Vancouver half of a half Marathon

This past Sunday, I took part in my first race of the season at the
Vancouver Half Marathon, and the result is a big DNF! I actually knew
going into the race that my chances of finishing weren't great. I
crashed on my bike on Wednesday (yes, again), and I landed really hard
on my back and shoulder. I was pretty sore and stiff Thursday and
Friday. Saturday morning, I ran before getting on the plane to fly to
Vancouver, and it did not feel good. Even knowing that I might not be
able to finish the race, I still made the trip. I wanted to give the
race a try, and I was also going to Vancouver to look with my sister
for a bridesmaid's dress; I am the maid of honor in her wedding this
summer. So not going down to Van for the weekend was not an option.

Sunday morning I ran to the start from my sister's apartment, and I
actually thought there was a chance that I could finish it. All the
shopping the day before must have loosened up my back and tailbone.
Even with these few small glimmers of hope, I was ready to pull out if
I felt that I was putting my body at risk because of the accident.
Just being part of the morning race routine made me happy, and I was
simply excited to finally take part in an event. I forgot how much I
missed simply participating. It has been quite a while since my last
race.

The first four miles of the race were decent. But as the pain
increased around my tailbone and glutes, I gradually had to slow down.
I made it to about the seven mile mark, where I stopped at an aid
station for some Gatorade. The Gatorade tasted so good (and my butt
was hurting so badly) that I decided to stay and drink more and cheer
other runners on. I knew that if I finished, it would be more of a
setback than a success as I probably wouldn't be running for a while.
As it is, I still have a few more days before everything comes right.
Oh well, it was cool just to attempt to do a race. And next time I
will finish it; that is my goal anyway. I think I may ask the Bike
Barn to put some training wheels on before the next one for some extra
insurance!

Latest Race Plans

Spring has Sprung? Let’s hope so….. ‘When it's cold like this the body is not moving like it should." That is what Festus Langat, the winner of this year’s Vancouver Sun Run, said when he finished the race. I have to agree with him. This past week will go down in my history books as one of the more challenging weeks of the year so far. I am going to chalk it up to cold weather not letting my body move like it should. (Maybe it was just that simple.) Training has been decent up until last week. I even went so far as to say, “this is the best week of training in a long time.” But after last Friday, I guess I spoke too soon.

I think a combination of factors led to me hitting a bit of a mental, physical, and emotional wall this past week, and I sort of blew up. The snow we had to deal with on both Saturday morning and then again on Wednesday morning made things even worse. Of all 10 years I have lived in Penticton, I have never experienced snow so late in the year. I think the last snowfall we had this year was in late February, but don’t quote me on that. The good news is I sorted through all my problems and had a really great training weekend with the help of a bunch of guys from town. But they are not just any guys, though, but a group very talented men - Tom Evans, Olly Piggin, Dave Matheson, Greg, Harold, Marty, Des, the other Tom, Scott and the list goes on. I am pretty lucky to have such high caliber local athletes here, and I am even luckier when I can manage to hang in since they don’t take pity on anyone.

I was planning on racing earlier this season, but things don’t always turn out exactly as you plan. Instead of traveling to far off countries, I decided to keep building my base fitness and put all my eggs in one basket in terms of trying to qualify for Beijing. My first World Cup race this year will be the Madrid World Cup, and then I will compete in World Champs in Vancouver. To have a bit of race prep before I hit those major races, I am doing a few local ones. Next weekend I will run in the Vancouver Half Marathon. I don’t have any expectations for this race except a really great workout. With only about six weeks of solid running under my belt, it will be interesting to see how a half feels. I always like to do the longer stuff because then it makes those 10 km in the triathlon feel like nothing. The following weekend I am going to take part in the Bare Bones Duathlon (5km run/32 km bike/5km run). This race takes place in Penticton. Ouch, I can feel the pain as I type this. It will be great to see how fast I can run those 5 km legs.

The other great thing happening this week is the arrival of my good friend and fellow competitor Samantha Warriner from New Zealand. She just won the World Cup race over in South Korea on the weekend. We always have a lot of fun training together, so I am excited to have her around for the month.

I hope you are all enjoying the longer days of spring. Jill