This year’s VIRA Island Race Series Comox Valley RV Half Marathon took place on March 13th. Leading up to the race, the forecast was a bit questionable. Thankfully, it ended up being a relatively nice Sunday in the Comox Valley for the duration of the race.
The drive to the race was rather uneventful and parking was pretty easy to find. Once again, I carpooled to the race with my friend. I always encourage other participants to carpool if they can because it’s much more fun than just driving up by yourself.
Prior to the start of the race, I was a little bit cold and held off on ditching my upper layer of clothing until the last few minutes before the start of the race. I wore my racing outfit under my pajama pants and a hoodie.
Above: Just before the start of the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon 2022. Photo by Joseph Camilleri
In addition, I opted to run the race without a GPS watch. I want to keep running by feel as much as I can until I’m ready to attempt a personal best.
At the start line, I told a few friends that I expected to finish the half marathon between 1:35 and 1:40.
Over the last month, I had to reduce my weekly mileage because of my toe so I wasn’t training to run the half any faster than 1:35 this time around. Therefore, I wasn’t about to set any wild expectations and had to be realistic about what my body could do.
I started the race at a very comfortable pace and felt great until I got to km 9. At km 9, I felt a bit tired so I decided to slow down a bit and see how I feel after the turnaround.
Start of the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon 2022. Photo by Lois DeEll
On the way back, getting up that one hill was a bit challenging for me. However, once I got up the hill, I began to get a second wind. Without a doubt, I picked up the pace and felt awesome between kms 12-17.
After the 17km mark, I started to get a bit tired again. However, I knew that I had to keep going or it was unlikely that I would make it under 1:40. At the 19km mark, I began to try to pick up the pace again.
Then, with about 1km left to go, I was unable to go any faster.
The bridge before the finish of the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon 2022. Photo by Lois DeEll
As I approached the finish line, I didn’t pick up the pace for the last 200m like I normally do. I saw that the clock said 1:38:xx as I crossed the finish line. The good news is that neither my toe nor my hip bothered me during the race.
I ended up finishing in 1:38:06, which was good enough for 5th place in my age group and 26th (out of 212) women overall.
Finish line high-five. Photo by Joseph Camilleri
The best thing about these events is the community. Once again, it was so wonderful to see all my running friends again. 🙂
It’s all about the friendships and the fun. 🙂
If you missed the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon, then you should check out the Westcoast Sooke 10k, which takes place on March 27th.
Stay tuned for my race preview and tips for the Sooke 10k, which I will try to have up later this week.