Scotiabank 5K - Team Alzheimer's

I'm very proud to have been part of "Team Alzheimer's" for the Vancouver Scotiabank Half and 5K on Sunday June 22nd.

Not only was this a scenic 5K to run, but I was running as part of Team Alzheimer's, in memory of my grandfather who passed away from the disease and to raise funds for the Alzheimer Society of B.C. which offers much needed support services to people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia's, their caregivers and their families.  If you or someone you know needs assistance due to Alzheimer's Disease, please contact your local Alzheimer Society.  In BC the website is www.alzheimerbc.org

Race in support bib on my back

 It was an early morning for Gary and I on a beautiful morning.  We were up and out the door around 7am, a quick stop at Tim Horton's and we were off to Vancouver.   I knew that the 5K race had sold out so there were going to be roughly 2500 runners doing the 5K with me and after the great experience with a big race in May, I had high hopes for this one.  Unfortunately it really wasn't all that organized.  There wasn't a lot of communication prior to the race, an occasional email but nothing like the details I received for the other race.  The one thing that was made clear was that parking at the starting line was next to non existent and we were to park in Stanley park and take one of the shuttles to the start line.

After parking there were a lot of people milling around looking for information.  There weren't any volunteers anywhere in the area and after waiting quite a while for a shuttle, we decided to walk to the start line as it was starting to get  a little too close to the start time for my liking.  After walking almost 20 minutes we finally saw the first volunteer who looked to be giving directions.  I asked him where the 5 K start line was and he told me he didn't really know but if I followed the sound of the music, I would probably find it.  Not exactly the most helpful information but eventually we did indeed locate the Charity Village where I checked in with Team Alzheimer's and made my way over to the start line.

We were supposed to be in corral's, based on our estimated finish times, but there were no corral's.  I lined up somewhere towards the middle of the sea of people and hoped that I wouldn't be in people's way.  As it turned out I shouldn't have been worried about that as I kept bobbing and weaving around people.  That was a pretty good feeling.

The 5K course itself was very pretty and scenic, it was based mostly on trails through Stanley Park, out along part of the seawall, and then we wrapped around a corner, up a hill and joined in with the half marathoner's for the last kilometer of the race.

Garmin showing the route

 






It felt great to be a part of a team, and see the group of volunteers from the Alzheimer Society cheering the runners on.  I saw my wonderful husband just before I crossed the finish line and then I was in the finishers chute where there were a few more Alzheimer Society Volunteers.  My co-worker was there as well and took a great photo for me with my finisher's medal.

In the finishers chute with my medal

I headed back over to the Charity Village where Team Alzheimer was to meet after the race for a team photo.  Again, it was so great to be a part of a team.  This was the first time that I've done a race as part of a team and it was great.

Team Alzheimer's

After we took the team picture ( the team actually had about 70 members so not everyone was present for the picture), my wonderful husband and I started back to the car.  We still had no idea where the shuttles were so we walked along lost lagoon and the rose garden back to the car before heading home.

Oh yeah!  I also had my best official race time for a 5K yet!  Yeah!  Here is the link to my garmin, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/528867302   I was 785/1211 and finished 83/121 in my age group.  A huge improvement to a year ago when I was mostly walking the races. Here is the link to the official race results: http://www.canadarunningseries.com/results/2014/svhm/5k.html

I won't be ordering any pictures from this race, but it's neat to see the video of me crossing the finish line in the middle of the pack instead of the back.
And the link to the photo's. 
https://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event.py?template=MPX2&new_search=1&event=Sports%2FSTCA%2F2014%2FScotiabank%20Vancouver%20Half%20Marathon&match=8391

Thursday Run Group

My run tonight did not go well, not well at all! 

How bad did it go you ask?  I ended up baling on it. 

I was so frustrated and I know it's my own fault.  I was busy at work today and I know I didn't drink near enough water.  Add to that the warm weather, and I apparently don't run well in the heat and it was a recipe for disaster.

I met one of the Run Clinic ladies and her daughter for our Thursday evening run, we decided to do Downes bowl again and we started off pretty well.  I was quite a distance behind and was struggling a little bit because of the heat but I was doing all right as we went along the trail.  We had come around the ball diamonds at Clearbrook park, about the half way point, when I got the worst cramp I think I've ever had in my life.  It started in the ball of my foot, went around to my toes and up into my ankle. 

It was so painful it stole my breath away.  We had just started a walk break so I stopped to lean against a tree and try to stretch my ankle out.  It hurt so bad I was almost in tears.  I've had a lot of cramps in my feet the past year or so but this was the worst I had ever experienced.

The cramp let up and I started running again.  I had no idea where the other ladies were but as I came up the top of the hill I could see them coming back towards me when I got another cramp.  This one  started again at the ball of my foot, through into the toes, around my ankle and for added fun wrapped around both sides of my ankle and up my calf.  It was excruciating!


When the ladies made it back to me I told them I was having some issues, we walked for a bit and the cramp did let up but as soon as I tried to run again it came back.  I told the ladies to go ahead.  I was going to bale and walk back to the car. 


I was so disappointed with myself, my lack of water and how it obviously makes a big difference to me to be well hydrated. 

So frustrating, but I know now what not to do in the future!

My version of the Abby Police Challenge Run

I had weigh in this morning, I'm just going to say that I'm still frustrated, I've had yet another gain and I really don't know what the heck is going on.  I'm a little worried about this, but I didn't have time to stay to talk to my leader about this gaining trend I have going on as I was meeting up for a run with the ladies.

When I left my Weight Watchers meeting I was frustrated, and a little angry and down on myself but I hopped in the car and drove the Clearbrook Library where I was meeting up with a few of the run clinic ladies.  Today should have been the Abbotsford Police Challenge Run, it's the first race I did a year ago and I was looking forward to running it again this year to see how far I've come.  Unfortunately the event was cancelled due to staffing and budget cuts by the city. 

That didn't stop us through as I met up with 3 of the run clinic ladies, and we decided to do the Abby Police Challenge 5K route.  We headed out all together and as usual I fell behind pretty quickly.  I'm a little frustrated that I don't seem to be getting any faster, but what I have to remember is that I am getting faster as are they.:)

By the time I got to Clearbrook Road, the ladies were long gone, I couldn't see any of them so I just kept plodding along.  The route for the Abbotsford Police Challenge starts out on Trethewey Street, left onto MacClure Road, right onto Clearbrook Road, right into Clearbook Park, around part of Downes bowl, and back up onto Trethewey Street.  It was when I was back onto Trethewey that I truly saw how far behind I was as two of the ladies drove past me as they headed home.

Yep, they were done, in their car and headed home and I still had another kilometer to go.  It took the wind out of my sails a little bit but I kept going.  When I was coming up to the last intersection I would pass before finishing I saw the other lady running back towards me.  She had just reached the parking lot and decided to back track to see how I was doing.

I so appreciated her doing that.  It made me feel better that I wasn't really that far behind her, the other two are just super speedy compared to me :)  I was happy with my time, although I don't have an actual time as I screwed up my garmin when I hit stop instead of lap and didn't notice for a few minutes.  I had it stopped for about 1/4 of a kilometer so about three minutes.  As my garmin was showing the total distance as 4.63KM and I know for sure that it is a true 5K distance that we did. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/521418977

Downes Bowl

I had weigh in this morning and I was a little discouraged to see that I was up again this week.  I've gained  5 pounds in two weeks and I dont' really understand what's going on, but never fear.  I will stay the course, count my points, drink my water and keep running.

After I went to weight watchers this morning.  A few of the ladies from Run Clinic and I met up this morning for a Saturday Morning Run.  I missed Thursday evening's run due to work + traffic = not getting there in time.  Not much I could do about it, but we met this morning at Rotary Stadium to go running.  We chose to do a part of the Discovery trail called Downes Bowl.  We set ourselves up for 5:1 x 7's.  Jason our Run Clinic Leader suggested that we keep our running up by starting at the halfway point of the program and building back up so we decided that 5 minutes seemed to be the best place to start.

We left from the parking lot on Trethewey and headed along the trail, under the road and into the tunnel into the bowl.  We took the trail to the right, and followed it around into Clearbrook Park.  We followed the trail around, through the park and back into the bowl, through the tunnel and out onto the road at Exhibition Park where we followed the path around the BMX track, and the baseball field.  Then we cut across the soccer fields to the parking lot and then did one lap of the track and walked back to our cars. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/521419053

I was the time keeper for us as I had my garmin on, the three of us started out together and after we got into the bowl I told the other ladies to go ahead and not worry about hanging back for me.  I would be "Rick" (our first run leader) and yell out when we were walking and running.  I think it worked all right as I could still see the ladies most of the way  and I was able to give them directions from behind.

It was great to have them to run with and it was the perfect morning for a run.