Date: January 18, 2024
Location: Vancouver, WA
Distance: 10k
Chip Time: 1:08:14
Pace: 10:58/mi
New year, new races. We’ll start with where my 2023 race extravaganza began, the Race for Warmth in Vancouver. The biggest difference besides me running a 10k instead of a 5k is the weather. Last year it was around 21°F at start time; this year it was more like 50°F. Because of that, however, I wore fewer layers (just the race shirt and shorts) and was still just as cold. I also forgot to anti-chafe the nips before the race and I just need to remind me, and remind you: ANTI-CHAFE YER NIPS.
I know last year I talked about swag and atmosphere and all that but I barely thought about that at all for this run, which is probably a good thing. Atmosphere was great, people seemed chill and eager for the first race of 2024 (well, for some of us at least). The only swag I retrieved was free coffee–Relevant Coffee in Vancouver was giving out hot coffee and free cans of cold brew. They gave me two after the race and they were both delicious. Good work.
As for the race itself, you can see from the image above that my splits were kind of weird. I went off too fast as usual, and probably would’ve had more even splits if I had just slowed down. But I wanted to get a sub-60 10k and my PR is 1:02, so I knew it was possible. But not a week after I basically didn’t run for an entire week because of the snow/ice storm! Come on man!
I do find it interesting that after the 3rd mile I bumped up into a new positive split, like I had hit Stage 2 of my run or something. But I certainly did not have enough in the tank for a PR-worthy run at all. I had run fast at parkrun the day before too, which likely didn’t help. It was a tough 10k, a lot of bits of walking and my legs were tired by the first half. With that in mind, 1:08 is surprisingly good and I hope is a solid indicator of my fitness progress for 2024. I didn’t fuel during the run, though I did eat an hour beforehand. I think I would’ve done a bit better if I had gotten a gel or something in me right before the race, though.
Oh and I did stop momentarily to take a picture of a rainbow. 🌈
Afterwards there was music and a little bit of soup, and people giving away Celsius drinks. I swear I’ve never seen Celsius out in the wild; I’ve only seen it at races where people give me one for free. How do they make money?
I did drive directly to Safeway after the race so I could buy food, because I was ravenous and a small bowl of soup, albeit good soup, was not enough. I was also craving Goldfish crackers. There’s nothing like walking into a grocery store looking and smelling all disheveled from a 10k race.
There shouldn’t be a lot of these race recaps this year. Last year I spent over $1,000 on races, which is insane. I’ve got a few lined up this year but nothing like 2023. I’ll save my money and run parkruns instead.
The next race I have planned is the Shamrock Run half marathon, though I may sign up for something in February. We’ll see! Until then.