The VIRA Island Race Series 2019 Tristars Sooke River 10k took place on Sunday, April 7th. Compared to Saturday, the weatherman was extremely kind to us!
On Saturday, I also raced the Esquimalt 5k, which was definitely a good way to shake off some rust to prepare my legs for the Sooke River 10k race on Sunday.
It was the first time in nearly 3 years that I raced on both Saturday and Sunday. For that, I am proud of myself because doing two races back-to-back on the same weekend definitely required me to step outside of my current comfort zone.
On Sunday, the weather was absolutely perfect for running and I didn’t feel any wind at all.
When I wrote the preview for the Tristars Sooke River 10k, I didn’t discuss any time goals for that race.
This is because I didn’t want a repeat of the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon, which took place a couple of weeks prior to the Sooke River 10k.
Long story short: I had set relatively high expectations for myself at the Comox Valley RV Half marathon and came up extremely short.
Therefore, instead of focusing on how fast I wanted to do the Sooke River 10k and planning my perfect race strategy, I defaulted to a strategy that I knew would work. My strategy for the Sooke River 10k was pretty simple: don’t start too fast, keep an even pace and pick it up on the way back.
I didn’t start the Sooke 10k solely with the idea that I wanted to “redeem” myself after Comox, however, I would be lying if I said that the thought didn’t enter my head at least a few times.
Of course, I wanted to redeem myself! I wanted to prove to myself that my race a few weeks ago was just not my day and requires no further analysis on my part.
Prior to the Sooke River 10k, I decided to go back to eating and drinking what has worked for me before.
However, I admit, I was a bit nervous as I waited for the start of the Sooke River 10k. When the gun went off, I opted not to bust out of the gate. I started the race very conservatively and ran my first km in 4:25. This was definitely much slower than earlier races this season.
Somewhere in the race I found myself running alone for a bit. Photo by Ken DeEll.
Then, I caught up with my friend Peter and decided to stick with him. I knew he was very good at pacing himself and we run about the same pace. Leading up to the turnaround, there were quite a few nice stretches of downhill followed by slight uphills.
Peter would pull away from me a bit and then I would catch up. However, we were both going at a very conservative pace to avoid burning out on the hills on the way back.
Running up the hill on the way back. The arm belongs to another gentleman that we caught up to on the hill.
We managed to catch a few people just before the turnaround point. After the turnaround point, Peter started to get ahead of me. However, I was determined not to let him get too far because I knew that if I stick with him, I will most likely beat my last year’s time.
Then, as we approached that big hill at the 7km mark that I discussed in my race preview, I felt strong. We caught a couple more people on the hill and proceeded to finish strong. Once we crested the last hill, I became even more excited about how the race was going.
Running with Peter. You can kind of see him beside me. I’m happy with my form here. Photo by Ken DeEll
Once we got to the 9km mark, Peter started to really pick up the pace and pulled away from me. I picked up the pace too but I wasn’t quick enough to catch him.
There was another gentleman that stayed close to Peter and I during the final few kms of the race. I always find that I run better (and enjoy it more) when I have a few people to run with.
As we turned the final corner, I picked up the pace a bit more. As I got closer to the finish line, I saw that the clock said: 42:xx. I sped up a bit just to increase my chances of crossing the finish line before the clock says 43.
Finishing the Tristars Sooke River 10k 2019. Photo by Lois DeEll.
As I crossed the finish line, I was grateful to see that the clock still said 42:xx. I later found out it was 42:53, to be exact. Last year, I got 44:04.
So, if you can imagine, I was extremely overjoyed to see an improvement, even though 42:53 is still substantially slower than my personal best.
I ended up winning my age category and finishing 7th overall for the women (out of 131).
Overall, this is a very fun race that was well-organized.