Victoria Marathon

The fact that I made the start line is a story in itself.....there was a fire on one of the ferries Friday evening, RIGHT BEFORE A LONG WEEKEND!

That ferry was taken out of service making it SUPER busy. You couldn't drive onto the ferry without a reservation...and on Saturday the ferries were booked up till 5pm (on paper), But since a ferry was out of service, everyone was bumped back 2 or 3 hours.

Luckily I was travelling as a foot passenger. I was able to show up 10 minutes before sailing and walk on with no wait.

The ferry drops you off at Swartz Bay which is 30 minute drive from downtown. I jumped on a shuttle bus which takes you straight to downtown. The bus depot is next door to the convention center where package pick-up was.

The organizers were understanding so I was able to get 7 race packages without showing ID, or e-mail confirmations :) But I had to lug it all around for a few hours.

They say to never try anything new the day before a race........I had baked acorn with cream and cheese baked on top....with rice.....Randomest (but seasonal!) meal but it had the carbs and Calcium that I was looking for.

I cheaped out and stayed at a hostel 4 blocks away from the start line instead of a hotel with some friends. When I got back to the hostel I realized that I left my shoe liners at home! the last time I raced was the calgary corporate challenge 10km (Just over 40 mins! darn!) where it rained! I had pulled them out to let them dry. BOO So i took my 3 year old shoes which happened to be saucony as well and trimmed them a little to fit the shoe.

Race day: I ran a +12 min split comparing the 2nd half to the 1st half. It's not the result I was looking for and showed that I started out too fast again.

What I did was run at 160 bpm. In Calgary usually that's a 5min/km pace..but since it was at sea level i was running 4:30min/km!! What was limiting my run was my CALVES which felt like they were gonna cramp at 20km! actually within the first km my left foot hurt already. The ball of the foot on the big toe was hurting me all week.

So at the half mark I slowed down a little...but after 2 km i felt great and picked it back up again. This was probably my mistake..I should have kept it easy from 21-30km because the last 10km was HELL! I knew i was slowing down, so I pmped my arms to force the legs to move.

I didn't stop for water in the last 8 km and stopped taking walk breaks....it was the only way to 'slow the bleeding' of time.

at 1/2 I was on pace for 3:20:00
at 30km I was on pace for 3:23
and it kinda sucked doing the math in my head as i realized that I might go over 3:30!

3:28:45 is great though! I'm happy I didn't cramp. but it's 82 seconds slower than my first marathon.

I ate an Ahi Tuna Burger right after. and lots of water

I stayed at my friends hotel that night. We spend an hour with our legs up against the wall :) haha.

3 of us had run, while 1 didn't because of calf injury, so we're all limping along. She took one of our medals to wear as we walked along the streets. At cross walks she did high knees and butt kicks making us look like wimps! hahaha it was hilarious!

We ate mexican food that night....walked around a bit but called it quits early.

I tried to catch the 3pm ferry on monday but it was full, and 4pm was canceled. I ended up getting home at 8:30. I called my parents and they were all having thanksgiving dinner.....we NEVER eat turkey at thanksgiving!

The rest of Vancouver was awesome though! I ate like a PIG. dim sum, sushi, indian, shanghai chinese food.

After the race was the Canadian Batista competition. Mike and Ben from Phil and Sebastein's were competing. It was nice to see an intense competition that's incredibly different than running. They have to schmooze the judges along with all the technical details that go into making coffee

With all my hobbies, I had to deceide my identity before packing (Weight Issues!) I chose to be a Runner and Food Critic over Photographer. So I have only a few photos from the Grouse Grind which Clem Ag Mark and I did in 60 mins.