Race Report: Sea Cavalcade Mile

My mom and I had to wake up at the un-Godly hour of 6am on a Saturday to take the ferry to Gibsons for this race. I was slightly worried it wouldn't be worth the hassle, but I had a feeling it would be fun.

I have only ever done one other one mile event and it was more of a fun run than a race. It was the Chip's Not Dead Yet Mile, and it was an uphill climb with themed waves, such as clowns, brides, underwear, superheroes...I don't even know what my time was. I was dressed up as a bride.

We arrived in the little town of Gibsons and had a look around before heading to the start area. As the start time drew nearer, it was apparent this was going to be a very small race. There were only about 10 or 15 adults gathering around the start line and about as many little kids. I guess a mile is a reasonable distance if you're eight.

A few seconds before the gun, a group of fighter jets flew overhead in configuration just for us. Actually, there was a big parade planned right behind the race, so it was probably for the crowds that were gathered waiting for the main event.

Soon we were off and within a few strides a 12 or 14 year old girl tumbled and rolled in front of me. I had to swerve to avoid her. She hopped right back up and seemed ok, so with a few concerned glances backward, everyone kept going.

Really early on I felt a tiredness in my upper arms, which I didn't expect. There was a bit of a hill the first 400m, which was also bothersome. I glanced at my Garmin and my pace was about 6:56/mile, so I slowed down a tiny bit. I didn't want to run out of gas!

Every 400m there was a big, yellow sign (400m, 800m, etc) which was handy. I checked my pace a few times, and then when the course changed to decidedly downhill I sped up and tried to catch another female runner who was about 10 yards in front of me.

The last 100m or so I really gave 'er and smoked the woman I was tailing. As I crossed the line I glanced at the clock and it said 7:05, but my official time was 7:12. That was good enough to win my age group (2nd was also last place).

The crowd support was excellent for such a tiny race in a tiny town. I'd recommend this race and would love to see a larger turnout in the future!