On April 17th, the city of Vancouver played host to an annual run known as the Sun Run (because it's sponsored by the Vancouver Sun newspaper). This run differs from your average 10K mostly because of it's size. This year, 49 365 participated in the Sun Run. That's a lot of people. In case you haven't seen that many people lined up anywhere before, they cover about 6 city blocks, more or less. Again, that's a lot of people.
I registered for the Sun Run on a bit of a whim, really. I've been living here a few years and I figured it was time for me to experience the spectacle. Plus, who can pass up a race t-shirt (even if it is a cheap cotton one)? I was scheduled to work a graveyard shift that morning, so I figured I'd be able to make it to the race in time if I took the train. I knew I'd be tired when I finished, but I was off the next day so I decided to suck it up and do it. I've never raced a 10K before, so I figured it'd be fun, and didn't really have many expectations as far as finishing time went.
The sun, miraculously, actually came out for this race. And in a city like Vancouver, that really does seem like a miracle. That also, however, means clear skies, and since it's still April, a relatively chilly wait in the shade. I took the train and didn't check a bag (they were charging $5 for bag check, and I'm cheap), so I was only wearing what I thought I would need while running. A thin long-sleeved shirt and shorts. It was cold, and I was standing there, waiting to start, for nearly 45 minutes. By the time we actually got going, my toes were numb. Thankfully they only took about 1.5 km to regain feeling. Brrr.
They started the race in what is known as a "wave" start. What happens is they divide the whole group up into several sections, with fences in between. They let the first group go, then line up the next group, wait a few minutes, then let the next go, and so on. I registered in the 49:00-1 hour time group, because I can normally finish 10K in about an hour, and that's without trying particularly hard. So That sounded like the category I should've been in. Apparently not so. I was informed by a friend at work, after I had already registered, that everyone bumps themselves up a category because there's so many people. I ended up with a green race bib. In front of the green were the yellow bibs, and in front of them, the elite runners-you know, the guys that are ridiculously fast and are literally nothing but legs and arms.
Admittedly, with nearly 50 000 participants, there's bound to be a few people who guess they're far faster than they really are. You expect a few of those. But when I started passing yellow bibs less than halfway through the race, I knew my friend was right. Not only did I end up passing almost half of the green bibs, but I'm guessing I passed nearly half of the yellow as well. Next time I'm registering as a yellow. But despite having to people-dodge for literally the entire 10 km, I still managed to finish in 53:54. After a graveyard shift. This is where I toot my own horn. I'm awesome. Toot toot.
Well, I'm about to start complaining, so if you don't want to hear it, skip down three paragraphs so you don't have to read it. This is just a little friendly advice from a runner with a bit of experience to any other potential runners who might be considering entering a race with me.
Don't run 5 people abreast. I know there might be 5 or 6 people in your group, and you all want to chat while you're running. But please have some consideration for the 50 000 people who are trying to pass you and actually set a decent pace, that happens to be faster than yours. And when you're spread out like that, elbow to elbow, there's nowhere for us to get by. And it's very, very irritating. Normally runners aren't very rude, and they'll do their best to slip by you in a race when they can, but if your group is taking up the entire course, expect to get elbowed. We're polite, but we don't like to be pissed off by stupidity.
If you're gonna walk, pull off to the side. If I'm screaming along at race pace and you stop right in front of me, I may crash into you. Which is good for neither of us. And don't walk straight down the middle of the street where all the faster runners are trying to funnel through. It's not gonna end well, and not just for you.
If you get bumped or jostled, walk it off. Or better yet, run it off. If you didn't fall or get injured, suck it up, princess. It's not gonna kill you. And you have to remember, there are 50 000 other people of that course trying to run too. You're gonna get bumped. Accept it and move on.
Okay, I know I said 3 paragraphs, but this is less of a complaint and more of a suggestion to the Vancouver Sun to tighten their shoes a little bit more. The website for the race sucked. It wasn't very easily navigated-it literally took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to register-and a LOT of the information that should be front and center isn't. Like how early the Skytrain started that day, and how often it would be running. In fact, I'm not sure that wasn't even on the website at all, because I think I got that off the translink website. Really? There's 50 000 people trying to converge on downtown Vancouver at the same time. You should really toss some transit information up there. I was also disappointed by the lack of exhibitors at the expo. Considering the sheer number of people that would be passing through that place, you'd think every athletic club/group/store in the city would want a booth. But there were, like, 5 that were actually there. There was also no race info given with the race bibs and t-shirts. Maybe running marathons has ruined me, but usually there's a booklet included at package pick-up with answers to the most pertinent questions people might have-start times, transit info, gear check (there was nothing anywhere about gear check, other than a tag on the bottom of the race bib that stated it cost $5). Information puts people at ease, so I would've liked to see a little more of that from a race that's been going for that many years with that many people.
The volunteers for this race were awesome! There were tons of them, and they were all exceptionally enthusiastic. It wasn't very warm out that morning, so I have to give them credit for sticking around for hours given the weather. I've said it once and I'll say it again-yay for volunteers! Races wouldn't happen at all without them.
There were a lot of water stations on this course. This 10 km course. A lot of water stations. They were pretty much every 2 km. Which, if you're not sure when you're gonna need water, is good. But if you're like me, and you can pretty much run a half marathon without even a sip of water, it gets pretty annoying tripping over people who stop at the water stations every 2 km. It seems like I'm complaining, and I kindof am, but I also understand the need for that many. There were a lot of people to hydrate on this course. And if there were only one or two hydration stations, the ensuing clogs on the course would be insane. So I guess the multiple, multiple water stations were a necessary evil. An annoying, but necessary evil.
I do have to compliment the organizers of the Sun Run on their exceptional taste in refueling, though. This is the only race I've done where they've had chocolate milk at the finish line. And as I'm sure many runners have discovered before me, chocolate milk is actually one of the best recovery drinks I've found. Yes, that includes gatorade. And though I finished in the first few thousand participants, it looked like there was actually going to be enough food for everyone. Which is awesome, because I've run races where they literally run out of food before I finish. And it goes beyond sucking when you just dragged your sorry butt over 42.2 km of pavement only to discover that they've run out of everything but the one thing you can't eat, bananas. Though I don't really understand why they simply must have bananas at every race. Isn't there something else that would work just as well. Oranges are lovely. Or perhaps that's just my aversion to bananas talking again. Read my past blogs if you've no idea what I'm talking about.
Overall, I had quite a lot of fun doing the Sun Run, and I'd do it again if it happened to fit into my schedule. But I wouldn't run it for time (for all you non-runners, running a race "for time" means you're trying to set a personal best-if you don't even know what that means, then you might be beyond help), simply because there's far too many people to make that feasible. Though I guess if you're at the front with the elite runners that's not really a problem. I have to say, it is nice to run a race that doesn't leave one completely exhausted for the rest of the day, though. Well, provided you haven't been up all night working a graveyard shift.
