Modo 8k

What went well:

  • 8k was the perfect length. I might not have thought that at the 6k mark, but at the end I had just enough left in the tank. This as opposed to having too much energy after a 5k and wanting more, and burning out too fast during a 10k. I can't wait for my next 8k.
  • The volunteers cheering us on, especially those who would read the bib's nametag and give a personalized cheer. We even had two young women with pompomps (sponsored by a local radio station). Some passersby even gave us some happy vibes.
  • I ran pretty much the whole thing, stopping only for water, and maybe walking just once for 5 seconds to catch my breath. It was a slow run the whole way, but a run nonetheless. A personal record shoudn't be hard to make the next time around.
  • I woke up an hour into my alarm, but let's face it, I would have snoozed it for that long anyway. I like that a lot better than waking 3 minutes before the alarm even goes off.
  • I read a book at breakfast and on the train. I'll keep doing that as it keeps my mind off the race and away from my phone.
  • The weather was perfect. A little bit overcast, maybe a little colder than I imagined it would be, but I smartly went down from 3 layers to 2 just before the race. Vancouver was in the middle of two storms passing through, and it just started raining the afternoon, a few hours after the race was done.

What when not so well:

  • I took too long to take the mandated pre-race selfie, and though I started on time, I forgot to start Strava. Luckily I started it about a few steps after the starting line, and was glad that the app was on my front page.
  • I grumbled, out loud, to a race photographer who told us to smile. "You come out here and smile," I said to anybody who would listen. It bugged me for the first two kilometers, where I came up with ideas to get racers to smile for the cameras: have someone next to the photographer tell a joke, like the volunteer did at the start of the race, who yelled out "Only 8 more kilometers to go!" Corny, but at least it forced us to smile.
  • I took my point-and-shoot thinking I'd take a shot of the seawall, but it ended up feeling like it weighed me down. If I take a photo, it'll be with my iPhone.

Lord Stanley