Demons Exorcised

Well its been a little over 24 hours since the Valley Harvest marathon and I can now officially say that the demons of last years' run have been exorcised!  Apparently my family and friends have more faith in my ability than I do.  Something else I'm working on.

My morning started early, 5am, for fuelling.  I started with leftover pasta from the previous night, then had a bagel, and then some oatmeal.  I washed all this down with a bottle of gatorade.  I finished eating by 6:15am.   We left the house at 6:30 and arrived at the parking lot in Wolfville by 7:30.  By then the sun was already rising....wait a second....SUN???  the forecast called for the clearing to occur later in the morning, closer to noon and now it was already going to be sunny?  so that caused some stress right off the bat.

So we head for the starting line at around 8am for the 8:30 start.  This year I lined up closer to the start line.  I figured if everything I did last year was wrong, then the opposite would be right. right?

So the gun goes off and I get a movin'.  During the first kilometer I look at my HRM several times and realize that i'm going too fast.  Of course i think my GPS is just playing with me because I don't feel like I'm running at a 5:09 pace.  Adrenaline.  So I get freaked out a little, thinking that my GPS is going to mislead me to a poor result.  So when it chimes that my first kilometer is done, I quickly do a time check and realize that my GPS isn't playing games with me and I really do need to "cool the jets" a little.  Oh the games the mind can play with you at times. 

Some people have asked what i think about during a run that far so here goes.  I spend a lot of time watching my GPS, making sure i stay on pace.  As each kilometer goes by (they have signs), I'm doing the math as to how much further I have to go, at least until the halfway point and then i start counting down the kilometers remaining.  At 4k, i think "ok i'm almost 1/10th finished".  at 5k i'm almost 1/8th done.  10k is a nice one,  almost a quarter of the way done.  and so on.  once i get to 21k, i think "yes, halfway".  i'm also planning out where i run on the road, trying to keep on the smoothest section without swerving all over the place and wasting energy.  a lot of my thought on this one was spent on whether or not the IT band was going to start giving me trouble.  I also spent a bit of time listening to water splash around in my stomach. lol  yes, i don't carry an mp3 player with me.  I also try concentrating on catching the runner in front of me.  that's constantly going on.  but you have to be careful not to go beyond your means to pass them and leave yourself with nothing left later on.  sometimes you just want to stay with them if they're moving at your pace.  I followed one guy for about 15k before he had to stop and pee.  ah ha!!  gotcha. 

  I had to pee shortly after I started, and I kept thinking "ok, when i get to the next cornfield, i'm going to stop and take a whiz" but each time i got to one, the urge wasn't quite enough to overcome the will to keep going.   as i went further and further, the urge went away.  lol  since i didn't carry water, i stopped at every aid station for either water or gatorade, it depended on my mood at the time which one i chose but i went with water more than gatorade.  i popped my first ibuprofen at 19k and popped another one at around 30k.  i had 3 or 4 GU energy gels during the race mostly during the second half. 

Last year, i started having bad right knee pain at around 20k so that was always on my mind.  when i passed that point this year, there was the tiniest sigh of relief inside me.  After that point, I remember recognizing spots along the route where i walked last year.  Not this year, the knee is holding up.  The weather is cooperating to.  the temp never goes above 16C and the wind not too bad.  At 30k, it dawned on me that the knee is going to hold up.  That was emotional for me.  I'm going to finish this AND i'm going to kill it.  only 12k to go!  11k!  10k!  9k!  at that point i'm counting down the minutes that are left.  I get back on the main street in Wolfville and cars are honking at me!!  2k to go, only 11 minutes of running to go!!  The marshalls point me to the track to run my last 200 meters on the track.  oh how nice the soft track feels on my battered feet! 

DONE! 


I stop my HRM and Stacey runs into my arms.  Ahhh!  I jokingly apologized to her, i said "i got here as quick as i could, sorry!"  I get my medal and grab a bottle of water.  I quickly take the time to update my facebook status with my time:

3:51:46!!!! 

I was hoping for 3:55.

I killed it.

I stood there for a few more minutes, just absorbing it.  Savoring it.  then i got hungry and needed to fill my face.  So i did. lol  lots of chocolate milk, yogurt, cookies, OJ, bananas, anything i could get my hands on.

This year I tried something different as well.  I had my smartphone on my arm, set to vibrate.  Before i left for the valley in the am, i made a request on facebook for people to send me messages during my run.  That phone started buzzing around 9:30 am and kept going quite often for the rest of the way.  It helped a lot, I'd usually smile when it would buzz, it felt good to know you're being thought of when you're suffering.  Those of you who buzzed me know who you are and thank you.  You helped me keep going.

This will be the last time for me on the Valley Harvest course and likely any marathon in NS.  I've made my point and its time to move on to flatter/faster courses.  I'm thinking Ottawa in spring might be nice.

onward and upward

Workout Finished!!!

   At 7:08pm this evening, my Garmin forerunner played its little song and displayed the message "workout finished".  Little did it know how much weight those two words and cheesy little song carry at that moment.  It signifies the end of all my training since May 22nd (the day after the Bluenose Marathon) but it means much more.  It signifies 915k of running.  It signifies 630k of cycling.  It signifies over 77000 calories burnt.   It signifies running in rain so heavy that I had to share a track with ducks.  It signifies running in weather so hot and humid that I was visualizing dark spots in my vision.  It signifies the first time I had to quit a training run due to heat.  It signifies ice packs on sore knees, feet and hips.  It signifies bloody, raw, chafed nipples.  It signifies the days that I didn't want to go out and run, but I did anyway. It signifies a blue toenail that has never really healed all summer.  It signifies my moodiness during times when I was simply exhausted (my apologies to Stacey, family and friends).  It signifies carrying bottles of gatorade and water around with me.  It signifies my first sub 4 minute kilometer training run.  Most of all, it signifies the end. 

   This Sunday, I get my second chance at the Valley Harvest marathon.  As most of you already know, my first shot at the Valley Harvest last year was a lesson in failure and humiliation.  I felt good going into that race last year only to be spanked into tears by an IT band injury and an unexpected temperature of 26C.  I finished with a 5:22 time.  ouch.  I learned the hard way that you can't throw together 5 or 6 long runs in September with a few tempo runs thrown in and not pay the price for a lack of preparation.   I hired my coach the week after last years fiasco.

  Will this year be any different?  Well I know the weather will be cooler.  I didn't sign up until Monday, once I saw the long range forecast was looking good. Am I prepared for this one?   Definately.  Will my IT band hold up this year?  I hope so, I still have a suspicion that the crown in the road may have contributed to my injury last year.  That will be confirmed within the first 2 hours this year.

  I my coach and I have discussed a goal time for Sunday.  I know what I'll be happy with.  I want the first number to be a "3", not a "5".  But for now, I'm going to enjoy the next two days immensely and not concern myself with Sunday at all.  I'll be to busy humming a cheesy little Garmin Forerunner "workout finished" song in my head.

Onward and Upward