While there are other, smaller, road marathons around this area, BMO Vancouver Marathon is basically my home town race. I’ve ran it three times. Twice on the course that started and finished at Concord Pacific Place and once on the current course. I won’t be running the race this year and I want to explain why.

There are a few reasons why I feel like I should run the race. As I mentioned above, it’s my hometown race. Most of my friends who I run with have entered. It will be the first marathon for at least a couple of people in the Langley Running Room group and I would like to be a part of their experience. Hideki Kinoshita, who is one of the first Maniacs I met after joining the club, is coming out from New York to run Vancouver.

Before I get in to the specific two reasons why I’m not running, here’s a list of things that are actually not related to why I’m skipping the event.

1. I’m running another race. Last year a lot of the Langley Running Room marathon group skipped Vancouver and went down to Tacoma, which is on the same day. It was the Marathon Maniacs 10 year celebration and we all got special bibs and medals. I considered Tacoma again this year (and I’d wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is considering it) but, since I would likely be making the trip alone, I decided not to head down to Tacoma.
2. I’m doing something else. Actually, I will be in town on race day. If all goes according to plan, I will head downtown race morning, take the Skytrain out to the start line and be there to see everyone in both the Half and the Full go out. I’ll then take the train back to the Finish area in time to see everyone come in.
3. The date is too close to another race. I am running the Grand Ridge Trail Run on May 3. However, running back to back races isn’t really a deterrent. I ran Grand Ridge last year on my way down to Tacoma and I survived.
4. It’s a road course. Someone commented recently that I seem to have moved to trails at the expense of road courses. If everything else is equal and the choice is between a trail run and a road run, I’ll pick the trail. However, I’m not against road running and I have entered a number of road marathon events in 2014.

Now, the two reasons why I have chosen not to run BMO Vancouver Marathon in 2014

1. I don’t like the course. One of the reasons that I enter road races is so that I can run in areas that I wouldn’t normally be able to due to traffic, stop lights, and the like. A large portion of this course is through UBC and down the seawall. I could probably run the last 27km of the course without interruption any day that I choose (okay, maybe with the exception of the 1km finishing stretch after you come out of the park).

   I liked the old course. I prefer loop over point to point courses in general. I felt that the old course showed off a little bit of everything. The run around over the viaducts and through Chinatown on roads that were normally full of traffic appealed to me. There was still a good section in Stanley Park. There were usually people cheering from their houses on the out and back through Kitsilano.

   Every race in Vancouver now seems to be around the seawall in Stanley Park. I suppose that it requires less police presence and is probably easier to convince the City of Vancouver since the organizers don’t have to close roads (although who knows what the City charges for a permit). However, I can go run the Seawall any time I want to. The bonus of doing it outside the race is that there will actually be people on the seawall since it won’t be closed. It was a very quiet and lonely 10km trip around Stanley Park in 2012.

   The one race that doesn’t go around the seawall in Stanley Park is the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon in June. Unfortunately, 16K of the course is identical between the two races. The only difference is the 5K out and back on SW Marine Drive that you do after the start of the Scotiabank Half. The June race had that route first. It seems a little tacky to take someone else’s course, but the city permitting department may have had something to do with that. Whatever the reason is for using this part of the route, it didn’t appeal to me enough to get me to enter the June race.

2. It’s too expensive. This is the big one. Even at its lowest tier, the price after taxes and fees is going to be over $150. Calgary is $100. Run For Water in Abbotsford is less than $70. All three races provide aid stations, course marshals, medals, participant shirts, an expo and a swag bag. I’m not sure what you get for the extra $50-$80. The Vancouver race is larger than the other two, so the fixed costs should be spread over more people and the larger audience should generate more sponsorship. Both should result in lower prices. I’m not saying that race organizers can’t make a profit. I am saying that the value ratio just isn’t there for me at the price they are asking.

If you’re someone who lives outside of Vancouver and you’re considering coming in to town to run the BMO Vancouver Marathon, please don’t take anything I’ve said as an indication that you shouldn’t do so. Remember, I’m local so I have a different outlook than a visitor. When I’m planning a destination race, an extra $50 in race fees is not usually a significant part of the budget. If it’s a nice day, the views off the seawall of English Bay and the North Shore Mountains are probably worth the price of admission by themselves.