Race Recap: Hatley Castle 8k 2014

After finishing the Cedar 12k with a major personal best, I honestly couldn’t wait to race again. Given that I’ve had personal bests in all 3 previous races in 2014, I was pretty sure that I would have a good race.

The Hatley Castle is pretty hilly, but the location is beautiful. It’s held at Royal Roads University.

Unfortunately, on race day, the weather was pretty bad and fairly uncommon for that time of the year in Victoria (end of February).

Due to the conditions, the race had to be rescheduled for March 2, 2014. It’s totally understandable because everyone’s safety is a priority for the race organizers.

I wasn’t too concerned about the schedule change, although I heard some people were thrown off by it. The weather is something that’s outside of my control, so I wasn’t going to let it ruin my race. Not worrying about things that are outside of your control is one of the best ways to overcome pre-race anxiety.

Again, I got to the race early. About one hour before the start of the race, I had a banana and a package of Cytomax Energy Drops as well as a can of Pink Energy drink. The usual. Never change the pre-race routine if you can help it, especially when it comes to eating and drinking.

Again, I put on my Public Myth gear, another constant.

This race was just for fun and that’s the attitude that I chose to take towards it, which helped me take all pressure off myself. (Try it)

This time, I didn’t start too fast. By the time we got to the big hill, I still had lots of energy.

I felt like I powered up the hill at a good pace (thanks to my training runs up Mt. Doug) and felt awesome when I got to the top.

There was a moment in the last 3km of the race where we ran on a winding trail. I struggled to keep my pace as fast as I wanted because I couldn’t see anyone in front or behind me. However, I managed to gather enough energy for a strong ascent up the last hill.

I ended up finishing first in my age group with a time of 34:14 (average pace is 4:17 per km or 6:53 per mile), which is a little bit slower than I would have liked. Overall, I was 44th out of 312 finishers.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos from the race this time.

I definitely plan on doing it again next year! 🙂