Saturday, March 14, 2015

St Patrick's 5k {Vancouver, BC, Canada}

Let's just get this out of the way first:

Time: 21:13 (a 17 second PR over my Pumpkins PR from October 2013!)

13/237 Age Group ( top 4.58%)

43/1011 Women ( top 4.25%)

171/1651 Overall (top 10.35%)


This was in no way a "goal race." Yeah, I've been training 6 weeks on a 5k plan, and I wanted to give it a good go, but I knew the circumstances wouldn't be ideal to hit the sub 20. And I was fine with that.

1. 5 hours in a plane left me feeling dehydrated. It also left my legs feeling sore and like lead.

2. We walked around Vancouver yesterday. My legs were still sore.

3. We went out with friends and had ramen, beer, a delicious vodka grape basil mojito type thing, a bourbon based mixed drink (Ginger Lady) and I finished the evening with a Canada Club 100% rye whiskey neat. Cheers!

4. Woke up this morning and my feet felt swollen still.

I wouldn't have changed a thing about yesterday! Because friends/family > running. Period.


Woke up to the predicted 85% chance of rain, ate a few small Nak'd bars and drank some Osmo and took a cab to the start because of the rain. I was going to run, but didn't feel like being soggy and cold for longer than I needed. Once out of the cab, I put on my trash bag and walked to the start area. I hung out under a tent for a while until I started my warmup.


I ran for 10 min easy + some strides as my warmup and took off my garbage bag when I realized it stopped raining and tucked in neatly near the front. After a quick countdown and listening to the pace car Maserati revving its engine, we were off!


I hit the first K in 3:50. Oops. That was a bit too quick even with the downhill! I was feeling great.

Hit the 1st mile in 6:30. 2nd k around 8:15, 3rd K around 12:30, and then I don't remember the rest.

The course was hilly, and gorgeous. The course was run around Stanley park and had nice views of sea planes landing, as well as downtown Vancouver. I really enjoyed that it was a loop and not an out and back.


I kept an even effort throughout but slowed. I'm sure I positive splitted the shit out of this race.

I was just really happy if stopped raining before the race started, because 30 minutes before, it was pouring freaking raining.



Post run, I got my new Granville Island brewing glass which also had the logo on it for the 5k and I paid $7 to fill it with their potato stout. Which was pretty good.


They had a cool indoor after party which was nice because I was damp, my feet were soaked and I was freezing my ass off.


After warming up enough, I walked back to the hotel and stopped at Blendz for an earl grey latte + monster cinnamon bun. Yum.


I'm really happy with how this race ended up considering everything. And I got to check a new country off the list of places I've raced!

This was the first race I've actually "raced" in a year!! I'm super happy to be"back" and know under better circumstances, a sub 20 will happen soon.

13 comments:

  1. Congrats on the PR. Why did the race need a Maserati as a pace car when it had Xaarlin flying around the course? :) . So nice that you were finally able to "race" a race after such a long time. Yeah, it may have been a positive split but for a non-goal race sometimes you just have to lay it out there and see if some magic happens. Also, was it more uphill on the second half? Anyway, Vancouver looks and sounds like a cool place to visit. I'm putting it on my list of places I need to go. I am going to make a bee-line to that cinnamon bun place, yum! Have a fun rest of your trip! :)

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    1. Thank you! Hahaha well, they needed the pace car for the true speedsters- don't know what the men's winning time was- but the woman ran it in 16:1x!!! Insane! I felt good going into the race, asides from my achy legs and swollen feeling feet and wasn't going to discount a PR performance regardless. I felt like I have a very good effort and really couldn't have run any faster. Without looking at the garmin, I do feel the second half had more uphill sections than downhill. And hills kinda kill me.

      You'd love it here! Delicious asian food, the scenery is gorgeous and the vibe of the city is so relaxed. I love it here! :)

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  2. You never cease to amazing me!!!! Great job, Char!!!

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  3. Congrats on a great race!! You are looking great! I bet it feels so good to have done a race after so long and to get a PR. You will get that sub 20 soon I have confidence in you.

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    1. Thank you so much :) it feels so freaking nice to be able to push the pace again without worrying that the pain will come back. It's so encouraging to see progress- especially after a long term injury!

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  4. Huge congrats to you Charlyn!! You have been working hard and it's paying off. Vancouver is an amazing city! Have fun.

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    1. Thank you Sara :) it's really nice to see some progress even with the less than ideal circumstances for the race. Makes me so excited to race again soon in Chicago under better conditions and see what I can do :) vancouver is nothing short of amazing!

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  5. Woo hoo! Congrats on the PR!!!! First new country of the year! Next... Denmark!!! Woo hoo! Where's that countries run in map?! :)

    Bobbi told me later that she thought that was an otter! WHAT?! An otter mascot?! MY DREAM JOB!!! You and the otter are too cute together!

    Alright, tell us, what is your new target PR race? :Pa

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    1. Thanks :) I need a spiffy map like yours to color in!!! I forgot to mention it was an otter to you earlier- but when I saw it as I crossed the finish I made a beeline straight to it (while gasping for air) and all I could think was "OTTER. KIM!!! Must take photo!!" I think youd be perfect as an otter mascot. You would embody the otter spirit the best! :) surprisingly no PR race yet. Must look at the race calendar again. Hoping for something in mid April.

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