8 Kilometers
Remember how I discovered last year that you get a medal for running the 8 km race at the BMO Vancouver marathon and why the hell would you run 42.2 km ((A full marathon)), or even 21.1 km ((A half marathon)), when you could just run 8 measley km and get a medal? Yeah, so I did that again.

Actually, the main reason that I wanted to run the 8 km at BMO this year is because my friend Kim is going to run her first half marathon with me in June at the Scotiabank half. And Kim has never run a race before, so I suggested that perhaps we do the 8 km so that she could experience what it’s like to be in the race atmosphere (which can be a bit overwhelming) in a shorter race rather than trying to do her first half without having ever been in a race setting.
Kim & I before the race:

Kim & I after the race – look at how happy we are:

And why are we so happy? Why, because we both set personal best records, of course! Sure, Kim’s never done a race and I’ve only done an 8 km once before and ran really slowly that time, but no matter. Personal bests, I say!
And how best was my personal best, you ask? Well, last year it took me 54:40 to run 8 km ((I told you I ran it really, really slowly!)). This year: 43:59! That’s a pace of 5:30 mins per km! w00t to the w00t!
And speaking of kicking ass, congrats to my friend Erika & Paul, who ran their first FULL marathons in a time of 4 hours and 10 minutes – i.e., holy fuck that’s fast!
And in completely unrelated news, I can’t write “8 kilometers” without thinking of this video:
w00t to the w00t indeed. That’s awesome.
Oooooh, shiny!