Seek The Peak 2008

This year, Ray decided to do this race 'Solo' instead of 'Relay'. We both did the relay the last two years with friends and family. I didn't do it this year because for one, I couldn't find anyone to do the relay with me and secondly, I will be flying tomorrow night to Southeast Asia (Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia) for a long one-month vacation. So I just wanted to take it easy.

This morning at the start, I met up with Diane and John whom I snowshoe with up at Grouse in the winter. It was sure nice to catch-up with them again. They were doing it solo too. Good for them!!!

This race is a very challenging 16km course that starts from Ambleside Park to the Peak of Grouse Mountain which includes the infamous Grouse Grind. Ray and I have been going up the Grind every Thursday with a group of people from Rackets and Runners. It sure is a good work-out! Anyway, Ray had a good race and I am proud of him for finishing the race strong at a very incredible time of 1:46:28. He is placed at 22nd/338 overall and 7th/60 in his age group. Awesome job!!!

Canada Day 7.5K Run at Pitt Meadows

Here I go again registering a couple days before the online registration closed. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to do it again for the 2nd year because last year it was hot. Well, guess what...it was hot again today. Boy oh boy!!!! I needed water the whole way but I still managed to finish the race at a pretty good time although I was hoping to do it in sub-40mins. It was fine though. I should be happy because I am improving and shouldn't beat myself up about it like some runners do. The whole point of me doing races is to have fun, don't you agree? Of course, it'll be different for the elite runners i.e. they run competitively. Along the course, there were music bands and firemen sprinkling water at the runners which felt good. It cooled me down for like 2mins and then back to feeling hot again :)

Other than doing the race, I had a really good time celebrating Canada Day. Happy 141st birthday to Canada!! Lots of festivities and activities for such a small city like Pitt Meadows. Activities included pancake breakfast, kids' zone display, face painting, animal petting, music, First Nations blessing, entertainment , parachute dropping, etc!!! We had Ray's parents out to celebrate it with us and also to cheer us on for the race. Ray's niece, Ashley, who is only 8 years old ran the race and scooped third place for her age group (1-12). Way to go!!!

Back to the race, the course was actually more than 7.5K. It felt really long for each km marker. I think I ran faster than last year but comparing the times between today and last year, I was only faster by 3 secs. I just think they need to measure the course accurately. Ray decided to do the race when he got up this morning and he signed up today at the race. He is still recovering from the 5 peaks race at Golden Ears a few days ago on Saturday which he came in 3rd overall for a tough 8.4K course. Today, he came in at an awesome time of 30:12mins which placed him 4th/271 overall, 2nd/16 for his age group and 4th/103 for males. Great job though!!! As for me, I almost came third for my age group but just not good enough. Oh well...here's how I placed: 58th/271 overall, 4th/41 for my age group and 16th/168 for females with a time of 40:09mins. Next year, I might do the HBC 10K run here in Vancouver. What attracts me to do it next year are the personalized bib and a finisher medal. I think it's cool to be part of the Canada Day run.