My 5th race of 2013, was the MEC Vancouver race#2, that was held at Burnaby Lake. With a $15 price tag, and the race location being just down the road, at one of my fave places to run, registering was a no brainer. It was also a great way to do 1 last quality speed workout while keeping my mileage in super low taper zone. It’s fitting, that the weekend we introduce the blog’s new name and logo, that I ran a race that was truly the definition of Beast Mode.
Spoiler alert : I RAN A NEW 10KM PR!!! Totally unexpected, given the timing, the course, and the fact that I was just doing a speed workout, but, the truth is, the Beast Mode switch got flipped, and I couldn’t help myself!
Check out my full recap & Jay’s pictures…
Last year, I randomly signed up for one of the MEC cheapy races and I was super impressed with what I got for the price. I am a race junkie, and bargain hunter, and since racing is damn pricey, anytime I can run a cheap race is a bonus!
There was 2 course choices – 5km or 10km. I assumed because it was at Burnaby Lake that the 10K would just go around the lake. I was wrong, it was an out & back on the North side of the Lake (from the Rugby Club to the Dam & back basically)
As you know, I love Saturday races, and this was no exception, again. Mom, myself, and friend Aileen were running the 10K, while Dad, friend Terri, and her friend Debbie were running the 5K.
Pre-race photos – Aileen, Dad, Mom, Debbie, & Terri
It was chilly at the start line, but the rain was holding off, or it was just spitting. Race started at 9. The only complaint I really have with the route, is the start. They placed it right at the start of the trail, and the beginning of the trail crosses a bridge, and is quite narrow. Had they placed the start line 100 feet back from the trail, this would have allowed better spacing for racers.
From the start, I decided to go with the “let my legs dictate pace” strategy that I like to use in races that aren’t goal races. I had home field of knowing the terrain, and knowing exactly where I was. First few km’s went by pretty fast and non eventful. After the first little bit of jostling for spots, all the runners settled into positions. I ran the first bit with Aileen, and managed to scoot past her around 2.5 km into the run. I had a couple of male kills during this section as well, and my pace was fairly steady, around 4:40-4:50/km. I got some side stitches around 3-4 kms, that were annoying, but I just tried to breathe through and ignore them.
Coming out into the open towards the Dam, I started to see most of the runners ahead of me coming back. I started counting the girls, there was 2 that were super fast, and 1 about a minute ahead of me I figured. I grabbed water at the turn around, and was happy to be in 4th place, and feeling relatively good.
We were at about 4.5kms at this point, and I didn’t think I had a hope of catching this girl, but I knew we were heading back towards the finish, which always gives me a boost.
If you haven’t run around Burnaby Lake, it’s a nice soft trail, that’s very well groomed, somewhat bouncy, and has a ton of twists and turns.
As I came around a turn, right around 6 kms, I caught a glimpse of the 3rd place girl. Well, geez, I couldn’t NOT try to catch her now. I pushed the pace a bit, and tried to catch more glimpses as I came around corners. There was 2 men between her and I. We did a little loop off to the side of the main trail, to add on some distance, and during this section we were joining up with and passing 5 km runners. I passed by Dad, and gave him a big cheer!
During this section, I was flying! My side stitches were still there on and off, but they weren’t terrible, so I just keep pushing the pace. I managed to pass one of the men, and then the second before joining back up with the main trail. We were past the 7km point now. I pulled up beside the 3rd place girl, and went to keep pulling ahead, when she suddenly noticed I was female and surged ahead and dropped me.
Again, I reeled her back in, and tried again for the pass, again she surged and took the front position. I wasn’t getting frustrated at this point, I was enjoying the competition. From the looks of her, she looked like a real runner, and I thought maybe she was just toying with me. On the 3rd attempt to pass her, she turned to me, and said “you are running the 5 or 10?” I said “the 10.” and then added “but I proably shouldn’t have told you that…”
I have to say, she wasn’t too friendly.
Anyways, the next time I pulled ahead of her, I finally felt like I was staying ahead of her. We were at about 8 km at this point, on a long straight stretch heading back towards the Rugby Club. I could feel my pace dropping, as my 7th km was the fastest of the day, somewhere around 4:20. Obviously, like I said earlier, my Beast Mode kicked in, and pushed me to pass this lady and take control of the 3rd position.
I tried to keep pushing my pace, but I had pushed too hard in hanging on when the lady surged and I was beginning to struggle. I also was too afraid to glance back, and didn’t know if she was right on my heels, or if I was gaining distance. I actually thought to myself, that she looks like a runner, she’s probably just toying with me, letting me lead till we hit the last km, and then she’s going to throw down a 4:00 km that I can’t compete with. As we came down the stretch towards the last bridge, I saw Jay, and gave him a big smile, and as I took the hard left into the fields, I glanced back, and I was in the clear!! She was not right on my tail!
I wasn’t done yet though. There was an out & back section along the perimeter of the field to make up for the missing distance. I pushed hard, kept moving, and just focused on finishing. I was pretty sure I was going to finish with a 47 in front of my time, which would be better than my current 10KM PR from last year’s Turkey Trot, which was a short course. Coming around the last couple corners, I tried to push it into over drive, but of course the finish line was on a curve, which eliminates the chance to have a kick ass sprint in.
Upon finishing, I was given my 3rd place female’s medal. WOO!
I know that there wasn’t a ton of speedy people in this race, but I also know there was at least 20 other women that I beat, especially 1 women in particular that I believe would have easily beat me, had I not been able to switch in Beast Mode and drive past her. This is the true meaning of Beast Mode, when you dig down deep inside yourself and “release your inner beast”!
Jay got these shots of mom, dad, Terri & Debbie out on the course :
It was a super laid back, fun morning, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves, and were glad we got out of bed to do a little race!
My official stats :
46:52- 3rd overall woman 9/65 overall
And now, for the nitty gritty race info/critique :
Overall, how would I rate this race?
Terrain/Course/Difficulty : B. The route/terrain is naturally really nice, but they made a couple route decisions that were definitely questionable – including starting/finishing location being really awkward – for the start it was too close to the trail, and for the end, it was right on a curve and not ideal for finishing sprints.
Affordability and Value : B. The race costs $15 plus tax so $15.75, which is a great price for a race. However, the MEC race that I went to last year, had much more extras thrown in with an even cheaper price of $10! It would’ve been very easy to at the very least input the names with #’s beside them in the results. But, I won’t complain too much, it was $15.
Organization : A. Other than what I mentioned about the start/finish area, everything seemed to run very smoothly, on time, and there was km markers along the way that were pretty accurate as well.
Glad I ran this race as a speed workout the week before the marathon, I think that was a smart choice. If the other MEC cheapie races fit into my schedule, I’ll try and run a couple more during the year. These races are excellent for newbie runners who want to try a race, without the pressure and logistics of the really big, really expensive races.
Have you run any local MEC races? What’d you think?
xoxo
-S
