After two trail races and equipped with a great set of orthotics and new road running shoes -- New Balance 1061s -- it was time to try another road race. The previous year, pace bunny had run the New Balance Fall Classic held at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in November. She recommended it as a great race to try. So I signed up and did the hoofing myself.
Now running in November in certain parts of Canada could be deemed silly. In Vancouver, it typically means temperatures in the single digits (Celsius) and some rain. On the day of the race, the sky was overcast and the temperature was predicted to be 4 degrees in the morning with some chance of rain. Unlike the treks out to Buntzen Lake, the UBC was reasonably familiar turf, so the journey out there was uneventful. The hardest part was the journey from where the car was parked to the race start (an emerging common theme in my race experiences). Dressed in a pair of running tights, a technical shirt and a light windbreaker was fine for the race but not so much for walking around first thing in the morning. Note to self, dress warmer and check stuff in at the next event held in the cold weather!
The race area was very well organized with good signage and lots of fit people milling about, chatting, staying warm and doing little practice jogs to loosen up. Clara came with me and sipped coffee in the student centre so I said my goodbyes and joined the crowd gathering at the start line. It was at this point that I re-learned lessons from various science classes, educational programming and guides on wilderness survival: people generate heat and when you put them close together you can get awfully toasty. As we waited ten minutes or so for the race start is was clear to me that I was very toasty now - not a good thing for a race start. When the race began, I was fine for the first kilometre or so but soon regretted wearing the windbreaker - it was keeping in too much heat! I soldiered on.
The course follows some roads around and through the UBC campus. Though it is billed as a flat route, there is an interesting section about halfway through that dips down and, of course back up. This was kinda tough but I tried to keep a reasonable pace throughout. Then I made a booboo. I was SURE that the sign I saw read 9 km, but was eventually dismayed to see the second 9 km sign about 1 kilometre after that! So I had started my "run the last kilometre with some zeal" 1 kilometre too soon. To compound things, there was a slight incline up to the finish area. Ack! Oh well.
As I rounded the last turn of the course I could hear the crowd at the finish line and was pleasantly surprised to hear the announce state "We are now approaching the 1 hour mark". Wow, I think I was going to run this in under an hour! Forgetting the nasty hill bits and miscalculations, I burst ahead to try my best to get in under an hour. As I crossed the finished line I was pretty sure I had made it even though I had started some distance back at the beginning.
Then I came across the volunteers who "clip the chip" off the racer's shoes. They seemed to be curiously close to the finish, so I had to stop fast, leaving me with the sensation of half my body continuing on to run by. As I stepped away from the area, a shooting pain started in my right knee. It was difficult to put some weight on that side, so I hobbled over to where Clara was standing and announced my disappointment in my injury. I tried some stretching and gentle walking around, and the pain subsided somewhat, but the drive back was somewhat uncomfortable. It took a few days to recover.
Except for the last bit with the knee, I was pleased with my Fall Classic experience and would consider running this race again.
And so ended my first "year of racing".
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