Today I'll share some pictures from the race, and all of the great times I had along the way and tomorrow I'll share my reasons for not signing up for round three (and none of those reasons include the fact that it sold out in something like 18 minutes).
I ran this year with my older cousin Krista, and we put some serious effort into our matching Bruce themed race outfits. Apparently you can apply iron on letters to Lulu's 105 singlet no problem. We flew into Vancouver the afternoon before the race and hit up registration and the SeaWheeze store with no line ups at all at 2pm.... mainly because hordes of people had already reduced the store to a measly handful of racks and almost nothing in a size 6.
Then we waited in line for about an hour to get our hair braided for free, and although we missed out on the yoga class in front of Lulu's new Robson Street flagship store, we did swing by there to do some shopping.
Lining up for the start, this year the colours people were wearing were a bit less homogenous (I guess the black and white race shorts match with more things than the bright ones last year) but we still pretty much looked like a Lululemon army, 10,014 strong.
Our moms and Krista's husband and one year old came along to be our cheer section, moving to a couple of spots along the race route, so I actually have pictures of me running this year. And running this year was rough. I didn't do nearly enough training, race day was a lot hotter than the year before, and my right hip felt all kinds of painful through the last 4km. So I was shocked to finish ever so slightly faster than last year, coming in at 2:23:07 (last year 2:24:23). So shocked (or dehydrated) that I had a touch of heat stroke after the race.
With our medals after finishing, you can't tell in the picture but I feel like I'm about to be sick. Good thing Lulu gave out awesome hats at the finish line to get the sun off my head.
Krista's husband Brian made us this sweet sign, with really creepy giant heads, and I felt terrible because I don't think I even noticed it while running. My mom brought signs and balloons too!
After the race we got all dolled up (relative term I guess) to head to yoga and the sunset festival, the tattoos are by Balsam and Vine, Boho Marks, based out of Vancouver, and are a tonne of fun! I'll share some pictures from Yoga in Stanley Park later, but since they managed to get the whole park turned into one giant beer garden this year, needless to say the yoga, led by Blissology's Eoin Finn, was a pretty good time.
Overall the run was great, and I'm glad that I did it. Even having not prepared for it, it's good to know that my baseline these days (well maybe not this week) is healthy enough to let me keep a 6:47min/km pace for nearly 2 and a half kilometers and not die. Part of me is sad I won't be going back next year, but mostly I'm ready for some new challenges and adventures.
You can read all about my road to my first SeaWheeze here.
And the debacle that was registering for the race this year here.
Congratulations on another half marathon finished!
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