Saturday, March 31, 2007

Race Report: Spring Classic, Run for the Parks 5K

What a beautiful morning, and day it was today! It was so nice to wake up race day and have the sun shining and dry streets. The last several of my races all seem to have been in the rain. A nice change to know that the weather wasn't going to be a factor in today's race.

The start of the race at lumberman's arch in Stanley Park saw a small hill at about the 200m mark, and other than that, it was a pretty fast and flat course. This run is part of the timex series of races that has some great races and equally great organization.

The start was narrow as you can tell here:





I placed myself in a good position so as not to be impeded by others, and made my way to the 1K point in 3:34, which was the k with the most turns and grade. I hit the 1 mile point in 5:39 as there was someone there yelling out the time, which was nice. 2K was written on the sidewalk and passed in 7:01, and that was the last time I was to look at my watch till the finish. I finished with a new PB of 17:45 and was happy that I ran hard, and took things to the edges today. The last k was hard, and I found I had little kick for the final stretch-- you could see the finish from about 800m away, as you rounded the light-house at Brockton Point. I finished with little left; it was a very satisfying race.

Graham C. was dominant winning the race, and Patrick finished in 6th; our little city was well represented with two in the top ten, and a total of 6 athletes running (Tyler, Lorne, and Lisa). Our city hauled in 3 medals in total, but zero random prizes (I really was hoping for a gift certificate or watch). Oh well, next time. Best of all was the post-race lunch afterwards at the Sylvia hotel with a great view of English Bay.


17:45 (21st over-all, 4th in age category)

Race results here

7 comments:

Michael said...

Wicked race today, a new PB, fantastic! All that hard work on the hills and track is paying off, nice work! Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Way to go!! Congrats on your PB.
Are you coming to Vic this month for the TC 10km?
jm

Lawrence said...

jm: yep, TC 10k is next. Keep a room available....

michael: Thanks, I think the track stuff made the difference.

Michael said...

What do you want to run at the TC, do you have a plan? I'll be back from London on the Thursday and I'm "supposed" to do the race with a team from work, but won't be running it hard.

Good luck with the training for the next few weeks, perhaps another PB?

Anonymous said...

Fabulous Lawrence! A BIG PB and a little boy all in a week... Steph

Lawrence said...

Micheal:

No specific plan for the TC quite yet. I plan on running it hard and expect a PB-- if everything goes well. Thanks.

Mike said...

I almost missed this one. Nice race, glad to hear you had a little in reserve at the end. Sounds like things are really coming along, that coach must be working for you.