There are still a few days left for us to complete the VIRA Island Race Series TriStars Sooke 10k Virtual Challenge.
If you’ve done the “in-person” version of the Sooke 10k race before, you will undoubtedly recall the big hill that we all had to run up, which is why the theme of this year’s challenge is so fitting. The last time we all raced it together was back in 2019.
The challenge is as follows:
A. Run challenge: Run the “Coffee Climb” with the most elevation in a 10K distance. This can be trail or road.
B. Photo challenge: Take a selfie with a coffee or a treat from a favourite coffee shop.
I like the idea of being able to choose our terrain as well as what we consider to be a lot of elevation for a 10k.
As for the photo challenge, I’m always extremely impressed by the creativity of my fellow VIRA Island Race Series participants. You can check out all the super fun photos from this challenge and the previous challenges on the VIRA-Island Race Series Facebook page.
Here’s how mine went down:
Run Challenge Overview
Once again, I successfully managed to complete the challenge relatively close to my house. Although there are not many big hills near my place, I knew that if I did enough repeats of the McKenzie overpass, I would be able to gain some elevation. Therefore, that is exactly what I did.
Given that I did a 30km long run the day before doing the Sooke 10k virtual challenge, I wasn’t sure what my legs would do. At the beginning of my run challenge, I definitely wasn’t feeling too great because I was still tired from the day before. However, as I went over the McKenzie overpass the first time, the run got easier. I was able to just keep going up and over and then up and down. I turned it into a hill circuit and it was actually a lot of fun. My average pace was 5:08 per km, which is actually better than I expected when I started considering that I ran 30km the day before.
My Strava Screenshot of the Sooke 10k Virtual Challenge 2021
Photo Challenge Overview
For my photo challenge, I decided to take a picture with my Tim Hortons coffee. Tim Hortons was founded in Canada in 1964 by a Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and another gentleman named Jim Charade. Since then, it has grown into a multinational fast food chain. I drink Tim Hortons coffee quite often and I have been since university. Also, I like that my top matches the cup, which was definitely one of the deciding factors for using this photo 🙂
I’m excited for the next VIRA Island Race Series Challenge! I cannot believe that there is only ONE more virtual challenge left before the VIRA Island Race Series 2021 draws to a close. Therefore, it’s still not too late for you to join the fun.
If you haven’t signed up yet for the Virtual Challenge, you can do so here.
Looking forward to hearing how the challenge goes for you!