My day started abruptly at 3:45 am with my dad calling to tell me he was outside of my house (my ride). I had set my alarm for 4:30am as I was expecting him at 4:45. He was so anxious about sleeping in to pick me up that he mistakenly came over early. lol!! It’s been a tradition for me to have my dad drive me to my races and love that he does that for me. I wouldn’t start a race any other way. I need that ‘knock em dead’ and the pat on my back from my dad.
It was pouring rain on Saturday morning and very dark so I was having a mini freak out about wether or not to wear a Tuck And Flow LS over my What The Sport Tee. After talking with my coach via text (she was racing SW too this weekend) we decided that I’d be fine without the long sleeve and I just needed a hat or visor which I had. I stopped in at Starbucks and grabbed an espresso to gather myself before meeting my team at their hotel and to power me through the morning and I’m really glad I did. I needed that coffee after a sleepless weekend of shopping shenanigans. It was a lot of fun walking with my group to the coral and getting pumped up by the crowd together. We didn't race together as we all have different times and goals but we were a team anyways with matching outfits. By the time we where walking down to the race start it had stopped raining and it was a lovely cool 14*c with overcast. Perfect running weather! Especially after the heat wave Vancouver had just a few weeks ago. So many people had personal bests this race and I think it had a lot to do with this great cool weather after all that hot weather training.
In the race corral with our group waiting our turn. Our 'team' color was Grapefruit and we all wore What The Sport Tees.
I felt really ready to run thanks to my awesome online running coach that has helped me train. I’m annoyed at myself that I didn’t get my time goal that we worked towards and it was my own fault. It sort of fell apart for me at around mile 10 at the start of the seawall and I think I could have done it 10 minutes faster but I would still have been over my goal time by 10 minutes. Which is a lot. I know I am capable of a faster time. My speed work in training showed me that and I know exactly when and where I wasn't pushing myself hard enough. I know I waisted a lot of time with a port a potty break, taking tons of pictures, feeling queasy suddenly at mile 10 when my adrenaline started to come down and then giving in to the urge to walk after mile 10. I should have kept running at that point. Thinking back I think the seawall portion of the run may have been harder because it is a lot windier there and colder and so when I slowed down to walk when I felt queasy (about half a mile) I cooled down too much. I should have kept moving to warm up. I did so great on the bridge, the longest incline, which was my favourite part and some of the hillier parts of the course that I don’t really get why the seawall part is so much harder for me. The seawall is all flat and you are getting so close to the end. Also, to be honest my June training wasn’t as focused as it could have been. I think that period when you really start to ramp up the miles in training is critical and that is exactly when I started to pull back a bit with training. Vacation, heat wave. Life. negative self talk. Fear of the distance.
It is also really mentally hard when you are a slow runner and you are running amongst mostly walkers. It really makes it a lot easier to give in to the urge to walk when the going gets tough. Next year I want to push myself in training harder to be in the faster group so I force myself to keep up. My first 10 miles I was at my goal time despite the bathroom break but I lost the plot after that. I’ve done three half marathons and my first one was my fastest, my second one was my slowest and this one was right in the middle of the two. I’d like to beat my fastest time and I definitely want to run sea wheeze again next year. My plan is to keep up with the running and keep my base going, but for the next 6 months instead of working on distance I want to really focus on speed and track work along with crossfit.
Despite the fact that I didn’t make my time goal and that I dogged it in the last 3 miles when I could have kept going, I had a really great race and a ton of fun. I felt really good, I felt strong and the distance of 13 miles felt challenging but entirely doable. the first 10 miles flew by like a breeze. Even better is that my recovery from this race is the best of all three of my races. I feel a bit achy, but the only thing that is really bothering me is being over tired from lack of proper sleep on Wednesday, Thursday and waking up so early on Saturday. I remember my first race I felt miserable for a good week after the race, and probably very dehydrated and didn’t feel normal for another week after that. My second race was pretty similar to my first.
In my training runs, I never ran with water on my short runs but brought some with me in a handheld on my longer runs. I brought mine along for this race but at the last minute, since it was nice and cool out I opted to leave it behind and that was absolutely the right choice based on the weather. There were plenty of water stops along the route with both water and Vega hydration and I took both, first I drank the vega, then washed it down with water. I also used honey stinger chews for this run the same way I used them on my long training runs. Nothing for the first three miles and then 1-2 chews per mile after that.
For those of you wondering, the Seawheeze isn’t an especially hilly course but it does have some annoying long hills. The Burrard Street bridge is about 830 meters long and half of that is a steady incline towards the middle. The total elevation gain for the course was 751ft and my longest run pre race was a mere 357 ft gain. Although most of my mid distance runs during my training where very hilly and about 380 elevation gain so the hills on this course didn't touch me at all this time.
All in all this race was a success for me. I would have loved to have gotten my goal time but I think this race was more about me getting back into the challenge of training after being off of it since 2012. I have a lot of fears when it comes to running and so I wasn't confident last year that I'd be able to do another half marathon again. Now that I know how entirely doable it is I want to keep going. I'll absolutely be signing up for Seawheeze again!
The first 800 meters or so.
Across the viaduct
Across the Burrard Street Bridge the first time.
Cheer station!
Running past head office. I happened to see Laurent Potdevin on the way back towards the Burrard Bridge. He was cheering with his family.
I definitely touched it for extra life.
I thought the curiousity creatures where hilarious. They all did weird things like strange animal noises or weird foot tapping and jigs.
This is me at mile 10 at the start of the Seawall. Feeling queezy and stopping 'just for a minute'.
Waisting time taking pictures of all the things distracting me. Here is either a Seal or a Sea Lion on a rock. I'm pretty certain he was a Sea Lion because despite how small he looks in the photo he was quite large and had massive shoulders heaving him across that rock.
There where some wedding photos going on at the seawall as well.
The mermaids at the end. I think the Mermaids and the Drag Queens are the top cheer stations. Although I did like the 'tight squad' in China Town. I wish I had gotten a picture of their signs.
The last '1km' which I'm pretty sure was actually 1 mile. That 1km just kept going until my tracker said I was at 13.36 miles and I turned it off in despaired.
The medal!!! I rounded the corner and saw gold and I thought it was actually a plumb level. I knew instantly that I liked it and I loved it when I realized it was a golden carrot with a bite taken out of it. The medal was heavy around my neck though and it actually weights in at 1lb. That is substantial bling! It didn't feel great on my neck at that very moment but I couldn't stop admiring it.
Sat down to eat my runners brunch. I look as tired and dead as I felt. Terrible photos of me but great memories that I'm proud to share.
This is what you get with your race entry. The entry shorts which you receive in time for your training in May, and at the package pickup you get a bag with the Lululemon waterbottle and your timing chip and some JJ Bean Coffee coupons. At the finish line you get your medal, a great hat which is reflective and wicking, sage runners reward and a 20% off coupon for more (essential oils) a wet towelette and Whistler Springs water bottles.
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I'm still working on my race recap post for you but here is a video of SeaWheeze 2015. Spoiler alert, the weekend was awesome!
The most aggressive of lulu shoppers have upped the ante yet again this year with a camp ground set up at about 8pm in front of seawheeze diners at nearby Cactus Club and Tap and Barrel. Last year the campers set up for the night after midnight so it wasn't a big show of intent as it was this year. This year there was showmanship to the sport of shopping. What I've learned from 4 years of showcase stores is that you don't have to be first in line or 10th in line to have advantage but you certainly need to be in the first wave of people let in the store which is probably about 200 people before the popular items are sold out (this year the Green CRB, Bug Speeds and Bug Backpacks). Unfortunately if you showed up at this lineup by midnight you could already see that you would not be in the first wave of shoppers let into the store. The lineup went right to the edge of the building. Unfortunately if you were in the second or third wave of shoppers, the people paying for these products on the secondary market (ebay, sales pages, angeling and whatnot) already beat you to the product which you've lined up for overnight. And there was definitely line cutting going on as well which is the most despicable.
I think it's really good start that Lululemon made it runners only from 7am until 9:30am this year but that didn't impact the secondary market or the drive to lineup overnight. I think the result of this will be that the competition to get an entry for the race for next year will be even more fierce because now there is a shopper entry limit for the first two hours attached to the ticket.
(I'll write more about the weekend in follow up posts)
The first shoppers let in at 7am.
The lineup along the East side of the building.
This was the lineup at about 8am at the back of the building. 6-acre perimeter! I believe they waited about 2 hours before being let in and by 10am there was no longer a lineup. At some point I think everybody was just let in and they stopped controlling entry/exit.
shoppers checking out.
I'm so tired from a very long day that I wont write much about the showcase store just yet but I wanted to share some photos of the day and a few thoughts. I think this year the runner only showcase store between 7am and 9:30am was really a great compromise that Lululemon made for runners. I did hear rumours about people getting in without the runner pass and getting back door entry but I didn't see that and I think Lululemon went through a lot of effort to keep it runner exclusive but being staffed by volunteers I think it was impossible to control completely. There were people offering money to cut in line, people just blatantly cutting in line and people probably very willing to accept bribes.
One thing about the Seawheeze marchandise this year is that none of it had any 'Seawheeze' on it like every other year. I always look for the 'seawheeze' special Cool Racerback but none of them had any writing on it. Another thing was that all the bottoms are striped, all the shorts have a busy print and all the Cool Racerbacks did as well so none of the tops really coordinate with the bottoms unless you are into mixing prints. I would have loved some more solid Cool Racerback options with seawheeze specific writing on it to match with the bottoms. My initial impression was that I loved last years items so much more but I really limited myself last year and only got two items and really regretted not getting a few more of the items I loved so this year I allowed myself to get more and then decide later. I thought I'd have an item or two in here that I'd end up putting up for sale if they didn't work out but once I got home and tried them on I actually really love each and every one of them. The colors are so fun and vibrant. My favourite piece are the Tuck & Flow LS's and the orange and pink Passion Bottoms. I actually grabbed myself the wrong size in the passion bottoms but a friend of mine is at the store now and found me my size and she will take the size downs so really glad they had such a good stock of inventory.
The most popular items of the day where the Bug Speed Shorts and Trackers, Green Cool Racerback, Bug Backpack and Pink Duffel Bag. People were constantly coming around asking if we had any of those items to give up.
Was not happy that the jacket of the year was the Miss Misty. The hilarious girl behind me in line kept saying 'I don't like that Misty Mist Jacket! There better be Downtime Jackets!'
The Cool Racerbacks this year are luon. The stripes are all regular luon and the printed ones are shiny polyester luon.
Hot seller!
These are my favourite! I didn't notice till I got home that I grabbed an 8 instead of a 10.
The bug backpack that everybody kept asking me for. I gave it up. 
The two duffels. The pink one was really cute with rose gold hardware but they where pretty small for $128.
Sorting piles.
Not much theme specific decorating this year and a smaller room than previous years.
The none runner lineup outside wrapped around the building but I think once they started letting people in at 10am they just let people trickle in and out. By 11am there was no lineup. Lots of merchandise got replenished I think for none runners.
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