Posts Tagged with: "Vancouver Marathon"

BMO Vancouver Marathon is the city’s one and only marathon.  My Vancouverite cousin says it’s because May is the only time the weather is perfect to stage one!

For the 45th BMO Vancouver Marathon, total number of participants reached its record high this year with 16,500 runners.  This would be for all categories: 2.5k walk, kids’ run, 8k, 21k, 42k relay and 42k. The BMO Vancouver Marathon is a relatively small race compared to any of the World Marathon Majors which have 42k runners alone reaching over 40,000 in number.  With only around 5,000 runners participating in this marathon, I actually looked forward to experiencing a smaller race with less of the foot traffic and craziness that goes with the bigger races.

I came to this marathon as I have done with my past races lately.  I just wanted to have fun.  Turning 40 was a huge milestone in my life and I just needed to celebrate it in a big way.  I didn’t need to prove to myself that I was fit at 40, or that I could break a PR I hit a few years ago when I was younger.  In fact, I didn’t feel the need to prove myself to anything or anyone.

At 40, I just wanted to celebrate the life I have now.  A life that is my own, independent, honest, peaceful, content, free, and hopeful.

I finished with a time of 4:54.  Not that great a time, but I did have a great time! Hah!

Here goes my race review for BMO Vancouver Marathon:

EVENT: 45^th BMO Vancouver Marathon 2016
DATE: May 1, 2016
START: Queen Elizabeth Park
FINISH: West Pender St. 
CUT OFF TIME: 7hrs (more…)

I chose Vancouver Marathon for the simple reason that I wanted to run a marathon for my 40^th birthday. This was one of the races on the first weekend of May that popped up on Google. With a number of relatives who call Vancouver home, Vancouver was perfect. I registered for the race without batting an eyelash and booked our flights.

Discovering that Forbes.com named it as a top destination marathon in the world and CNN Travel calling it one of the world’s most “exotic” marathons (don’t ask me why!) a couple of weeks after registering was a wonderful bonus. (more…)

Marathons are such a big part of me that I can’t imagine going through life without running one or two in a new city every year.  It’s what keeps me motivated to train even through the hot or tough days; it’s what gets me excited for the months ahead; and, last but not the least, it’s what makes me absolutely happy… next to my kids, of course.

For this year, I’ve finally set my race calendar.  Just thinking about it (especially Florence…aaah!) makes me giddy like a school girl.  Here’s my race calendar for 2017 (excluding local races I’ll run for training):

May 1: Vancouver Marathon (Photo courtesy of www.runvan.org)

June 12: VIP Swim Challenge 2.5k (Photo courtesy of Betsy Medalla, Swim Junkie)

November 27: Florence Marathon

How about you? Where will you be running this year?