time was just slightly under 1:40 (long before my foot injury back in ’08; I hadn’t raced a half marathon since then).
I believed 100% I could finish in 1:45.
Above: this was quite a ways into the race and sometimes it’s hard not to land on my heels when going downhill but I’m working on that 🙂
About 1/3 into the race, I only knew of one woman who was ahead of me. She was going very fast. Her name is Catrin Jones and she is an elite runner; she ended up being the first woman across the finish line.
At the half-way point, I was at 49:39. At that point I knew that if I keep up my pace and even if I slowed down by a few seconds per km, I would still accomplish my goal time. I definitely didn’t want to slow down because I was holding on to my second place (for women) and there is always a chance that someone could sneak up behind.
Unfortunately, I had to slow down to tie my shoe. Luckily for me, tying my shoe did not make me lose my second place.
Some of the hills were a bit challenging, especially the ones that were in the second half of the race. The course was tough but I thought it was very interesting. I enjoyed some of the uphills because I passed quite a few people in the second half because I refused to let myself slow down to a walk.
I ended up finishing the race in 1:42:59 according to the results posted here. I was the 12th person overall out of 73 to cross the finish line; 2nd woman across the line and WON my category (age/gender)! 🙂 I was very happy with my time and my placement!
If you are thinking about doing something new and challenging, then this race is for you. I can promise you one thing: when you cross that finish line, you will be proud of your accomplishment and you should be. This race will also give you something to brag to your friends and colleagues about! 🙂 
You also get a cute finisher’s medal for finishing the race (see above). There’s other swag available for you too.
I definitely want to do it again next year. This is a race worth running and talking about.
Are you ready to test your limits?
If you’re not quite ready for the half marathon, there is the option to do the 10K.
Happy running 🙂
~Yana
P.S. Des May and Esrah Boulton took the photos during the event of me running.