The Vancouver Half Marathon 2009

The sun shone off and on and not a drop of rain fell to dampen our spirits as we first walked and later trudged the 21.1 km of the half marathon. We arrived on site about 10 minutes before the gun sent off the Half marathon walkers and runners. You can see in the picture how far we were from the START line. Well maybe you can't; but if you look over all the heads you might be able to see a yellow START ribbon.

If I remember correctly, it took us about 9 minutes to cross the Start line and although I can't yet get the official times from the website, I think our "gun time" is 3 hours and 47 minutes. Our "chip time" should be about 3 hours and 38 minutes. And if you take off about 10 minutes for the long wait for one bathroom break and another quick one, our actual time is probably around 3 hours and 28 minutes. (OK, for some marathon athletes having your time be 'about' something isn't good enough, but for me that's close enough!) Both Carol and I are very pleased with our results.

The route started off downtown and then circled Stanley Park which was, of course, my favorite part of the walk. I would have loved to have stopped and taken pictures but, somehow, that didn't seem appropriate. I did capture these three Vancouver Canuck fans who were walking just ahead of us for part of the way.

The last 4 or 5 km were back in the city. By this time, we were pretty focused on getting it all over and done with. On that last stretch we had to pass the two ladies ahead of us. I said we'd have to run to pass the next two but Carol said, "kick it up a notch, Amy" and we did. We passed not only those two but another bunch as well. Woohoo! We almost ran over that finish line.

After we had received our 'medals' we were greeted by some buddies from the Edmonton Running Room walking clinic. And then it was off to the refreshment area where we stocked up on fresh fruit, juice, bagels, chips, carrots, etc. We had quite a feed sitting on the grass and recovering some energy to walk back up to catch the bus home.



According to the Vancouver Province over 13,000 people came out for the marathon today. We don't know how many walked or ran the full or the half but we do know that walkers don't garner the same attention on the course as runners, but that was just fine by me!