Overall I enjoyed the new course, it didn't seem to be any more difficult or any easier than the previous course, and I definitely preferred not having a turnaround. But as I said in my previous post it is not as fun when you don't get to see the lead runners and the mob of runners going the other way.
Anyway, I tried really hard to not going into this race with a specific goal. I find that if I set an easy goal for myself, then I don't always feel satisfied when I achieve it. And worse is when I set an unrealistic goal and fall short, then I really don't feel happy about it. So with that in mind I didn't have much of a goal for this race. My previous best 10K was Cobble Hill in January 09, in a time of 37:07. And my best TC time was 37:41 back in 2008. I thought with my current level of training that I was capable of a 37 minute 10km...
The first few kms went by very smoothly. I started near the front of the pack with many Harriers just in front of me - including Garth, Gary, Mike, Ian, and Jeremy. I knew my family would be cheering me on near the turn off onto Vancouver, so after the long gradual climb up Johnson I put an extra push as I went by them, high fives of course! The next few km are undulating, but more downhill than up. So with that in mind I picked up the pace down Vancouver, Richardson and especially on Moss Street. The first 4 kms were really solidly paced in 3:36, 3:31, 3:37, 3:30.
After that was the hilliest part of the course - it is mostly uphill from 4km until 6.5km. I let up a little bit, and climbed up through Beacon Hill Park. My half way split was 18:03, which is actually only a few seconds slower than my Bazan Bay time this year.
Over the next 3km my pace was expectedly slower in 3:49, 3:44, and 3:43. But it's always great once you reach mile zero and a nice downhill awaits heading towards Ogden Point. Once again pushing the downhills I got my pace back down to 3:30 and 3:36 from 7km - 9km. Amusingly my 8km time was 29:00, which would be a new PB.
During the last kilometer I was urged on by Bob Reid and Scott Simpson, and by the fact that Garth was just in front of me, maybe 50m ahead. Down the straight away I did my usual sprint and caught up to Garth and then spotted Ian just ahead of him, so I kept going, pipping him at the line in a time of 36:09.
Here is my Garmin Result if you like stats and maps like I do.
Overall it was a great race, and I'm very happy to finally have had a good TC10K. Next up I'm taking part in the Victoria Track Series, and then doing the North Olympic Discovery Marathon on June 5th.
