The 2018 Comox RV Half Marathon took place on March 18th, which was only 3 weeks after I raced the Mesa-PHX Half Marathon in Arizona.
As I mentioned in my preview for the Comox RV Half Marathon race, I’ve run a personal best on that course 3 years ago. Therefore, it’s a great race if you are looking for a fast time.
The 2016 Comox RV Half Marathon was a rough go for me. The 2nd quarter of 2016 was a terrible time in many areas of my life, running included. Unfortunately, I was still sitting out for 2017. Overall, if your health (whether it be physical or mental) isn’t good, other areas of life suffer too.
This year though , I entered the season with a completely different attitude towards running; that of gratitude. I was grateful to be running again and my times didn’t matter as much as making connections with the running community. Therefore, I decided to race everything this year.
I hope that I can inspire people who may have given up. The reason I say this is because in the 2nd quarter of 2016, I almost gave up. I’m glad I didn’t because running brings me a lot of joy in life.
Going into this year’s Comox RV Half Marathon
I knew I wasn’t going to get a personal best. After what happened in 2016, I was just happy to be able to start again. My “A” goal was to come within 10 minutes of my personal best and possibly place top 3 in my age group.
This year, I decided to use races as social events as opposed to worrying about my times. I’m grateful for all the friendships I’ve built as a result of being part of the running community.
I woke up at 5am, had breakfast (two pieces of toast and a banana) and left the house relatively early. The drive to Comox was about 2.5 hours. It was a very peaceful and enjoyable drive.
Once I got there, it was very exciting for me to chat to people. I got to learn about them and hear their inspirational stories.
It was a beautiful day! The weather was perfect for running.
In the beginning
I was very familiar with the course, so I did my first km relatively slow (4:42) in order to try and run stronger the rest of the way. My next 6kms were as follows: 4:15, 4:07, 4:32, 4:22, 4:22, 4:18. I was very happy with that and was hoping to keep it up. At that point, I was still feeling good.
The gentleman in the green shirt who was running beside me, ended up getting a 9 or so min personal best. He finished well ahead of me. Photo by Jim Hockley.
If I wasn’t feeling good 7km into the race, that would be a bad sign. However, because I thought I was getting too far ahead of myself, I slowed down for km 8 and ran it in 4:42.
Photo by: Ken & Lois DeEll. Outfit: JP Activewar from www.dreamstrides.com
In the middle
After recovering during the 8th km, I did km 9 in 4:30. As I was getting close to 9km, I watched the leaders coming back. It was inspiring to see people going that fast. The next 5kms we as follows: 4:15, 4:17, 4:28, 4:11, 4:12.
At that point, I was past the most noticeable incline in the whole race. For the most part, this race is flat and fast, including some long net downhill portions. I knew, at that point, that I will finish. As I went through each km and saw the sub 4:20 splits, even though I was a bit too slow to run a personal best, I could not be upset with myself.
Photo by Ken & Lois DeEll
The final stretch
The 15th km felt like a slight downhill, which resulted in 3:57 for the km.
“WHAT??!!” This was the last 3rd of the half marathon and I was doing a sub 4-min km! I felt so much undying gratitude.
I definitely slowed down towards the end. The next 5km were 4:19, 4:20, 4:33, 4:32, and 4:45. The 20th km, for some reason, was challenging. Maybe I didn’t get enough carbs or maybe I ran the middle part too fast-I will never really know. I was so close to taking a quick walk break.
Then, a gentleman passed me at the 20k mark and I took note of who he was. I was doing my best to stay within 100m of him. As we were approaching the finish, I saw him about 100m ahead of me. I think he was about 20m from the finish line at that time.
The bridge before the finish. The calm before the sprinting storm. Photo by Ken & Lois DeEll.
Then, all of a sudden, something happened to my brain. I realized that if I sprint these last 200m as fast as I can, I have a chance of catching him. Suddenly, I got a second wind.
I sprinted and with each stride I was getting closer and closer to him. The people at the finish line were cheering and that gave me even more energy. I literally overtook him by less than half a second and about a foot before the finish line.
That was a very exciting finish. I’m glad he was there because, otherwise, I don’t think I’d have broken 1:36 going at the pace I was going.
Final thoughts
Even though I didn’t run a personal best, I was grateful to be running. My time was 1:35:52 which was good enough for 2nd place in age group and 14th out of 190 overall for the women.
Earlier, I had mentioned that my “A” goal was to get within 10 minutes of my personal best and place top 3 in my age group. Given that my personal best is 1:28, I did, in fact, come within 10 minutes of it!
Smiling after a great day.
I achieved my “A” Goal.
Happily and safely, I drove home thinking about what the next Island Series race will be. If you missed the Comox RV Half Marathon this year, you should do it next year. You won’t regret it.