• TR, Peaceful Warrior 5.6
• TR, Peaceful Warrior w/o chimney 5.10a/b
• TR, Whipsaw 5.9
• TR, Pony Keg 5.9
• TR, Ride’em cowboy 5.9
• TR, Rod of God 5.8
• TR, Silhouettes 5.10a
• TR, A Game of Inches, 5.9

Sunday

• LD, Gas Sipper 5.8
• TR, Heel High Crescent 5.10a
• TR, The Big Finish 5.10a
• LD, No Time to Deviate 5.10c
• TR, Ten-A-Cee Waltz, 5.10c
• TR, Subatomic Lunge Blast 5.10b
• LD, Nazi Boyfriend 5.10b
• TR, Hidden Opulent 5.10b

The race is a low profile local one, limited to 450 runners including 1/2 and full runners. It is usually not filled. It’s organized by a local athlete club.

Our start line is in Birch Bay State Park. Buildings of Richmond, BC can be seen from the bay on a clear day. The northeast side of the skyline is dominated by snow capped peaks in Canadian Cascades. The view is stunning on this sunny weekend.

Saturday morning, I slept in and did a 4 mile jog. After lunch, I hit the road. It is sunny and warm. Pacific Northwest is usually dominated by chilly and rainy weather in the winter. We are extremely lucky to have a high pressure system over the area this weekend. There was some traffic out of Seattle. By the time I got to Birch Bay, it was about 4:30. I checked in the hostel. The hostel is a Lion’s club project. It’s an old building still under renovation. The hosts are all volunteers. Winter is a down time but they decided to keep it open since they need to do the renovation work anyway. There was only a few cars outside the building. I ran into two Japanese girls who were also running the race. The hostess is an elderly woman named Linda. She’s very friendly and nice. I then took off to drive to the start line. The view was gorgeous in the dusk. However, I sadly found that my DSLR camera dead when I took it out to take a picture.

I then drove along the course along the bay. The half course has a stretch that extends inland. As I drive it, I find it’s actually a moderate hill. The course is not really pancake flat as I originally thought. I am glad I did the driving so that I know what to expect. After driving the course, I picked up the race kit at the “expo”, which is just a couple of tables, with one vendor, a local Indian art shop. There is no timing chip, which is a little surprise, not that it’s important though. It’s pretty sweet that all they printed our full names on the bibs. I guess that’s the advantage of small races.

After a teriyaki dinner, I headed back to the hostel and surfed on the internet for a while. There is a few other runners staying at the hostel but in general it’s very quiet. I chatted a little with a runner from Vancouver, and did some reading sitting in the bed. Without distraction, I find myself quite sleepy at 10pm. So I decided to turn off the lights and lay in bed. I guess I fell asleep quite soon.

2:30 in the morning, I woke up and went to the bathroom. Then I decided it’s a good time to eat something so that I don’t have to have a big breakfast. So I chewed a big bagel and went back to sleep. It later proved that this strategy works pretty well. 6:30 the alarms went off. I went to the kitchen to brew some coffee. I have set the coffee machine ready the night before. To my surprise, the hosts have already got the coffee ready. So I had a little coffee and a little more bagel, chatted with the Vancouver runner and his wife, who is also a runner but not running this race.

I get dressed and take off at about 7:10. It’s just 10 minutes of driving to the start line. The state park has plenty of parking, all close to the start line. There is no cloth check and there is no need. I start by some very slow jogging in the parking lot and the road. It’s about 27F and a little cold. I am shivering a little on the way to the park. My body starts to slowly warm up after 10 minutes of jogging. Then I start a few rounds of striding at 6:30 pace to pump up the heart rate and loosen up the muscles from cold. The sun is coming out from behind the trees. It’s not that cold anymore under the sun. I take off the jacket, put it in the car, and start to gather around the start line.

8:00 sharp, we take off, with the escort of a sherif car. We have the whole road to us so it’s not packed at all even in the first mile. After the first mile, we are able to all run on the shoulder. I find two teenagers setting a comfortable 7:30-7:40 pace. So I decide to follow them as long as I can. I have thought a lot about the racing strategy the night before, and can’t decide on a pace. I have only raced one 1/2 before and lots of things have changed in the past few months. I finally decided to listen to my body and go with the heart rate instead of pace. My strategy is to start with 160, gradually increase it to 163-164 half way, maintain at that range in the latter half, and push through the last mile. I would not follow a pace that I can’t sustain the targetted heart rate, except on the short uphills. I know I am relatively good at hills, both up and down.

I follow those two young fellows for 2 miles, they take a drink at an aid station and I decide to pass. They then drop behind a few yards. I am now in a cruising mode and feel extremely comfortable. After another couple miles, the courses split. The 1/2 course starts a hardly noticeable long uphill, followed by a moderate uphill. With the knowledge of the course, I feel very comfortable to drop the pace a little, and gradually pump up heart rate to about 170 at the end of the hills. Mile 6 and 7 I did 7:38 and 8:07, which are pretty much what I expected. Another half a mile, I’m on the top of the hill, which is a 180 degree turn around point. There is an aid station. It’s slightly passed 7.5 miles. I figure since I need to slow down to turn around anyway, why not get a drink now so that it’ll last all the way to the finish. So I take a cup of Gatorade and turn around. I have almost caught up with the lady in front of me on the uphill. Now on the downhill, I easily catch up with her. When I pass her, I tell her “it’s all down hill from here”. She says “I hope so!”. I zoomed by the downhill part and did mile 9 in 6:45. By now, I know for certain I can break 1:39, just a matter of how much.

A little before mile 9, we get back to the water front. It’s going to be all flat from here. The wind has picked up a little bit but it wasn’t bothering me on the downhill. Now it’s becoming a little annoying. Fortunately the wind died down soon. Now I am running in the mid morning sun by the Pacific ocean, with great views 360 degrees around. How can a race be more comfortable!? Now I have 4 runners in my sight in distance. Judging from their form and pace, I can tell they are getting tired. I am quite confident that I can at least catch up with them before the finish line. The next mile, I adjust my breathing a little and get comfortable. Now I am a little closer. With less than 3 miles to go, and I know it’s all flat, I know it’s time to speed up a little and get ready for the final push. Mile 12, I did in 7:11, which is hard at this point, but I still feel good, my heard rate isn’t even that high. Now I have easily passed two runners. Soon I passed another one and I am very close to the last one. He’s tall, slim, in his 30’s. Two girls, apprently his daughters are riding in a car with their mom along the road, cheering for him. And that’s very helpful for me too. I give it a little push and finally pass him. In my training, I have often dashed through the last mile in a long or easy run. That has helped me a lot mentally, if not physically as well. I know how much my body can take after 12 miles. That gives me the confidence I need to push through. I take a final look at my GPS and it shows a 6:40 pace. I know I can do a little faster, but not too much. I speed up a little and sprint towards the finish line, which is already in sight. It is a blur when I corss the line. I know the time is a few seconds after 1:37. I take the medal from the volunteer and start panting. Knowing that I have shaved almost 6 minutes from my first 1/2 marathon, I am really happy that the 3 months of training has paid off, even if this course is flatter than the previous one.

Tired but satisfied, I return to the hostel and take a shower. The hospitable hosts have made some pancakes. But I have had a couple of bars and an apple so I decide to pass. Michael, the Vancouver runner and his wife are also back. We said farewell to each other and I departed. It’s a beautiful day with Mt Baker in the view on my way back. Life is so good as long as I am running. My quote of the day: racing is easy, training is hard. Signing up a race can be the result of an emotional rush. However, going through all the training needs strong perseverance and dedication. The latter part is what distinguishes runners apart.

• Corroding Through Nocturnal Silk 5.8
• A Genius Bruing 5.10A
• Kiking the Bucket of Bliss 5.10A
• Killer Lob 5.11A (my first outdoor 5.11)
• Newton Clips 5.10C
• Mortal Memory Magnet 5.10D

• Warmed up on Pete’s Possum Palace 5.7
• Red pointed 99 Grit 5.9. Didn’t do a good job on this one. It took me a couple of takes to get over the last bolt before anchor
• Onsighted 5.10a. I might have gone off route a little and used a crack on the neighboring route. But the neighboring route is a 10c so I would give myself the credit
• TRed 5.10c. Had one take at the crux. It doesn’t feel like I can lead it yet. All other moves are pretty straight-forward though

• Warmed up by leading Level Head 5.6, then TRed it using the left crack only.
• TRed Rough Boys 5.5.
• Led Bridger 5.6
• Led Little Known Wonders 5.7
• TRed Mush Maker 5.7+

Later in the day, we decided to do super slab and Yinan started out and it started raining again, damn. I followed up and assessed the situation. It’s not that wet and the rain just stopped when I finished. So we decided to give it a go. Jack started leading it linking the first two pitches so Grace can lead the 3rd, which is the money pitch. I led the 2nd pitch in front of them and belayed Yinan. Yinan led out the final pitch and made good time. It started raining again when Grace was leading the final pitch but fortunately she was only 20 ft from the top.

We met a couple on the top. They were in front of us and went off route. They somehow followed a runout 5.7 and they can’t find the walk off which they planned to do. I don’t know where the walk off is either. Jack has done it many years ago and can’t remember or explain. They only had one rope and looked pretty upset. So we offered them rapping with us and they were very happy. We all made it to the base in 2.5 hours, which is pretty good. One note regarding the rappel though: I rapped from the top of pitch 1 on the climbing route and the 60 metre rope didn’t quite reach.  I had to down climb a couple feet which is not a big deal. But if you rappel directly towards the gully to skier’s right, it should reach the ground without problems.