Length: 2.9km
Elevation Gain: 853 meters
# of Stairs: 2.51 x 10^57 (who knows, too many to count)
Record time: 25:24 Sebastian Selas (2009)
Having raced the Grind two previous times and hiked it once, this race will be my forth ever accent up Grouse mountain. I am lucky enough to start with the first heat of racers (the men who have the top estimated times). There are about 40 or 50 of us waiting on the start line and I know it will be hard not to run fast right of the gun, but it is very important to conserve your strength on this race.
The countdown is started and everyone presses evermuch closer together as if those next few cm might make the difference of a placing. My HR is over 110 just standing there. It seems like an eternity... ... ...
GO! And we are off, I let a few of the more eager runners go by me knowing that it will likely not be long before I catch them. There is a problem, however, with letting them go that I am quickly reminded of as we try to squeeze a group of runners 4 wide through a gate barely wide enough for one. The race has just started and it is frustrating to have to slow down just to get through. Once on the trail it becomes very hard to pass, the section just after the gate is the widest part of the trail, but it is also the flattest and the section where most people go too fast. It will be a waiting game for me. I stick to my pace, knowing that there are likely 20 or more guys in front of me, but that if it all plays out like previous years I will slowly work my way though the numbers.
It is not long before the real accent up the mountain starts, and not long after that that the pace slows. I am able to pass a few people here while I still have energy to put in a little spurt to go by. It becomes harder and harder to pass on the narrow trail as the race goes on and my legs loose strength. I am not even at the half way point and my body is beginning to tell me that I just don't have the energy. I try to remind myself that this is how it always feels, and to just keep going.
I get to the half way marker and glance at my watch... 15:40. Not good, I wanted to be sub 30 for the race, and the last half I expect to be slower, especially as that feeling of low energy is still with me. My legs are tired, but no more than I would expect them to be, perhaps even less than I would expect them to be. My brain is sending me messages "you don't have to do this", "you had a great race last week... you could just stop", "perhaps you could wait and do the rest with Sarah, when she get's here". Fortunately I see other racers ahead and I set my sight on them. I need to focus on passing them and it will keep me going.
I find the energy to pass one of the two of the runners and get stuck behind the other. The rest of my race would be spent behind this guy. He was ever so slightly slower than I would have liked to be going and I tried a few times to go by, but each time he either picked up the pace a little or I just couldn't find the next gear I needed to go by. The racer who I had passed earlier near the half way point had found some hidden energy that I certainly did not have and he was able to go by me and the runner in front of me. That had me worried and I wondered if we had slowed, but I glanced behind and there was no one else to be seen.
Finally we got to a part of the trail where the trees open up a little, and I know this is close to the end. Apparently the guy in front of me knew this was close to the end too as he picked up the pace. I held with him in hopes of being able to pass him. I though if I can go by him before the 200m flat section at the end maybe I can beat him (I did not have much faith in my chances if he were to get to the flat before me). Unfortunately he was able to keep up his pace and he got to the flat a couple of second before I did. "Oh well", I thought to myself "I raced hard last week and I just don't have the energy this week". And just as I was thinking this I realised that I was passing him. In the last 200m I was able to run at a 3:50 pace! Not bad for the end of the Grind.
My time for the run was 30:46, which is a new pb.
I won my age group and got a new pair of Oakley sunglasses. I was 10th OA with a little more than 500 finishers.
I was happy with my result, but at the same time a little disappointed because I felt that there should have been more energy in the tank. I felt that I was stronger and that I could have put in a better time had I not felt drained. I am looking forward to next years Grind as I am sure that I should be able to be well under 30 min providing I am healthy.
I really enjoyed having Sarah do the Grind with me this year. It was nice to be able to cheer for someone else while I was up there. Sarah did very well for her first time up the Grind, placing 5th out of the elite women and wining $75.
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