Great Trek race report

I didn't sleep that well and was up at 5:30 for my pre-race breakfast.  I had a bagel and some Ovaltine.

Rain was no longer in the forecast and the temperature was a bit warmer at 9 degrees.

I arrived at the University of British Columbia just past 7:30 for the 8:30 race start.  I dropped off my bag and walked around, doing some active stretching.  I decided that I was overdressed so I retrieved my bag and took off a layer.  I went to the restroom twice before the race.

I was assigned the Yellow corral based on my 2:15 estimate when I registered for the race.  I knew that was much too pessimistic based upon my training runs so I moved up a bit (so did a lot of others around me) and positioned myself slightly behind the 2:00 pace runner.  In my mind, my real goal was 2:00.

Quarter 1

Once we were off, I followed the 2:00 pacer for a while.  Based on her pace, it looked like she was going to do a steady pace for the whole race.  Because I knew that the first and third quarters of the race were mostly downhill and the second and fourth quarters were uphill (the course was out and back twice), I decided to take advantage of the initial downhill and passed the 2:00 pacer.

Since I knew that I was terrible at drinking while running, I walked briefly at each water station.  I took a swig of Nuun sports drink and some water at each water station.

By the time we reached the first turnaround at around the 1/4 mark, the field had spread out and I was several minutes ahead of the 2:00 pacer.

Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:31 (a 2:00 half marathon requires a 9:09 average split)

Mile 2 - 8:11

Mile 3 - 8:37

Quarter 2

The second quarter was gently uphill and, not surprisingly, my splits were slightly worse.  I started to feel some groin tightness at around Mile 4 but it wasn't too bad.

The last section of the first lap took us down Main Mall in the heart of the UBC campus.  I chatted for a while with another runner who was also looking to do a sub-2:00 time.  He was doing the Great Trek for the third time and hadn't broken 2:00 yet.  I told him he was in good shape to do it but he warned me about the final quarter of the race being uphill and difficult.

Splits:

Mile 4 - 8:41

Mile 5 - 8:49

Mile 6 - 9:01

Quarter 3

The start of the second lap was again downhill and I was now aware of the whole course so I was determined to take advantage of the gentle down slope.

Splits:

Mile 7 - 8:53

Mile 8 - 8:37

Mile 9 - 8:10

Quarter 4

At the turnaround, I could see that I had extended my lead on the 2:00 pace runner.

I felt relatively strong for the climb to the finish line and I think I passed more runners that those who passed me.  My groin was beginning to bother me a bit more and the balls of my feet were started to feel sensitive (turned out to be blisters developing).  My heart rate started to climb after being relatively steady for most of the race.

I took a bite of an Xact Energy fruit bar for the first time in addition to the Nuun sports drinks and water at the water stations.

To my surprise, I found that I was lapping some slow runners who were still completing their first lap.

I finished strong as I ran through the finish line chute.

Splits:

Mile 10 - 8:56

Mile 11 - 8:58

Mile 12 - 8:57

Mile 13 - 8:52

Finish

My official chip time was 1:53:01 which was a personal best half marathon result.

I was 490th out of 1,295 runners, 356th out of 739 males, and 9th out of 31 males aged 60 through 69.