Race #81 - Steveston Ice Breaker 8km and Steveston Bakery

For those have been following me along my journey (thank you so much <3) knows that I am trying to complete 100 races before I am 25 in attempt to raise awareness for mental and liver health. For the next 20 races, I will make an effort to post about the race/event experience (for now, it will be on vantraveller.com, but I will probably migrate that to my own website down the road).

Lots of finish line food

Race #81 - Steveston Ice Breaker 8km and Steveston Bakery 

Holy Wind! I think nothing explains the concept of how jet streams work better than today. The course was an out and back from the docks near Steveston eastward along the water and then back. The reason why it reminds me of jet streams is that when an airplane is flying on a jet stream, it's so much faster than when it's flying against it. It's the reason why planes fly faster one way (the way that's in the direction of the jet stream) versus the other way (against it).

Croissant from the Steveston Bakery

   The day started with one of my best friends and I driving to Steveston, the wind was blowing like haywire. When we arrived, the community center wasn't opened yet, so we waited outside for a bit until they were open. Once it was opened, we quickly grabbed our race packages. The race packages itself was nothing too noteworthy, all it included was the race bib, pins and some coupons for New Balance. After we got our packages, we went on a hunt for food (there were no pre-event food besides water, so we had to wait until after the race yet we were starving).
   During our hunt, the Steveston Bakery was open... and what a CUTEEE bakery that was. Since it was early in the morning, the seating area were full of seniors and they were just the most adorable people. They were super curious about our race bibs and the race and we began chatting. The owner was super personable and nice too. If there is something that tugs at my soft spot, it's the small family owned bakery feeling. I can tell that everything was made in house and that they took a lot of time (probably up at 4AM making it). I ended up getting a small cheese croissant and boy that was good. The cheddar cheese inside that croissant and the fact that it wasn't overly greasy really gave it a good touch.

The insides of the Steveston Bakery, it was so cute <3

  Soon after we finished at the Bakery, we headed back to the Steveston Community Center where we changed and then left our non-running clothes in her car. The event also provided bag check, but we thought it was easier for us to leave it in her car.
   The actual start line was a few blocks from the Steveston Community Center (which was were the pre-event package pickup and post-event celebration). It was definitely a bit far in-terms of the relative distance from the start line/ finish line and the event celebration site. However, I can understand given the nature of where the start line/ finish line is (such as the availability of space and weather) that it would be hard to house all the festivities and food there.
   The event didn't have a start line arch this year (I'd imagine they would have it otherwise, but the wind today was CRAZY. 40km/hr+ at least. . he event was also self seeded with a mass start, but most people had no problem finding their place in the starting chute.

The start / finish line of the Steveston 8km

   The course itself was pretty in the sense that if the weather was good, the water on the south side was gorgeous with the sun rising. However, with the wind, it was hard to keep my eyes open. On the first 4 kilometers, it was VERY DIFFICULT because of the wind. The course was running eastward and the wind was moving westward. There was a lot of resistance running into the wind. The moment that I passed the 4 kilometer mark, it was amazing to feel the wind push me forward from the back.

Post event door prizes

    The course's elevation change was not that much besides small inclines here and there. Overall, you can call this race a flat race. I had a fun time running the race (I have an over active imagination, so I definitely felt like I was an airplane). It took me about 34 minutes to run the 8km (which wasn't the fastest... but the thing I learned about racing is to just try your best on given conditions on the day of the event). Mind you, this event draws out track athletes, so be prepared to see a faster crowder than your average community race. The finish line was fun though, I stayed for a bit for people I knew to finish, and to give them high 5's.

Post event food

The walk from the finish line to Stevenston Community Center was slightly cold. I was cooled down already (because of sweat), so the few hundred meters we had to walk to the Community Center was cold (and the wind didn't help). That said, the food at the Community Center was amazing. They were able to get people like Subway, Boston Pizza, KIND Snacks to sponsor. In addition, they also had fruits and muffins (made by the lady who owned Steveston Bakery!), coffee, water and krispy kreme. The food part was spectacular and very well done. The other part that was cool was the number of door prizes there were. I was surprised how many prizes they had (I won a MEC race series ticket). Overall, this was a cute community race. It brought together volunteers from the community and the Kajaks and I love that about this race.

Tips:

• Weather can be unpredictable because of the date of the event, so be prepared. 
• Make sure to plan transport, if you cannot drive here, I would imagine it would be harder to come here via public transit, especially on a Sunday morning.
• Register early. The earlier you register, the cheaper it is.