McNeill Bay Half Marathon Review

I figured you guys deserved an update since I haven't blogged for a week. You know, after I was all, "YAY! Regular posts will resume and life will be all flowers and rainbows because I'm blogging again!" Well, I apologize for that, but now I have something to actually write about since today was the McNeill Bay Half Marathon! Woohoo.

So, the race started at 8AM this morning at the Oak Bay High School in Victoria. As well as the half marathon, there was also a 5K race that started about five minutes before. Maybe I should've ran with them but kept going...

It was a scenic out and back course where we ran 10K out and then turned around for the remaining 11.1K that took us through a different area for the last half mile. This little detour, which was farther from where we started, brought us over a quite steep little bridge that went over a creek. And then because I am a genius runner, I went downnnnnnnnnnn. Oh yeah. This happened.

OH THE PAIN! Then I dusted myself off and kept truckin'. No pain, no gain. Plus it wasn't THAT bad. I'm just dramatic; can you tell?

Pros:

- Lots of the Oak Bay high school kids were out volunteering, so it was nice to have them out cheering us on.

- Nice route with lots of downhills (Con: This means uphills on the way back. NOO!)

- Comfy race t-shirt
- Everyone was super friendly!

Cons:

- Um, no medal. WHAT? I LIKE THEM, OKAY?

- Few water stations. Maybe I was spoiled during Vancouver half marathons, but this race only had three water stations. What is that nonsense?

- No gel stations. Again with the spoiled city runs, but in past half marathons they would ALWAYS have a water station that also gave out a gel for some extra fuel during the last half of the race.

All in all, it was a good race! I recommend doing some hill training, specifically on inclines that just keep going and going and going. It would have been nice to run part of the route, but since Victoria is a good hour away from me, I didn't get there to run and get familiar with the course. Ah well!

Alright, now it's time to hang out with my compression socks out, eat watermelon, and probably pass out on the couch. Or maybe I'll go to the store and buy some hot chocolate. Who knows. Sunday nights get pretty crazy at my house!