Race Report: Chilly Chase 5K

The Chilly Chase took place in the semi-rural, Vancouver suburb of Langley, British Columbia. It is aptly named for a January event and as the outside temperature hovered around -2C at the start. To be clear, there was no chase element incorporated in the event as far as I'm aware. I attended this 5K with my little sister, Tina. I guess all the brainwashing is finally taking effect because I didn't even have to coerce her to sign up. There were also 10K and 15K races, which started a bit earlier. We didn't watch them start because we were too busy organizing ourselves (going to the bathroom, getting our race packages, finding parking, taking goofy pictures, etc).

Tina has done some running on and off and recently decided to make an effort to run more consistently. I'm not 100% sure what her motivation is, but I think it's part of an overall "get fitter" strategy. She has run a couple of 10K races in the past, but we never ran one together before so this was fun. This was her first 5K race and my first race of the year, which added to the special-ness.

Tina (along with other family members who'd be annoyed not to be mentioned here) was quite a good supporter at several points during the BMO Vancouver Marathon last May so I figured I owed her. I took it upon myself to talk her through the race so she could meet her goal of finishing it in under 35 minutes. It went something like this:

Me: "Ok, just keep it at a nice comfortable pace, easy enough that you can hold a conversation"

Tina: "I just want to get ahead of this crowd"

Me: "Ok, lets slow back down a bit here, you're going a bit fast"

Tina: "No, I feel good, I'm fine"

Later it went more like this:

Me: "How are you doing? Still ok?" Tina: "Yeah, I just can't talk"

Me: "OK, see if you can go a tiny bit faster, we're about 400 metres from the finish so just give it some gas"

Tina: "Why do you hate me?"

Anyway, it was fun, and no one got hurt. My Dad would have disinherited me otherwise so that worked out good for everyone. We finished in just over 32 minutes. I ran ahead a bit to try to get the historic finish on film but Tina had managed to run faster that I expected and I missed it.

If you're thinking of doing the Chilly Chase I'd recommend it. It was pretty well run, not overly competitive if that sort of thing intimidates you, and the course was scenic and flat. Oh yeah, and everyone gets a medal!