TC 10k – Race Report

Well, judging from my Facebook newsfeed, just about everyone on my friends list participated in the TC 10k in some form or another on Sunday morning (ok, well maybe not everyone, but I would say 9 out of every 10 “status updates” on Sunday were dominated by stories of TC 10k glory).

The race for me was part of a bigger training day with 90’ of relatively easy biking both before and after the race. Kinda like an Oreo cookie, but instead of delicious chocolaty cookies surrounding sugary sweet icing, it was a bike-run-bike sandwich.

Shane and I rode down to the race from home, so the first 20(ish) minutes of the ride were predominantly downhill (which I quite enjoyed!). We then hit the Goose and cruised in. From the trail, we could glimpse the unusual amount of Sunday morning traffic heading toward downtown Victoria – presumably 99% of the cars were filled with race participants.

Unfortunately, the workout wasn’t a true "run off the bike", as we got into town about 7:20ish (so, 40' before race start). From there, we got changed from bike to run gear and then I just tried to keep moving - mainly to keep warm, but also to try and calm my nerves a bit. Lately, I’ve been getting super nervous before road races. I think it’s because I know that I want to push, and I know what I should be capable of, but I also know that pushing to my limits can hurt, and I sometimes have trouble embracing that hurt... but I’m working on it (and I do think getting better).

As for the 10k distance itself, over the last little while, whenever I have thought about running the 10k, my mind has gone to the number 46 – as in 46:00. During the bike into town I started questioning if that was possible as my legs were feeling a little heavy and it seemed like the bike was taking more effort than I expected it to. So, slowly I started thinking, “Well, 47:00 might be okay, or 48:00.” Then it got to “anything that starts with a ‘4’.”

Thankfully, my legs cooperated and were ready and willing to run when the gun went off.

When the race started, I tried to keep a somewhat comfortable pace for the first few km's, as I knew how much better I felt at the Boston 5k a couple of weeks ago than I did at the Bazan Bay 5k in March, and I think a large part of that had to do with my splits being so much more consistent in the Boston race. No sprinting for the first km and then slowly fading. That said, while it may have felt comfortable at the time, my first km was probably still a bit fast (oops).

Kirsten and Tyler went past me about the 2k mark and I resisted the urge to try and keep up with them. Instead, I just tried to keep them in my sights and focused on myself and my own pace. My mantra as of late when running has been something like “strong core, focus on your arms” as I tend to twist my shoulders when I run and have been really working hard on correcting this the last couple months. While sometimes it feels awkward, I think I am slowly improving and I really think this little mantra helped me a lot in yesterday’s effort.

As we made the turn onto Dallas Rd and up the little hill that I have run a million times, I began to struggle a little. The gradual uphill through Beacon Hill Park always gets me – you think it is flat, but oh-no, it is not. Thankfully, I knew the course well enough and was able to push through and embrace the hurt a little more than I normally do. I could also still see Kirsten and Tyler up ahead and I think trying to not let them get too far away was a good motivator.

Oh, and a funny moment around the "1 mile to go" marker. A woman on the sidelines yelled at her friend to "keep working those arms". I thought it was perfect timing because I was probably slacking on the whole arm thing a bit in that moment. Anyway, I have to say, once I started focusing on my arms again, it made that last stretch feel so much better. Also, I could still see Kirsten. Visions of chasing her down in the final stretch pushed me forward.

As I did finally turn onto that final homestretch, I tried to pick up the pace as much as I could, just repeating to myself “don’t give up, you’ll be mad if you do” (or something like that).

I crossed the finish line in 45:37 (a huge new PB) and couldn’t be happier about it!


Of course, my 45:37 has nothing on my Olympic-bound cousin Cam Levins. Last night he killed the 10,000m race at the Payton Jordan Invitational, taking the win in 27:27.96 and smashing the Olympic ‘A’ standard once again.

Canadian Running writes about it here.

Or, watch for yourself here. It may take a half hour, but it is totally worth it (or you know, just fast forward to the final few laps).

I guess you can tell who got all the speed in our family!