The Forerunners Mile

Vancouver Spirit Run

Before I get into the story, I have a race to tell you about! As a member of the #WestVanRun Team, I’ve been invited to participate in something completely different – a cross-country race! Held on September 13, the Vancouver Spirit Run is:

A cross-country race created by World-level athletes who wanted to honour the legacy of their late Norwesters Track & Field coach: Frank Reynolds. He was an amazing cross-country and middle-distance running coach who helped Olympian Jessica Smith as a teenager as well as World-class steeplechase runner Chris Winter.

The race aims to bring together young and amateur runners with world-level athletes to enjoy the often-forgotten sport of cross-country. The funds raised through the events will all go to a bursary to support young local athletes.

I’ll be running the 8km Men’s in the Masters division. The race is held at Jericho Beach Park, and loops through the scenic mixed-surface trails, including gravel and bark mulch. I highly recommend coming out and giving it a try! There are events for kids, too – bring the whole family!

And now…the story of my busy week that was!

Training Recap

Last weekend, I ended up running twice in one day – a 15km tempo run, and a Mizuno shoe try-on. The latter involved 3 different models, and 3km in each. A good experience, and a long day!

Monday – 7km at lunch with my awesome coworkers!

Tuesday – busy work day, but got myself to Pilates for the first time in over a month.

Wednesday – another 7km at lunch – and encouraged a couple of the girls to run around Second Beach pool…their longest run ever!

Here I’m wiping sweat with my Handana. Don’t forget – you can still enter to win one (yes, a brand new one, NOT the one used in the photo above!)

Thursday – still aching from Pilates, Jill and I cranked out some solid weights at the gym. Gonna feel this one.

Friday – second Pilates class of the week! One of the girls fell asleep – but that didn’t last long!

Thankfully, I had a massage scheduled for Saturday – and boy did I need it!

Forerunners Mile

One more thing – Thursday night! I went to the final Forerunners speed clinic of the season knowing we were running on the track. What I didn’t expect is that an actual one mile race was in the cards!

Coach Carey had brought along bibs for everyone, and 39 runners assembled (in two heats) for four laps of the track at UBC.

I was in the second heat, after cheering on the runners in the first heat. The first two laps were…manageable. I tried to keep a consistent pace, to save something up form the second half. On lap three, I pushed myself a bit harder and put a bit more distance between myself and the next runner.

At each lap, Coach Carey was calling out our time. My goal was to achieve a sub-7 minute mile. I knew I was on track (so to speak) to achieve this. I finally crossed the finish line with a respectable time of 6:48. This made me happy!

Our final event was a relay – teams put together with faster and slower runners, based on our one-mile times. Out of 10 teams, I think we placed 6th. But it didn’t really matter – we had a great run.

And we all got medals – RUN HAPPY medals! What could be better?

The Ambleside Mile is still my one-mile record – but all things considered, I’m pretty darn pleased with the results of the Forerunners Mile!

Have you ever done a cross-country race? If you’re in Vancouver – will you join the Spirit Run?
What do you think of track workouts?