Have you ever noticed that it seems to take longer the first time you travel somewhere, but the same route home seems shorter.
That, and the fact I don’t want any ugly surprises, means I drove out to Langford on Sunday to scope out the half-marathon route for the Victoria Goddess race next weekend.
I reasoned that if I drove the route, I’d be somewhat familiar with it and the 20-plus kilometres won’t seem as long. I also want to know where the hills are. Both are much easier to tackle with horsepower under the hood rather than aging legs under a running skirt, but I need every advantage I can muster.
It’s been a long training season, with a late-in-the-game slowdown due to a cranky IT Band and the Goddess Run on June 2 is just about the last race I can do before the training clinics start for a fall race.
First I was aiming for the May 4 BMO half-marathon in Vancouver, then it was the May 25 Oak Bay half marathon, but I needed to let my leg recover before putting myself in a race, when I tend to forget my intention to run slow and smart and end up pushing myself to a black-toe-nails finish.
And really – I think perhaps that I was meant to run as a goddess.
The inaugural Goddess Run last year was a hoot. Five of my best friends, known in our youth as the Wild Women but behind our backs by our husbands as the Mild Women, converged on Victoria to celebrate our friendship with the 5K and 10K distances. We ate, we drank, we laughed, we even made it to the start line.
Judging by the clusters of women at last year’s race, some in togas and others in pink tutus, we weren’t the only friends, family or work colleagues who decided that an all-female run was overdue.
Organizers Cathy Noel and Andrea Carey are known in the Victoria running community for their support of healthy living for women as much as their competitiveness.
They decided the Goddess Run would be different in several ways. Some of the registration fees goes to three charities that support women and girls – The Victoria W
omen’sTransition Shelter, the Victoria Women’s Sexual Assault Centre and ProMotion Plus; finishers get jewelry, not a clunky medal destined for the sock drawer; onsite child care is provided as is chocolate. Need I say more?
One thing they did change were the routes. I was a bit chuffed last year when I was barely out of the starters’ chute when I encountered a steep hill. A short one, mind you, but a hill none the less.
Driving this year’s route (the portions that are not part of the Galloping Goose Trail, which I know to be flat), I kept a nervous eye out for anything other than an undulation.
I knew part of the route was along Metchosin Road, but would it be the killer incline up from the gravel pit?
After a few wrong turns (the printing on the map was squint-worthy) I found what I was looking for – at kilometer 7.5 on the route – the climb from Latoria Road up Wishart Road.
All in all, I think the race organizers picked a fine route that will show people the different sides of Langford and Colwood. Homes with sprawling, almost rural character, juxtaposed with new developments.
I came home feeling excited about next weekend, even though I know I will have to take it slow, which will mean a finishing time that really is about finishing rather than racing.
And just when I was feeling pretty good about it all, I took one last look at the map and realized I didn’t backtrack far enough on the route to check one loop through the new Westhills development near the end. WestHILLS. Oh god. Or should I say, Oh Goddesses.
