After almost a year off from running, and a few months of somewhat rocky comeback training, I was eager to run my first race, the MEC Langley Trans Canada Trail 5k. I wasn’t expecting a great time at all, and was quite surprised to set a new personal best time of 26:21.
The official title of the race was:
MEC LANGLEY RACE THREE TRANS CANADA TRAIL 5K,10K, HALF AND FULL MARATHON
Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) is a Canadian chain of sporting goods stores. They put on some well run races and what I particularly like about them is the reasonable price. Their 5k and 10k races cost just $15, compared to $40 and up that so many other races charge. It’s also nice that the price stays the same right up until registration closes, so you can sign up at the last minute. I really hate the way most other races force you to either sign up many months in advance, or pay $5 more every couple of months until the race starts. For example, here is the fee schedule for the 8k run that was part of the Vancouver Marathon last May:
Oct-Nov: $49
Dec-Jan: $55
Feb-Mar: $59
April: $65
Signing up so many months before the race is problematic. What if you get an injury? What if you need to be somewhere else? What if you want to schedule a holiday? The fee is non refundable, of course. The alternative is to pay a whopping $65 just to run an 8k race. It’s pretty ridiculous.
For the MEC races there is just one price: $15. And you can sign up at that price until just a few days before the race starts. It’s awesome.
The “Race Three” part of the race title is because this is the third race of the year, out of a total of five that the Langley MEC store will be holding.
This particular race was in Fort Langley, on a section of the Trans Canada Trail near the Fraser River. The starting area was very near a bunch of newer townhouses. The trail itself was mostly packed gravel with a few minor hills. My one complaint about this race was that in some sections the runners ahead kicked up quite a bit of dust.
I arrived just in time to see the 10k runners take off. There were quite a few people in the 10k bunch, about 80 or so.
At 8:30 I joined the other 5k runners at the start line and did a head count. There were 30 of us. People were kind of hanging back, so I moved right to the front. I hate having everybody run past me, but if nobody else was going to stand up front then I would be happy to.
I quite unexpectedly ran the first few minutes of the race in P1. I expected somebody to quickly pass me after the start but nobody did until several minutes had passed. It was pretty cool to lead the race for such a long time. Eventually runners did pass me, though, and I slowly moved back through the field, finishing in P7. It was a pretty weak field, comparatively speaking. The winner finished less than a minute ahead of me, with a winning time of 25:35. That’s the worst winning 5k time I’ve ever seen. (Around 19-20 is pretty typical.) Maybe I can eventually win one of these things after all, if the stars align in my favor.
I like to start my races a bit on the fast side. I know that you’re supposed to pace yourself, but my theory is that you just never get back the time you lose up front if you start out taking it easy. I also find that in the later portions of the race, when I am running low on energy, trying to keep up with the people around me is very motivating. So I like to start fast, be near the front, and then try and keep up with the people around me. That’s my strategy and I think I’ll keep with it. On the other hand, I am completely dead near the end of the race. I’m always hoping to speed up and pass a few people as we near the finish line, but it never happens. There’s just nothing left.
When they announced my time of 26:21 I was elated. Really? My training hadn’t gone very well, and I really thought a time more around 28 was to be expected. This was a pleasant surprise.
With not a cloud in the sky it was a beautiful day for a race and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I can’t wait for the next one.
I’m planning to work on improving my time. How low can I go? There’s definitely room for improvement in terms of my conditioning, and also my weight. The reason I started running in the first place was to lose weight. My weight for this race was 205 pounds. I plan to lose 25 pounds and then evaluate when I’m at 180 to see if further reduction is in order. In theory, for a 5k, a person gains about a minute for every 10 lbs lost. (2 minutes on a 10k!) Therefore, eventually, I should be able to do 2:30 faster based on weight loss alone. We’ll see.
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