our pre-race nutrition consisted of a half of a banana and a cup of coffee, and we were off to the race start! arriving later than we should have to the 7am start, we were stuck in a slower corral, and spent the first 4-5 miles of the race getting around runners. we were going at a slower pace, but expending unnecessary energy to get to a comfortable place within the other 7,639 runners.
the weather was great - cool and cloudy (SERIOUSLY somebody up there loves me), with an unfortunate dose of humidity. the clouds proved to be somewhat of a nuisance in the beginning, however, making it difficult for my garmin 10 to get gps until the start of kilometer 7.
the race course was really nice, and we were able to explore different parts of downtown vancouver and cross over a couple bridges, before entering my favorite part of vancouver: stanley park. kevin and i have run along the seawall several times during our first trip out here together in 2012, but always in the counterclockwise direction. it was pretty darn amazing to run with thousands of other happy, motivated runners in the clockwise direction this time, and a great way to finish the race.
most notably for us during this race was the positive energy and enthusiasm of the runners and the enormous crowds! lululemon organized costumed cheering squads basically every mile or so, so our mental energies were boosted by the sight of heavily made-up and scantily dressed transvestites on one of the early hills, the entire cast of the wizard of oz and someone in a full-shark costume at the end of a bridge turnaround, goofy scientists in lab coats, cartoon raccoons jumping around, poseidon-like mermen on stand-up paddle boards, a live-jazz band on a barge in the pacific ocean, mermaids perched on rocks, and more!
here is the seawheeze 2015 recap video! i don't think we made it into their video, but it gives you an idea of the fun events they planned for the weekend. i really hope we can do it again!
post-race, we rewarded ourselves with fresh oysters, manhattan clam chowder, and dungeness crab at rodney's oyster house in yaletown. sadly the weather has been unusually warm in bc so the government of CA has banned the sale of west coast oysters (raw), so we feasted on their cousins from nova scotia, pei, and other parts of eastern canada.
in the afternoon, we got a VIP insiders tour of the capilano suspension bridge park with the family. the capilano suspension bridge is a 460 ft long suspension bridge 230 ft high in north vancouver which was originally built in the late 1800s and rebuilt several times in the 1900s. in the park, you can walk across the main suspension bridge, and also across many more suspension bridges connected by treetops. in addition, there are forests of cedars and evergreens, guided nature tours, and an aviary where you can get up close and personal with a few of the birds native to bc. basically it's a toddler-child's heaven.
in the photo below, i have a smile on my face, but if you panned in on my body, you'd see that i was holding tightly onto the suspension bridge and cringing in fear of slipping off the bridge!
one of the must-do's on our trip was revisit the richmond night market! it's located in the suburbs of richmond, which is where you can get the best asian, especially chinese/hk food, basically the flushing of vancouver. there are hundreds of stands with all types of asian snacks - savory and sweet. my favorite snacks sold at the market are the 鹽酥雞 (taiwanese popcorn chicken), a mango-coconut milk-almond tofu dessert, and of course, ROTATO.
large taiwanese deep-fried breaded chicken = happy husband!
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