Yikes, I haven't posted for awhile. Running has been less of a priority for the past couple of weeks, as I've been busy working on a school project, reconnecting with an old friend, and preparing for our AGM at work. I've been trying to do faster, higher-intensity runs to make the most of my time.
Yesterday I did two one-mile repeats. Since I don't live anywhere near a track, I found a crescent in a ritzy, relatively quiet neighbourhood that is exactly 500 m around. So I do three laps plus 100 m. I should really just set up my Garmin so it will auto-lap at a mile, but that would mean changing to imperial units and that's annoying.
Anyway, I hit my target of 5:10/km (see, then I'd have to convert that to min/mi, and I know it's 8-something, but...annoying), and actually was a little quicker on the first repeat. It still kicked my ass, though--so much so that I seriously contemplated changing it to 400 m repeats. But then I saw some presumably wealthy resident running farther out around the crescent, and I was determined to beat her. Ah, my competitive streak.
I'm hoping to do a 18 km LSD on Sunday. I've decreased my long-run distances over the last month, mostly because of a lack of time, but also because I'm running out of places to go to increase my distance. Vancouver is only so big, it seems.
I'm still trying to decide if I should join a Running Room clinic for the marathon. The goal race for the one I'm looking at is the Okanagan International Marathon, which is the same weekend as Victoria. I'm hoping at least a few other people in the group will be training for RVM, because it would kind of suck to train with them for five months and then race alone. Kind of REALLY suck. Training alone is really tempting, but I haven't been as disclipined, training for the Scotiabank Half alone, as I was training with the clinic for the Fall Classic Half last year. So, camaraderie versus the bliss of running alone: where do you stand?
Showing posts with label marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marathon. Show all posts
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
The loneliness of the mid-distance runner
I haven't really told anyone about this besides my sister, but I guess I can make my intentions known to people who don't see me on a daily basis. I'm going to do a full marathon this year, I've decided. This came about after last weekend, when I sort of accidentally ran the longest distance I'd ever run (24.5 km, exceeding my half-marathon distance). I was having a good time, so I thought I'd see how far I could go.
I did the same today to see if it was a one-off thing, but I got up to 26 km, including a momentary entry into the Harry's 8K Spring Run-Off for Prostate Cancer. I was happily going along at my leisurely Sunday running pace when a guy on a bike came up alongside me (which was odd in and of itself because there's a separate bike path in Stanley Park and the division is VERY STRICTLY adhered to).
"Hey Turkey Trotter," he called out (referring to the race shirt I was wearing), "the racers are coming."
So I kept to the right and then this pack of elite runners in tiny shorts came barreling past me. Then I came upon a group of spectators, who weren't quite sure whether they should be cheering for me because I was clearly not in the same league as the Kenyan runner in front of me. I thought I was doing a fairly good job of staying out of the way until suddenly the finish line was 100 metres ahead of me. I actually had to go out of my way to avoid crossing it--I thought it would be in poor taste to do so--and nearly took out some hapless spectators. According to the race clock, I had completed the 8K in 25 minutes. You know, if I had actually started with the rest of them. Awesome!
It's actually pretty common to inadvertently become a part of one race or another along the Seawall. It's happened to me before, but I've never literally had an entire race blow past me within a few minutes.
Anyway, I'm thinking of doing the Royal Victoria Marathon this October. There's also the Okanagan International Marathon that same weekend, and while it would be awesome to run through wine country, I was in Kelowna this summer and don't really want to be cramped in the car for several hours the day before a race, so capital-city Victoria it is.
I'm sort of trying not to make a big deal about the full marathon thing, though, in hopes of avoiding psyching myself out and remaining modest. I was at MEC yesterday buying some gels and the snowboarderish cashier was all, "So how long is a long run for you?" and when I replied, "Oh, about 25K," not thinking it would be particularly impressive to someone who works in a store full of extreme-sport enthusiasts, but he sort of just stared at me wide-eyed for a few seconds.
That is exactly the sort of reaction I want to avoid, and so I will probably not speak too much of it again to people until I've fully committed and it's difficult to hide that all I do in my free time is train. I'll probably do a clinic for the extra support. I passed two of my former clinic buddies on the Seawall today and it did make me miss the camaraderie a little, but I'm really rediscovering the joy of running alone right now.
I did the same today to see if it was a one-off thing, but I got up to 26 km, including a momentary entry into the Harry's 8K Spring Run-Off for Prostate Cancer. I was happily going along at my leisurely Sunday running pace when a guy on a bike came up alongside me (which was odd in and of itself because there's a separate bike path in Stanley Park and the division is VERY STRICTLY adhered to).
"Hey Turkey Trotter," he called out (referring to the race shirt I was wearing), "the racers are coming."
So I kept to the right and then this pack of elite runners in tiny shorts came barreling past me. Then I came upon a group of spectators, who weren't quite sure whether they should be cheering for me because I was clearly not in the same league as the Kenyan runner in front of me. I thought I was doing a fairly good job of staying out of the way until suddenly the finish line was 100 metres ahead of me. I actually had to go out of my way to avoid crossing it--I thought it would be in poor taste to do so--and nearly took out some hapless spectators. According to the race clock, I had completed the 8K in 25 minutes. You know, if I had actually started with the rest of them. Awesome!
It's actually pretty common to inadvertently become a part of one race or another along the Seawall. It's happened to me before, but I've never literally had an entire race blow past me within a few minutes.
Anyway, I'm thinking of doing the Royal Victoria Marathon this October. There's also the Okanagan International Marathon that same weekend, and while it would be awesome to run through wine country, I was in Kelowna this summer and don't really want to be cramped in the car for several hours the day before a race, so capital-city Victoria it is.
I'm sort of trying not to make a big deal about the full marathon thing, though, in hopes of avoiding psyching myself out and remaining modest. I was at MEC yesterday buying some gels and the snowboarderish cashier was all, "So how long is a long run for you?" and when I replied, "Oh, about 25K," not thinking it would be particularly impressive to someone who works in a store full of extreme-sport enthusiasts, but he sort of just stared at me wide-eyed for a few seconds.
That is exactly the sort of reaction I want to avoid, and so I will probably not speak too much of it again to people until I've fully committed and it's difficult to hide that all I do in my free time is train. I'll probably do a clinic for the extra support. I passed two of my former clinic buddies on the Seawall today and it did make me miss the camaraderie a little, but I'm really rediscovering the joy of running alone right now.
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