Documenting Days Gone By
photos are scanned from prints
other documents are scanned from scrapbook pages
Royal Victoria Half-Marathon October 8, 2006
Victoria, British Columbia
Thanksgiving Weekend
October 8, 2006
Me & J Mo
I did not write a race recap after running this half-marathon so what I share here is what I remember today (February 20, 2019) as I write this. My memory is terrible for some things but for the races I completed many years ago the memories are very vivid. In hind-sight my stars were not aligned for this race but at the time my thoughts did not even venture there.
J Mo and I met at the airport for our quick flight out to Victoria. 1. stars unaligned - Going through security I was pulled aside while J Mo sailed on through. This was the first time ever I had a thorough security check off to the side where I was facing a wall spread-eagle with my hands in the air against the wall. I was patted down from head to toe by the female officer. When she was done and I carried on through with the balance of security and met up with J Mo she had this look on her face and said "What the he!! happened to you!" I got myself together, clothes back in place, hair somewhat styled again and carried on. 2. stars unaligned - The flight was rough where the small plane was bouncing all over the place. We held on and I said a prayer. I had never been scared like this before on a plane. 3. stars unaligned - The evening before the race we went out for our carbo loading dinner. Mine arrived and it did not look that appealing. I ate some of it but was turned off and lost my appetite. J Mo shared a bit of hers with me. I filled up on the bread and a desert. 4. stars unaligned - We turned the light out at a decent time with hopes of a good night sleep. Before midnight a noisy crew arrived to their room a few doors down and got a party started which went on for awhile before it was shut down by staff. Sleep was restless and on and off from that point on. 5. stars unaligned - We woke to the sound of pouring down rain. Luckily we were a 5 minute walk to the starting point of the race. 6. stars unaligned - We made our way to the start and within that 5 minute walk and about 10 minutes to use the restroom then get in line, I was already soaked, before the race even started.
I remember all that so vividly yet even so, I remember running the race and enjoying it, being lost in my thoughts, admiring the scenery especially the kilometers we ran along the Pacific Ocean. The views were not bright and colorful but they were distracting and enjoyable. I was in a zone and just did my thing. It was not my best race time-wise but I did finish upright with a smile on my face and healthy. We beamed after receiving our medals, we got caught up in the euphoria that comes with a happy finish and then partied a bit with the crowd. Eventually we made it back to our hotel room, cleaned up then draped our medals proudly around our necks and went out to the bar to celebrate!
professional photo from along the race route
I thought these words said it all on how I felt about this race day!
