With the way that I was feeling before this race I probably should not have started but I really needed to get some points for the series and I thought that there was a chance that once I started the race I would feel better while I was running.
I think the problem was with something I ate at a coffee shop off commercial street in Vancouver the day before; I would name the restaurant but I don’t recall the name
After several bathroom breaks before the race I felt I was ready to go. I felt good at the start and went through 6:05 at the 2km mark with the leaders before we zigzagged through the UBC campus and back through the race start area. At 3km I was still up with the leaders and I thought that things would settle down in my stomach.
At 4km things changed and I was starting to look for a place to pull over. I was thinking about stopping but I kept thinking about those series points I needed and my ride was heading down the hill to the finish so I really didn’t want to hang out 13 miles from the finish getting cold waiting for my ride to figure out I wasn’t coming and pick me up. So I pushed on but at a little after 5km I had to pull over and take care of business.
One, two, three… four and five people passed before I got back on the road. I felt much better now and worked on slowly reeling in those who passed me. It took me a few kilometers but by 9km I was back in 6th and one spot from where I was before I had to stop. We were hitting some decent downhill sections and that wasn’t co-operating with my stomach. I tried to put the discomfort out of my mind and work on reeling in 5th and fourth place and distance myself from those running with me at that point.
By 13km I was rolling and chasing down 4th place. I could see Racham (4th place) up ahead and he kept looking back so I knew he was struggling. At 16km I was right up with Racham and I could see just past him off in the distance the third place spot. I went past into 4th and started to work on third place.
I was working on brining back a 50 plus second gap from third and I was moving well at this point and third was looking back quite a bit so I knew he was worried and this could work to my advantage. By the time I reached the bridge and just under 3km to go I had brought that gap down to 27 seconds. I pushed on but was running out of race( I kept thinking about the time I lost during my pit stop). In the end I was 16 seconds out of third place.
The upside of the race was that I did finish and got some points for the series. I made a few bucks and was able to run under those tough conditions, the time sucked but that happens some times. Back to training this week and trying to get over this illness quickly.
Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon 2010 from Steve Osaduik on Vimeo.
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