noattentionspan

Seems I’m writing these on an increasingly regular basis. Time for the winter break then

And what a fun race to end the year running, the Fall Classic Half Marathon.

The full race result list can be found here for those who are looking for it.

Fun is an interesting word to describe running 21.1km in the rain and the cold and the wind, but it really was fun for the most part.

Like any race, this one started in the days, weeks and months of training before it. The build up in distance and difficulty intermixed with strength and performance training sessions and spaced by recovery cycles. The final distance build followed by taper weeks. All of this assisted by solid nutrition and effective hydration. And let us not forget the importance of sleep and relaxation.

Right, that’s a good plan.

So, in the week before the race I did basically nothing, sitting at home with the broken wrist. I did manage a 3.3km leg turnover the day before the race though and that was good. Nutrition was laughable. Relaxation was good, sleep was miserable due to tossing and turning.

On the day before the race I finished my run, went out to Rosedale for my marathon tatoo and relaxed with Derek. I drove back in to show off the tat to the kids and relaxed watching movies finally crashing out at 1am.

Up at 0600, no hydration to speak of, no breakfast, not enough sleep; but on the road and ready to go.

In spite of all this, however, things went well from here on out. I picked up Mary and then Anne-Marie and we were off to UBC where we easily found parking and wandered in to check-in. Well, Anne-Marie was checking in, Mary and I had to register first Not that this race was an afterthought or anything like that.

By 0815 we were wandering outside to the start line and getting ready to race once again. I was wearing my new Sugio Brand Champion gear, but the shirt was covered under my rain jacket. I was showing off the new tat though, my legs might get wet but they don’t easily get cold.

Dead on time at 0830 the gun went off and we were running along. The first few km were nice and steady, moving from the central campus area down to Marine and then down the long hill of Old Marine. Since I wasn’t carrying water I was stopping to get a sip at just about every water stop. At the turn around we started the long gentle slope of Marine back up to just before Gate 6.

Along this section, almost 8km in, Mary dropped back to conserve energy. Anne-Marie was feeling super strong though so I caught up to her and we ran on together as much as we could in the crowds, often trading being slightly ahead or behind the other. Our pace was very steady for the next few km with me pulling ahead a touch on the hills and Anne-Marie pulling ahead on the straights and curves.

15 or 16km in and we are just approaching the far turn-around on Marine. We’d just climbed up again from the Old Marine hill and I’d wound up just ahead again as we turned around, perhaps 5 meters or so.

As we went into long slow climb up Marine I dropped in my hill climb zone and when I looked around I couldn’t find Anne-Marie anymore. I made the decision to just push through and find everyone at the end.

Somewhere in here my right wrist started throbbing heavily and I was tensing up my shoulders enough to cause shooting pains down both arms. Wearing the Garmin on my left wrist instead of on the right was also causing pain, I must have had it in the wrong spot or too tight or too lose. All I know is that it hurt.

I kept missing the km markers and wasn’t trusting the Garmin which was set for miles and was indicating that I was about .1mi farther in distance than the last markers I had seen. All of this led to me mentally beating myself up a bit and slowing me down.

At the water stop just after 18km I took my drink plus a 1 minute walk break to try and get things back under control. At 19km I was thrilled to see the sign and knowing I was only 2km to the end I had a bit of energy. I hit the hills after 19km and went up them like they weren’t there, but paid for it at the top and needed another 30 second walk break.

It was everything I could do here to keep my pace in the 9 min/mi range here as I was feeling like crap. My entire upper body was sore and while my legs were still strong, they didn’t want to push. Well, they didn’t or I didn’t

The 20km marker was on a final tiny out and back, but it was mentally abusive to push us just a bit farther away from the finish line that late in. Coming around the turn though I was buoyed to see Anne-Marie, perhaps 1 minute behind me and moving strong.

I took off my jacket to show off the cool Sugoi shirt and with the splint couldn’t tie it around my waist so I wound up carrying it the last .5km in my right hand. In my left was the Garmin which I just couldn’t wear any more on my left.

I crossed the finish line feeling like crap but moving pretty well.

Race Distance: 21.1km
Gun Time: 1:57:56
Chip Time: 1:57:26 (official results here)
Race Pace: 5:34 min / km
Garmin Distance: 21.23km (map and Details here)
Garmin Time: 1:57:24
Garmin Pace: 5:31 min / km

This wasn’t my fastest half marathon. That was the Fall Classic in 2006 with a time of 1:51:26. A full 6 minutes faster. Could I have done that the other day? Yup, I think so actually, but I didn’t

However, a couple of years ago I was bragging that once I had gotten to a certain level of fitness, a half marathon was just something you got up and did. You didn’t have to think about it, or train about it specifically. You woke up one morning and went out and ran 21.1km. And you did it at a reasonable pace.

I did that the other day. Next time though, I train. I’m racing against my son Curtis in February and he wants a 1:30:00 time. I won’t be getting there, but I’ll be getting as far down as I can

S