Under the record in 1:04:39!

I participated in the ‘First Half” Half Marathon for the first time on Feb 13th. I’ve wanted to run this race for several years now, because it is a Mizuno sponsored event and because when I lived in Ontario I would look for any excuse to get out to the west coast, especially in the winter. Now that I am living in Vancouver it was very convenient and I made sure to fit the race into my schedule this year.

We (myself and the 2,000 or so other participants) got lucky with some very good weather on the day; about 6 degrees, with very little wind, and no rain! The race went well for me. From the gun I was in the lead. I tried to set a reasonable but really aggressive pace. I wanted to see what my competitors would do in the early going. When it seemed that they weren’t going to try to run my pace I put my head down and charged on. I built up a bit of a lead by the 2 mile marker and things would remain that way for the entire 21.1 kilometers. But, it wasn’t easy going as I was pushing the pace the whole way, running against the clock in an effort to break the course record (of 1:04:44, held by Ryan Hayden of Richmond). I was pretty familiar with the course as I’ve done a lot of running around Stanley Park the past 5-6 months. But, usually I don’t have two policemen on motorcycles driving ahead of me! For awhile it looked like I was well ahead of record pace, but I knew things would get tough after about 7 miles. Going along the north side of the park and under Lion’s Gate bridge I still felt really good and thought I would be able to get the win and the record. But, over the final miles I started to slow down and had to work very very hard to maintain my pace. In the end, with a last ditch sprint effort over the final 400m, I managed to squeak in just under the record in 1:04:39!

Afterwards there were some fantastic post-race food/refreshments and awards. There was a mad sprint between men to make it to the stage first to claim one of the draw prize. It was very funny. I think they ran harder at that moment than they did in the race! And everyone got to check out some of the great new shoes and gear Mizuno is coming out with too. I am very excited for the new Wave Ronins!

All in all it was a great day.
Dylan Wykes