Chris - 13.1

95:51 - 7:19 pace* - watch time

95:16 - 7:16 pace - chip time

Disclaimer: This is going to be a long post-race recap. And I put the asterisk next to my pace/time because I forgot to stop my watch right away as I came across the finish line, so I'm going to update it when they post the official results online.

Vancouver USA half marathon! My first ever race of this distance. Luke's advice was for me to run 7:15's for the first 10 miles, then see if I had anything left in the tank. When Jeeni and I drove up yesterday to pick up our race packets, we found out that the event organizers had accidentally signed me up for the full marathon instead - and even though they switched me over easily enough, they had run out of timing chips. So we had to get up earlier on race day so I could get my race bib with the timing chip intact.

Start time was 8:30am. We arrived about 7:15, parked and walked to get my timing chip, then walked back to my car and chilled until about 8:00. Went to use the restroom, then check in our bag, then warmed up a bit and walked over to the starting line as some lady was singing the national anthem. I said good luck to Jeeni and walked up as close to the starting line as I could get. I was able to get in about 5 minutes of good stretching before the gun went off. I still had to pass a bunch of people, but got into a nice rhythm after that. Once we got strung out a bit I spotted a guy in a blue Portland Running Co. shirt running about my pace, and decided to stick with him since he looked like about my fitness level. Sure enough we crossed the first mile around 7:15 (forgot to hit my watch). I let him pull me along for a good 4 or 5 miles, then put a little distance on him after a couple downhill sections. The 7th mile had a decent uphill section that I tried to power through so I didn't lose too much time. Came through that at 7:51. I grabbed water at about miles 5 and 9, and an energy gel after the 7th. It's so great to put distance on people while going down hills...I don't get why not many people take advantage of letting gravity do the work for you. After I passed the Running Co guy I was more or less by myself for the rest of the race. This semi-buff lady passed me around mile 8, and apparently she was doing the full. Insane. I passed a couple people on this big downhill, then had an older guy pass me a mile or so later. He said something to me about 'what a nice field we have', possibly referring to the lady in spandex in front of us? I'm still not sure what he said, haha. The 11th mile was probably the toughest for me, because my legs were starting to get tired and my hip flexor was a bit tight. Just tried to take short strides, be efficient and cover ground as quickly as I could. I spotted a girl up ahead of me around mile 10 that I seemed to slowly be reeling in, and was glad when I finally passed her in the last mile - although I think that was more from her dying than me picking it up. I had one guy pass me in the last half mile, and then in the rush to the finish a guy came flying up on my right and get about a body length ahead of me with ~30 yards to go, and I went 'oh no you don't' and got up on my toes and had a neck to neck sprint with him into the finish. That was a pretty badass way to finish a half marathon! If the announcer guy said me name I had no idea, I was in a haze trying to push myself to the limit and finish strong.

I grabbed a water and exchanged a high five with sprinter guy, then got my finishers medal and made my way through the chute to the free stuff area. Grabbed some fruit and Gatorade, went and got our checked bag and walked over to stretch and see Jeeni finish. She came in at 1 hr 57 mins, more than 20 mins better than she was shooting for. Success all around today!

splits: 14:10 (2mi), 7:10, 6:49, 6:57, 7:19, 7:51, 6:40, 7:24, 7:09, 7:10, 7:30, 7:20, 1:40