Having finished my last trail race of 2008, I set my sights on my second half marathon of the year: the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in Victoria BC. Clara and I traveled to Victoria for a long weekend, staying with Clara's Mom who lives about 2 kilometres from the start line of the race.
It was obvious on the ferry ride over that there were a lot of "mainlanders" attending this event. The passengers looked a lot more fit and active then the usual crowd and a lot fewer meals of ferry food were being scarfed down! After dropping off Clara at her Mom's place, I walked downtown to the race package pickup location and found myself surrounded with as many people as I would see on a busy summer's weekend day. In my ignorance of the full slate of events for the weekend, I discovered that I had missed some free talks presented by Canadian Olympic athletes and a some prominent members of the running community. I will have to remember to come a day earlier next year.
We managed once again to get a great pasta meal on the night before the race by getting a delivery from Pagliacci's, a tiny but very popular Italian restaurant in downtown Victoria. Let's just say that they provide "marathon-sized" proportions, so that was good for me.
On race morning, I got up in the dark and munched on my granola as my mother-in-law observed my pre-race routines. Since she had never known anyone who did running this was a very alien thing for her. I suppose this was the first time she had seen my in my running gear too so that must have been different too!
I got my "good luck"'s and headed out just before sunrise. As I walked through the residential neighbourhoods into the downtown core, I was joined by a contingent of people who, like me, all cast this ghostly glow of 3M reflective tape and trim as the street lights shone on the racers safety tops and bottoms. It was quite surreal, especially since there was a morning fog adding to the otherwordly atmosphere.
Unlike my trail races and definitely unlike my first half marathon, I had my iPod to entertain, er, distract, me during the race, so as I waited at the start line I fiddled with it as I overheard various people angsting about their fear of failure or injury. I was just happy that it wasn't raining.
The race started and we headed out. The course winds its way through downtown Victoria, just glancing past the street where my mom-in-law lives, then heads out along the southernmost shoreline of Victoria. The turnaround point had us retrace most of the route back to a common finish line for both the marathon and the half marathon. To say this course is flat is an understatement. Yes, there are a few rises here and there, but overall this is one pancake of a course. It was a treat to be running along the route that my work buddy Claude and I used to walk in the mornings back in 1999 when it was all I could do to power walk 2 or 3 kilometres. I've come a long way since then.
Since the race route snakes back upon itself, I got the chance to see the race leaders streak by me as I was running. Wow. That was the first time I have seen "winners" leading in race in person. The first few runners were in perfect form. They looked relaxed and confident and the amount of opening in their strides were incredible. I am sure on the inside they were giving their all, but they looked so calm on the outside.
As the sun rose the threatening rain clouds parted and the last part of the race was beautiful and sunny, just like a race should be! There were a lot of folks a the finish line cheering on everyone and anyone, which was quite nice to see. To my surprise, I crossed the finish line in just a shade over 2 hours and 2 minutes, which beat my spring half marathon time by 6 minutes - not bad! There were lots of post race snacks to be had, so I inhaled a granola bar and half a banana as well as a few cups of water. I then walked around for a while to allow my legs to cool down. As I was shaking off the post-race tightness, I came across a group of three people trying to take a picture of themselves next to some totem poles outside of the BC Museum. I offered to take a picture for them and snapped off a couple to their delight. They were quite shocked and surprised when I told them I had just finished the half-marathon and was cooling down. They were there for the weekend and didn't realize a race was taking place! Fortunate for them, my heart rate was low enough by that time that the pictures did not turn out as colourful blurs.
Given the race organization, the activities provided and the very positive atmosphere of the event, I would recommend the Royal Victoria races (8km, half and full marathons) to anyone.
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