Vancouver Lake Half Marathon–Take 2

Boy am I glad I have the day off from work today.  Moving is quite the challenge.  Yesterday was my second round at the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon.

It started out like any day.  I woke up, drank some coffee and ate some oatmeal.  Normally I take banana pieces as a fuel mid run, but our bananas were still much to starchy.  I knew I needed something so I put my inventive cap on and went to work.

Thus creating energy balls filled with date, almond, coconut and sea salt.  Oh the sea salt was a perfect addition.  Individually wrapped and put in the fridge to take with me, but more on those later.

My parents and brother picked me up and we headed off to the race.  It was foggy that morning and in the 40s… pretty comfortable actually for January.

After grabbing our numbers Trevor and I were still excited.  We ran around, stretched and waited for 30 minutes then we were off at 10am.

Yup I was moving so fast all you could see was a blur of me.

The first 3 miles were a straight shot out and back.  I was excited and running with the crowd, landing my first mile at 7:15.  Much faster than my goal.  I slowed down a bit for my second mile clocking it in at a 7:30 pace.

At 3 miles I felt like I was getting a bit more into my rhythm.  I nixed my jacket, which I had actually taken off and tied around my waist after just 1 mile.

Looking back I wish I would have grabbed an energy ball from my mom then, but I figured I’d be fine until I saw them again… which was about 5.5 miles later.

The next section of the route took us to another out and back.  The thing I love about this race is that it is so flat.  There is only just the slightest incline at the end of this out and back around mile 6.

After the turn around I was beginning to feel a bit drained.  I needed some energy but knew I still had just under 3 miles to go before I’d see my parents.

It was at that time that my right achilles began aching.  Where did that come from?  All during my training I avoided any injury.  Yeah, I rolled my ankles and had a few runs with achy knees, but nothing that made me stop running.

I walking through the water stopped then picked up running again.  A couple minutes later I stopped and stretched.  My brain was beginning to feel depleted of energy.  I did some serious pep talk during that section before I saw my parents again.

Trevor still looks full of energy there.

I was relieved to finally see my parents and grabbed 2 energy balls.

The salt in the balls was so delicious at that moment.  They were nice and easy to eat after being processed a ton.  The hardest part was removing the plastic wrap.  I got the brain fuel I needed to keep going.

Next up was the same out and back we started with for 3 miles.  I was doing great until I hit mile 10.  Mile 10 felt like mile 12 during my first half marathon last January.  My hips began to hurt.  My knees were aching.  My feet were feeling every step on the paved road.

I was just barely sub 8 minute miles when I got to mile 10 at 1:19:45.  It was then that I told myself to just finish.  I didn’t care about my time, I just knew I couldn’t walk because if I did there was no way I was running again.

Here’s Trevor coming back from the last out and back making the remaining 1.5 miles to the finish.  Looking strong still!

I made it through the out and back.  I was in pain and told my mom that I was dying, but I kept going and was glad to know that it was almost done.

Since I ran this route last year I knew that the last mile went through the park.  You can see the finish 1.5 miles before you actually get to finish.  It took all my energy to keep running.

I made it to the final turn with 1/4 mile to go.  The pain, oh the pain.

Then the finish – the best part of the race  🙂

I clocked in at 1:46:42.  A pace of 8:09.  A new PR!

Trevor did amazingly and finished at 1:31:30.  Sub 7 minute pace!

I was so glad that I got to train with my little bro, even though we didn’t run together.  His first half marathon time was awesome and because of him pushing me during our training runs I set a new PR.

I think the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon is going to be a tradition I keep with each year.  I like that it’s in January – with no threat of excess heat, plus it’s a very flat route.

Missed my past half marathon recaps?  Check them out.

Vancouver Lake Half Marathon 2010

Lacamas Lake Half Marathon 2010

Come back later for an energy ball recipe!  Also I’ll be sharing my secrets to running faster soon – I shaved off exactly 17 minutes from the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon last year!

Heather