First Place!

This morning was the Vancouver Waterfront 12k race. I had been complaining all week about the tapering part of training with reduced milage and watching the carbs and proteins to get the right energy stores for the race. The field was small but the weather was great. I took off too fast with a 7:12 first mile and paid for it later on but built a fairly comfortable lead early and was able to hold on to finish first overall in the men's division and 2nd overall to a lady that really ran a great race.

Although it would have been nice to run in an event with a much larger field it was a good training experience to run at the head of the pack and to have to push myself hard to stay there. At the end I was also able to relax knowing that my time goal and finish goal were secure and I didn't have to push it extra hard risking injury or extra fatigue that I would pay for later on in my training. I cannot remember the last time I finished first in a race - it has been a very long time. The race also included my fastest times at 3 miles, 5 miles, 6 miles and 7 miles so I was able to be fairly consistent with speed. The 7.5 miles today added to previous training runs now brings me to 277 miles of marathon training so far.