Tag: Boston Qualifier

2020 week two

For the past couple years I’ve tried to read a book per week but as life has gotten more busy, mostly running life, my reading has suffered, which means missing out on my goal last year. After 54 books read in 2018 I only managed to get through 45 last year. I feel a bit like I’m just reiterating what I wrote here last week in my 2019 review. My goal this year is to read 52 books but to not get too hung up on the idea of having to complete the goal at the expense of quality. I dislike the idea of setting goals without the intention of completing them, or at least having a plan to complete them, but there it is. Technically it’s the second week of the year and I’m already behind. I have at least 52 books lying around here waiting to be read, and a veritable plethora that deserve a revisit, so at least something-to-read is never going to be an issue.

Other than the rather ubiquitous run 2,020 kilometres in 2020, I wanted to come into the new year with some personal, tangible goals on the running side of things, but for the first time in a long time I’m coming up kind of vague. The problem is that I set really specific goals at various distances and, while some took a lot longer to achieve, last year I surpassed all of them except for that one big one. Go faster seems like a rather lame goal, but my problem is that I have absolutely no idea what a reasonable goal is when it comes to running anymore. I wonder if I will have a better idea after a couple races. If I’m crushing new PBs, then maybe I’ll have a better sense. I’m going to find out, soon. Last year I set a goal to race every month and smashed that, running 23 events throughout the year. My goal for this year is the same as last year – [at least] one race per month. I’d like that to become just a thing I do and not a necessarily a goal. I mentioned I’m going to find out soon, as I have my winter and spring pretty much mapped out already.

January 19 (next week!) – Icebreaker 8K
I’ve never raced 8 KM so I’m really curious to see how this one goes. Weather, especially the wind, apparently can be a huge factor at this event so I’m not getting too hung up on it. But in ideal racing conditions I’d like to finish in 31:30.

February – RunVan First Half Half Marathon
I have had terrible luck with this event. The first time I signed up it was cancelled when the City of Vancouver closed down the Seawall after a blizzard. The following year I went into it a bit hurt and finished barely walking. Last year I went into it recovering from an injury and ran party pace for the first 8 KM just to see if I could. This year I want to use it to set the tone for the year. So I’m aiming to finish 1:27:59 and a new, five second PB.

March – WestVanRun 5K + 10K
I’m not sure how it’s going to go racing at 101% effort back-to-back but I’m up for finding out. Saying that I’d like to PB both deserves a “duh” response, but won’t know my target until closer to the end of February. I will throw this out there though, it would be amazing to run the 10K in a time that would get me a blue bib at the Sun Run.

I love a good deal, which often means signing up for races to beat the rolling price increases, which means I’ve already put my name down for quite a few. Here’s what’s on tap for the rest of the year, so far.
April – Sunshine Coast April Fool’s Half Marathon
May – RunVan BMO Half Marathon
June – Scotiabank Half Marathon
September – Eastside 10K
September – BMW Berlin Marathon

I haven’t figured out anything past my the big one: the Berlin Marathon in September. I’m excited to race it and also for a chance at redemption after the disappointing performance at the California International Marathon this past December. I still want a BQ, and I think (hope?) Berlin will help me punch my ticket to Boston #125 in 2021.

This week was supposed to be all about setting goals for the year, and it was harder than I expected because last year went so great. But another thing happened this week, and that is I threw my name in the hat to be a Nuun Ambassador for 2020 and whatdayano my name got pulled. So that’s cool, not just because it’s a product that I really like a lot. Will I be a Nuun billboard in the start corral? Seems unlikely. In fact I’m still trying to figure out what exactly I signed up for, but I know a bunch of cool runners on the ambassador roster along with me this year, so I’m expecting some fun times in 2020.

2019 week forty nine + fifty

Book Read
45. Whatever – Michel Houellebecq

Kilometres Ran
week forty nine – 71.6
week fifty – 40.6

2019 to date: 2,628 KM

I first came across Houellebecq back when his book Submission came around in 2015 and I liked it so I picked up his other stuff and thought that I’d go back to the beginning. Fast forward a few years and I’m reminded of him and my intention when I came across a review of his new novel Serotonin so I picked up his first novel (translated as) Whatever and while I found shades of what I liked about Submission for the most part the (arguably terribly) translated title, in the end, seems rather apt. Whatever, or Extension du domaine de la lutte is the first-person story of a 30-something IT professional. It seems to capture the banality and nihilism of post-millennium existence well enough. I mean, it wasn’t so bad that I’ll stop reading his books, but I don’t expect it to accelerate either. Then again, it’s a new decade in a couple weeks. And I’m terrible at predicting the future.

Mile2Marathon pre-CIM shake out run. Photo by Angus Doerksen (his last name is probably not Doerksen)

A week ago I was in Sacramento to run the California International Marathon, which if you’ve been following along doesn’t come as a surprise at all. If you’re new here, Hi! Heck of a place to start. After the 2019 year of racing in which I crushed every one of my running goals, a couple of which I’d had since I started running a few years ago, CIM was going to be the cherry on the sundae. It was not. Normally I’d be writing this a week ago, but I didn’t and I’m glad that I didn’t because it would have been a hell of a lot more bitter. I’ve spent a week trying to figure out what went wrong and I’m no further along that I was at noon last Sunday.

Obligatory pre-race motel photo.

It started pretty normal. I woke up on time, made coffee, went through my pre-race morning routines and got out the door to head to the start without so much as a hiccup. The difference being that it was a few hours earlier than I was used to, but I felt rested and fine. From my motel it was a ten minute walk to catch a 5 a.m. bus that would drive everyone from downtown Sacramento out to Folsom (yes, that Folsom) California. Then we’d all run back. As I walked to find the end of the shuttle bus queue I found fellow Mile2Marathoners Anna, Claire and Sara and joined them in the line. The bus ride was in the dark and uneventful. We’d been told that we could stay on the bus once we arrived but few people did. I was entirely too antsy. I got out, walked around a bit, stood in line for the toilet, found some free coffee, checked my bag, stood in line for the toilet again just in case, then elbowed my way into the start corral near the signs for the 3:09 runners with a couple of minutes to spare before the 7 a.m. start.

At 6:54 A.M. on my way to the start corral.

I felt ready for anything. I mean, I didn’t feel great, but I figured I felt pretty normal for my fourth time standing the start corral of a marathon. Coach and I had talked about targets, and looking at my recent race times and paces we figured 4:20 pace was ambitious and achievable if I had a really great day. My B goal time was 4:30 pace, so we decided to split the difference and go 4:25. So that’s what I did, and it started great and at 5 km I felt great, and 10 km, and 15 km, and 20 km. I was holding back a bit, but was right on target. When I crossed halfway I still feeling fine but I started to feel like I might need to find a toilet. I fought it for a bit and started to feel not so great, but every time I looked at my watch it read 4:25 pace. I decided not to chance it and went for the next portable I passed, which was into kilometre 25. I got in and out and right back onto pace and thought I was going to be fine. And 26 km was fine, and so was 27 km. But then my body decided that it didn’t want to run anymore. I don’t know how else to describe it. I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t even out of breath. I had fuelled on plan. All of a sudden everything was a struggle. I got to 30 km at 2:15 having already slipped to 4:30 average pace. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold it, but I thought I could at least cover the last 12.2 km in an hour, hit my C goal and qualify for Boston with a five minute buffer. I was wrong.

Then I thought I could at least hang on for a new personal best, but I watched that slip away too. Kilometre 37 was my worst split. I was just over three hours into the race when I crossed 38 km and it sunk in that the way it was going, finishing under 3:20 wasn’t going to happen. At that point I think that if it wasn’t a point-to-point course I would have quit. I zombied into Sacramento. I remember being passed a lot, and somehow passing others. Somewhere past 40 km a pub patio stretched onto the course, and some really aggressive dudes were screaming at me to stop and have a beer. I was tempted. I rounded back onto Capital Mall for the short home stretch and crossed the finish line 3:24:33.

Finish line in sight

Afterwards the Mile2Marathon crew in town for the race met at a brew pub to celebrate our triumph or, in my case, sulk. I was sad and embarrassed and really felt like I’d let people down, but it was hard to sulk when so many other who have become friends over the past year had their own great day. I did take some time to have a private pity party for one that evening, then packed up and flew home on Monday. On Tuesday, the whole Mile2Marathon crew came together and celebrated the year and I was forced to reflect on the fact that in spite of this one event I’d had a really great year in which I had improved running exponentially.

This week has been a bit of a struggle too. I’ve run three times with just the intention of going out and enjoying the run. And I have, maybe too much. Quite a few comments on how soon I’ve gotten back onto the Seawall, and at what paces and distances. It’s a bit frustrating because, yes, seven days ago I ran a marathon and I should be wrecked. But the fact is on that day my body, which I’d trained to race a marathon said nah, and right now it’s not nearly as wrecked as it probably should be. On Wednesday at the end of a 12 km tempo I was pretty mad.

On the Seawall with Gary Franco, and Karen & Mike McCullough. Photo by some random dude.

Then yesterday out on the Seawall I ran into Gary and Karen and Mike and, as if I’d forgotten since Sunday afternoon and Tuesday evening, was reminded that I’m part of a community that’s pretty inclusive and supportive, and that’s pretty great. Today I sat down for coffee with Coach Kevin to talk about 2020, because we’ve got big plans.