By Kari Toovey
Six STARR members turned out on a beautiful day in Comox BC to run the Comox Half Marathon, the sixth race in the Island Race Series. STARR’s Bruce Hawkes took first place in this division, while Jill Potter Hellmann took 6 th place in her division.
The out and back course was somewhat challenging for a first-time half marathoner (me!) – with a lot of uphill between kilometers 6-11, but a nice downhill on the way back. The scenery along the way provided a nice distraction – beautiful green fields, snow-capped mountain peaks in the distance, a chorus of singing frogs, a field of horses, a field of gorgeous black cows. I think I even saw a bald eagle fly overhead (full disclosure: that was at the point in the run where I was beginning to think I might not finish and wondered if I really saw an eagle or if I was just imagining seeing an eagle, circling over me, waiting for me to collapse).
Lots of amazing runners turned out for the race in addition to our STARR crew, including two-time Olympian Natasha Wodak, who flew by on her way back, as I was plodding along towards the halfway point. Wodak crossed the finish line in 1:11:52 to break the course record by more than five minutes. Absolutely amazing!
677 runners finished the race, which looks like it could be a record for the Comox Valley Half – overall the fastest finisher was Dusty Spiller with a time of 1:09:08.
I love the Island Race Series – over the course of the races we have run with all kinds of runners, from very competitive, Olympic caliber runners to runners like me, who are just happy to be outside and off the couch. That might be the best part about running; how accessible it is to everyone. Five years ago, if someone had told me I would run a half marathon I would have laughed but now here I am thinking how I might shave a few minutes off the next one.
As I was coming up on kilometer 18 of the run, the podcast I was listening too provided this quote, “Running is a form of practiced stoicism. It means teaching your brain and body to be biochemically comfortable in a state of disrepair” from Matthew Inman. At kilometer 18 everything in my body was telling me to stop, but my body kept pushing. I’m proud of myself for finishing and I am proud off all 677 of the rest of the runners who joined that day.
Congratulations to all the STARRS who came out!
STARR and friends’ results (chip time)
Robin Wark 1:56:23
Melanie Eskildsen 2:05:26
Maggie Curtis 2:07:04
Jill Potter-Hellmann 2:12:06
Kari Toovey 2:16:05
Bruce Hawkes 4:06:09