it was funny how when i was looting through my goody bag, my little plotting brain goes into overdrive. the goody bags always include pamphlets for races by the same sponsor (in this case, scotiabank and their toronto marathon) and other upcoming races. there was a brochure for calgary (july 10) and i’m registered and headed off to it in two weeks! and i’m doing all this training really for the toronto waterfront one (september 25) and then there are other ones i never considered but they caught my eye. like the royal victoria marathon (october 9, too soon after toronto) and – more plausibly – the seattle marathon (american thanksgiving weekend in november)… the wheels in my head go ’round and ’round….

i like how part of the 60.00 registration fee went towards the vancouver general hospital. i’m horrible at raising money (don’t know enough people in great financial straits) and it has seemed incongruous to me to be paying huge registration fees to “torture myself,” as some people would see it. so my 60.00 went towards that sexy new balance t-shirt and the vgh… and race organization.

as of writing this entry, my body is in the process of healing and i’m shaking my head wondering if i have it in me for a 6-miler tomorrow, and if i have it if it rains.

here is the mile-by-mile breakdown… or highlights from the run

• miles 1-3 : the realization that vancouver marathoners as a whole are more likely to don mp3 players/ipods and i’m not in the habit of marathoning with one; the start is always difficult, pushing yourself a little too hard in eagerness and the body’s not really ready and still feels like a slug
• 5^th kilometer : the little sister who saw me off at the start was waving and taking pictures and cheering, that was nice
• 10^th kilometer : this was completed in about 56 minutes, faster than my sun run time this year, yay! felt a twinge in my left knee and worries set in that i wouldn’t last, and for 50 meters, i must have appeared to be favouring one leg over the other but the pain went away.
• 11^th to 12^th kilometer : this was all downhill running; people were flying down the hill but i held back to save my knees
• 13^th kilometer : around 1:06, i hit a wall and slowed to a snail’s pace. i really wanted to give up, walk off the course, or just walk for ten minutes (no one would ever have to know)but people were continuing by at a steady pace so i just gathered up courage and energy at the slow pace. besides, if i walked, then i would have to tell my bloggies that i walked and i didn’t want to do that!
• 15^th kilometer : trying to calculate if it’s possible to come in at under the two-hour mark but it wasn’t. i just had to stay steady and be as efficient as possible in order to come in shortly after two hours
• 16^the kilometer : wondering why i put myself through this torture all over again and how i just cannot possibly do a full marathon no matter what
• 17^th kilometer : running over bridges is usually fun if it’s a gloriously majestic, suspension one like the mcdonald bridge in halifax or lion’s gate bridge from which you have an awesome view. plodding along a boring one like burrard bridge just bites.
• 20^th kilometer : i know the end is near, i know the end is only 6 minutes away, but i had to have my walking break – darnit – even if no one was walking at that point, even if a bystander egged me to continue running.
• 21^st kilometer : motor to the finish line once it became visible, wouldn’t have had it in me were it not for the above last walking break

at the time, just from my watch and the overhead clock, i could see my finishing time was about 2:05 and it felt good. that would make for my second best half-marathon time, second only to saint john last year.

not long after, i started to feel all the aches and pains as i did last year in new brunswick after a similar exertion (on older bones this year, mind you). like the blister on the side of my right foot that blistered and swelled as far as it could then another sensitive, puffy red one formed around it at its base. like the ankles that felt numb. like the sore, sore thigh muscles making going down stairs a pain. like any jarring motion sent pain shooting up my spine. like the sorest shoulders in all history this morning.

when i went to my relatives in the evening and complained about my backache, they suggested i use their inverter, a contraption that hung me upside down so my seemingly compressed vertebrate discs could be separated and spinal fluid could circulate between once again. ahhhhh, the few minutes i spent upside-down were very helpful. (a few minutes more and apparently i would have grown taller.)

i’ve decided that 20K is the perfect race length, for endurance racing. 10K is good for long-distance speed-racing. whoever thought of 40K must have been really bored but it’s a goal of mine…. i’ve also decided to see how i’m feeling in august before registering for the toronto marathon in september and making flight plans. i haven’t been in so long and have people to see, but a look at the course and it looks flat-out flat and aggravatingly, mind-numbingly boring. i’d have to stick with a pace bunny and hope he/she is a conversationalist.

now, if you’re still reading along, here are all of my stats, because i care.

all the stats —
1,815 place (of 3,020)
790 of 1,678 females
98 of 195 females aged 25-29
2:06:06 gun time (official time)
2:05:00 chip time
5:59-minute kilometer (9:35-minute mile)

On this day..

• DineOut Reviews: Back in the 'Toon (Saskatoon Part II) - 2012