After the good result I had in the Harry's Spring Run-off, I was ready to do well in the Sun Run.
Once again pace bunny was unable to attend nor was I able to convince Catrin to come run this 10K. I don't blame her as the close to 60,000 deep field of runners and walkers is somewhat intimidating. Since I live only a few blocks away from the start line, it's very easy for me to slip into my starting gate near the start of the race. Fortunately the rain held off and it wasn't as cold as last year, so it was quite easy to stay warm in the crowd until the race began. This year I started in the yellow division instead of the green and I was quite happy that I did. There seemed to be a lot more elbow room in this gate before the race start and it was evident that these people were here to do some serious running.
With my iPod playlist newly refreshed for this 10K distance, including a copy of Stan Ridgeway's "Mexican Radio" which I recently found on iTunes, I started the race with a good soundtrack to keep me motivated but I knew I would have problems getting in enough air because I had been suffering from a cold the past week and I was still feeling very congested. I also noticed my heart rate had been elevated somewhat in the last week, likely due to the cold too, so I was not in the best frame of mind either. As I hit the 3 km mark I could already feel "burning lungs" so I took it down a notch and cruised to the hill on Hornby that rises to the Burrard St bridge.
I managed to cruise past the 5 km mark with the ticker rate in a reasonable range and feeling pretty good, so I was in good spirits at the crest of the bridge and down the slope to the 6km mark. Breathing harder than I would be otherwise, I passed Granville Island and waved at Fran from my Friday yoga class who, as planned, was outside her office to greet me as I went by. I passed by 8 km fairly comfortably but as I passed by the skytrain construction under the Cambie Street bridge and then up the on ramp, I checked my heart rate and it was in the very high 180's. Now I can usually tolerate that for brief periods on trail runs, but given the relatively ease of this incline and my now very elevated respiration, I was not a happy camper. When I reached the deck of the Cambie St. overpass I had to slow down to a walk for 30 seconds or so to get my heart rate and respiration back in line. Then I saw Sam Sullivan on the side walk and thought "Damn, I just have to run by that guy" so I started to run again. I then managed enough puff to finish strong for the cameras.
So from a feeling good perspective, I would rate that run a 4 out of 10. But I did manage to knock 19 seconds off my PB from last year's Sun Run and any of my 10Ks to date, so that was good! I was hoping to break 54 minutes but that will have to wait until next year. I am still on track for my strategy of incremental improvement.
To summarize, it sucks to run when you have a cold. Trust me
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