The marathon in Vancouver went really well. I had done a few hill workouts an some long tempo stuff out at Elk lake and was feeling pretty good about running sub 2:30. In your average Van Marathon this would get you in the running for a top three finish and potentially top spot for a local. To my dismay there were 4 Africans brought in along with Jason Loutitt, Graeme Wilson and David Jackson. I definitely had more of a race on my hands than I was expecting. Turns out Jason didn't show and David was actually running the half. So anyway the gun goes off and the four African guys take off and it's a handful of us also-rans running together. As we settled into a solid pace Greame and I traded off leads looking to run around 2:26 pace. I wasn't sure if I had that in me but figured I'd help Greame out as much as I could. For the first 10k or so there was an unknown wrestler guy in front of us but we weren't too worried about him and Anthony Palermo was tailing us as well. Things were reasonably uneventful until 15k in we're we saw the first Kenyan guy drop, so we were in 4th. Coming into 30k we were notified the third place Kenyan guy was looking rough too so I decided to push the pace when we hit the Seawall with Greame following suit. Shortly after I saw the 3rd place Kenyan dude standing by the second beach pool. So all of a sudden I was in third and potentially going to make a good payday. Time to get serious. With Greame a few steps behind I sped up a bit more and he covered the move so I decided to get up on my forefeet and really get moving. I had decided to wear my training shoes because of some calf sorenes, so getting up on my forefeet made a big difference. Greame couldn't cover this move and over 4-5k I was able to open up a considerable gap and maintain through the finish. 3rd place overall, first Canadian citizen and first BC resident netted me two much needed Gs. As we suspected after the race the course was long, so my 2:29:22 was for 42.195k + 382m. Somewhere around 2:28 I guess.
The following weekend I jumped into the Oak Bay Half and limped to a 72:11 for third. Then two weeks later headed to Calgary for another marathon. Calgary was uneventful as I had some gut issues and was unable to eat or drink. The lack of nutrition and legs that were only feeling okay going in resulted in an absolutely brutal last 12-15k and finished up 5th in 2:33.
In retrospect more care was needed to recover for Calgary but some other life stresses were unavoidable like moving. Anyhow it was a fun month that earned a month easy.
And that's how it's been, nice and easy but time to get back at it. I'm living in my traditional territory, secwépemcul'ecw (the land of the Shuswap) and loving every minute of it, particularly the running. There are dirt roads everywhere and hills in every direction not to mention little underbrush so you could run in a straight line in any direction so long as there isn't a rock bluff. I'll write more about this in time. It's planning time though. I've started mapping out some good loops and sketching a training plan to accommodate the races I'd like to do. Which are:
Kamloops Marathon - July 29
Edmonton Marathon - August 17
Steve King Classic 100k - September 15
Victoria Marathon - October 7
TNFEC 50mi - December 2(redemption!)
Pretty full slate. Victoria will depend on the recover from the 100k. Speaking of 100s, I've scheduled a few 100mi weeks. Never thought I'd say that again. Anyway that's all for now. Here's a photo of my backyard:
