VIRA Island Race Series: 2019 Harriers Pioneer 8k Race Recap

Last week, I was fortunate enough to take part in the Harriers Pioneer 8K race. It was my first race of 2019 and also the first event of the VIRA Island Race Series, which I often use as my “motivation to keep training hard in the winter”.

I also enjoy the social aspect of being part of this series.

I love to connect with people who share my passion for running. It was great to see some friends I haven’t seen for a while! Pic: Joe Camilleri

It was a beautiful day and I could not have asked for better weather even if I tried!

On race day, I woke up excited. I looked out the window and saw the sun. In the week leading up to race day, there was a mix of rainy and cloudy days, so it was very refreshing to run in the sun.

I decided that I was going to have a good day and that I also wouldn’t let my finish time or place decide whether or not my day was going to be good.

Of course, I wanted to beat last year’s time, even if it’s by a few seconds. I also wanted to enjoy the scenery a bit as opposed to staring at my wrist the whole way.

When the race started, I held back a bit for the first 500m then decided to settle into a relatively comfortable pace. I think between the startline and the turnaround point, I only looked at my Garmin two times.

Yes, my Garmin looks pretty awesome and I’m stoked to have access to GPS technology.

However, the countryside views are so beautiful! There is so much more to running than just staring at my wrist and I need to keep remembering that.

The first 4km went relatively smoothly.

As I got to km 5, I slowed down a little bit. I definitely went a bit too fast between km 4 and 5, despite the small incline after the turnaround point. Slowing down between km 5 and 6 was a good choice and it allowed me to enjoy the run a bit more.

By the time I got to km 6, I stopped worrying about whether or not I beat my last year’s time. I saw a few people going at a good pace, so I decided to keep following them.

The next thing I knew, I reached the 7km mark!

I kept thinking: “where is the fatigue?” I was anticipating that I would start to progressively slow down in the final km.

Then, with 500m to go, a few people passed me. At that point, I became inspired to really pick it up to see what I have left in the tank.

With 200m to go, I began to sprint as fast as I could because I could hear all the people cheering for everyone at the finish line.

Finishing strong and being happy in the process. Pic: Joe Camilleri

This was by far the best finishing kick I’ve had in the past 3 years. That last 200m was very fast. Not only did I end up passing the three people that passed me at the 500m left to go mark, but I also caught a few people that were in front of them.

I wish I had that sprint on video. It was a very satisfying experience for me because I had no idea I had it in me to finish that strong even after almost a decade of racing under my belt.

All smiles during the awards ceremony. Pic: Joe Camilleri

The best thing was that nothing hurt, which made me very happy. My official time was 34:53, which is better than last year’s time. Therefore, I ultimately achieved my goal, which was to “beat last year’s time”. I ended up being 3rd in my age group and 29th out of 276 women.

Official raceday timing results. 🙂

Also, huge shout out to Rio Olympian Natasha Wodak for being the first woman across the finish line. I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know her over the years and follow her amazing journey to athletic excellence. Whenever I get a chance to interact with her,  I instantly feel even more inspired. I can’t wait to watch her run in Tokyo 2020!

Perhaps,  I am ready to make a few PB attempts in the next training cycle, but until then there is a lot of work for me to do to get back there again.

As far as this race itself is concerned, I believe it was very well-organized. I had no issues figuring out the parking or where to go to get to the start. The course marshalls also did a phenomenal job of directing the runners.

Let’s not foget the post-race food!

The pizza and cookies were delicious, but I limited myself to only one piece of pizza (gotta leave some for my fellow runners) and only three cookies (normally I’d have eaten five or more).

When a friend of mine was looking for me after the race…he said “of course, I should have known you’d be where the pizza, coffee and cookies are!”. Indeed, he was right.

So, if you’re ever looking for me and want to say “hi”, you know you will find me where the food is.

The post-race food alone is definitely worth the entry fee! However, the friendships created as a result of running these races are priceless.

Stay tuned for my preview of the Cobble Hill 10K which is coming up fast. Should that be the race where I choose to ditch my Garmin completely?