Monday, May 4, 2009

VANCOUVER MARATHON


MY FIRST MARATHON
I had so much to say-cuz I was so excited about the marathon, it took several edits to cut this down! But then I kept having great flashbacks as to what happened so... its kinda long.
What an interesting race the marathon is. Instead of trail races where I go hard wherever I can, the whole point of the marathon seemed to be to hold myself back the entire race just so I can finish it. So this made it a lovely cruise around Vancouver, breathing comfortably, visiting people along the way.

IN THE BEGINNING:
I had a plan. Follow the 3:30 'bunny' for the first 30 kms.That went out the window as soon as the 'bunny' started WALKING! I couldn't believe that anyone could do the walk/run thing and finish in 3:30. So, I passed him at the 3 km mark- so much for the plan. My husband Jim was totally hyper, chatting away like a girl the entire first 10K. "this is so easy, I could do this pace forever" etc etc.

CRUISING THRU VANCOUVER
What a blast running down the middle of the streets through False creek, downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, and Kitsilano on a beautiful cool sunny morning. I am usually a camel on long runs and finish a bit fuzzy, but this time I followed strict advise from running friends and drank, ate Gels every hour and took my thermolytes. I was remarkably lucid and full of energy the entire run!

The kilometers flew by 10, 15, 20,25K, people watching along the way. Some weird running styles out there. Some of my favorites were:
- the limp wrist runner ,- the foot slapper( that dude must have had very sore feet at the end)
- the grunter -the butt protruder that looked like he had to go to the bathroom
And what people wore!
- One girl wore a garbage bag- for at least 21 kms (and It was not raining)-a full on gangsta style track suit, (I'm thinking he's gonna have some chaffing.)

Jim's chattyness reduced to just breathing by 25 kms. I asked him how he was. He replied
"I'm having a moment"... whatever that meant. It still makes me laugh.


AND NOW I UNDERSTAND
I have heard that a marathon is a 20 mile run then a 6 mile run. Now I get it! By 30 kms I was no longer cruising, I had to push a bit, and started to slow on the hills. By 35 kms, I was running about 40 seconds/km slower. By 37 kms I swear they put the kilometer markers farther apart.

The last two kms were the best.

This is us trying to hold our heads high and push thru to the finish.

At 40 kms I decided to tell Jim that "I don't think I'm going to sprint to the finish line."
It was hilarious at the time because it took all we had to just keep running, let alone sprint!
By now the tables were turned.I was picking up the crowds energy, chatting away, totally hyper that I was going to finish!

By 41 kms I felt like I was pushing hard, running as fast as I can...but then I looked at my legs and they were going in slooooowww moootiooon. Kinda like those old Steve Austin "Bionic Man" shows. It was a bit trippy.

THE FINISH LINE
Yaaay!! we finished together!! in a respectable 3:34:04. I was cool with that, being our first marathon and all. I did wonder why the 3:30 bunny never passed me though- maybe it meant finishing 3:30 ish?? I'm happy I finished 9th in my old lady 40-44 age group.

So we stopped, bent over to get our medals then... tried to walk. WTF ! why won't my legs move? I had to Frankenstein walk over to the sidelines to have a rest, then laughed my head off at all the other finishers who were walking the same way! It was like March of the penguins! . For the rest of the day I was flying high with adrenaline.


Highlights:

Harvey Nelson-I was pleased to chat with the 75 yr old Icon as he ran/walked the marathon. He will probably be at the 5 peaks Golden Ears run next weekend too.

Paul Slaymaker- a local Port Moody runner from Runners Den who did it in 2:40.

Aaron Heidt- who I only know from his impressive trail running did it in 2:34 ! an HOUR faster than me! holy macaroni!

Regrets: Jim asked me if we should 'hold hands across the finish line'. I answered "pfft, NO!" ...Now, its not that I'm a cold hearted B$#&h, but it just seemed too difficult to keep running AND get close to each other AND hold hands, WHILE still running, after 42 kms.

JIM RECOVERING

TWO HAPPY FINISHERS

Would I do it again? probably, but I missed the technicality with all the speed variations and ups and downs that trail running offers. So thats my next goal: to finish a 50 K trail race...maybe??but now I know at least there is hope.

Heather









3 comments:

Lily on the Road said...

WOW, you should be so very proud of your race, both of YOU! Love the "I'm having a moment" remark, I can totally understand that one!! ; )

CONGRAT'S!

HEATHERRUNS said...

Yeah, his remark really stood out in my memories. I wonder what was going on in his head... maybe I don't want to know. tee hee.

Gary Robbins said...

CONGRATS!!