Tag: First Half Half Marathon

2020 week six

Stuff Read
She was a running prodigy – Michael Doyle – The Globe & Mail

Kilometres Ran
week six – 41.1

2020 to date: 343 KM

I planned on writing about something else I read this week and then yesterday I woke up and made a cup of coffee and checked in on social media before my race eve shake out run and this was everywhere and I read it and if you haven’t read it yet then you should click the link above and go read it because it is way more important than any nonsense that you’re going to read here today. And if by the time you’re here the G&M has taken it down or moved it behind its paywall then just let me know and I will post the PDF that I saved in anticipation of that happening one day. I am horrified at the complete institutional failure on the part of the University of Guelph and Athletics Canada. Reading it made me sad, but it’s an important read and Megan Brown’s courage is commendable. I hope if nothing else that it spurs positive change. The response to the article posted by Athletics Canada does not inspire much confidence.

A few of the 85 Mile2Marathon crew in today’s First Half. Me and my chicken legs are in the middle-ish there. Photo by Taylor Maxwell.

It was race week and as is my luck the throat tickle that I was fighting became full-on plague that had me wiped out all week. I ran Wednesday’s workout solo so as to not spread it to the crew and my solo effort was awful. I was pretty disappointed. This was my fourth crack at the First Half half marathon, and this race has proven to be my nemesis in spite of it being on the Seawall and a counter-clockwise loop of Stanley Park – my most frequented running route. My first crack was just bad luck – the annual Vancouver snowstorm (that every year everyone seems to forget happens every single year) happened to fall on race weekend and, for the first time in its history, the race was cancelled. In 2018 I went into the race with a niggle in my knee and finished barely able to walk (but too prideful to walk off rather than finish, to my detriment). Last year I wrecked my achilles a bit beforehand, and ended up using the race as a load test to see if I would be able to start a marathon build. It was fun, I suppose. I jogged the first seven and when things seemed like they were going okay I picked it up to goal marathon pace for the next 14, according to stats passing 147 others after 10 km, but still finished a rather disappointing (for me, at the time) 1:37:43. This year was going to be my year but my luck and a pesky virus had other plans. I resigned myself to go out at A Goal marathon pace around 4:25/km and if things held together well enough, shoot for a negative split and at least set a new course personal best. But that’s not how it went at all. As the countdown to gun start I threw out my run plan and decided to race.

Trying to keep up with Aaron Carveth and John Hamilton. Photo by Taylor Maxwell.

I’d lined up with a few Mile2Marathon crew mates in the start corral – a couple on my level and a couple a few steps quicker – and decided to hang with them until I blew up or coughed out a lung. It was a stupid plan but that’s what I did. And it went great. We swapped leading a few times and for the most part held the pack together until crossing the 10 KM marker in 41:09 – on pace for a 1:26 finish – then I started to really feel the pace. I managed to hang on until 15 KM (Strava says 1:01:20 for my fastest 15 KM but I reply “bullshit.”) After that the fade was on. But I was having a pretty good day and I knew sub 90 was a realistic finish.

Just past 19 KM and on the home stretch. Photo by Stephanie Coleridge.

I took my last Maurten at 18 KM and hoped to kick at 19 KM to home but it didn’t kick. The hill from the Seawall to Beach winded me and I had little left for the next hill from Beach to Pacific under the Granville Bridge, but cresting the top I knew it was all downhill to the finish line. I rounded the last corner and checked for the clock but it was obscured behind the finish arch. I didn’t see my time until I’d crossed – 1:29:36 – for my second fastest half marathon on a day I figured I was going to call-it-in after just barely deciding not to stay in bed. I had a bit of a coughing fit in the finish chute for good measure. Later at home I checked my stats. I’d taken over eight minutes off this course but over the second half of the race I was passed by 65 other runners. What a difference a year makes. I’m convinced that if I wasn’t sick I wouldn’t have suffered the fade, so there’s going to be some lingering thoughts of missed opportunity, but right now I’m just thrilled with the race. It was a great day and I’m so glad I decided to give it hard from the start. Next up, a week of altitude training at 7,300 feet. Excited!

2020 week four

Book Read
2. Agnes, Murderess – Sarah Leavitt

Kilometres Ran
week four – 71.6

2020 to date: 234 KM

Agnes, Murderess is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Sarah Leavitt that found its way into my stocking Christmas morning (it doesn’t actually fit in a stocking). It tells the embellished back story and retells the probably embellished story of Agnes McVee, who makes her way from an isolated upbringing in rural Scotland, to London, then to the interior of British Columbia where she became a notorious madam, robber and murderess. I grew up in the interior of B.C. and I’ve never heard of her. The author-illustrator’s only source material is a book that features Agnes, self-published in the 1990s. So it is probably not true, just like just about every single other novel ever written. The story is good, and the raw, scratchy illustration style has a gothic quality that really suits it. I liked this book quite a bit, not always rooting for Agnes, but the story is quite good. It could be true. It’s probably true. There’s probably some truth to it.

Caught watch watching at the Icebreak 8K finish from last weekend. Photo by Dave Mallari

This week in running was not especially eventful. After four weeks of 60 KM I added day number five and eased up to 70 KM where I’d like to linger for a couple weeks, maybe two or three. I’m back to running on Tuesday and Thursday evenings after the days in the office, and getting back into it was shockingly easy, especially with the weather in Vancouver being so especially Vancouver-like – dark and gloomy and pouring rain. On Thursday evening I hurt my hand near the beginning of my run when I punched a taxi. Sure we were sharing the crosswalk, technically, I guess, but that stop sign he ignored was all his and his alone. And before you ask, yes, I was wearing all black like I always do, and yes it was dark. But in my defence I was wearing these (embarrassing) bright, flashing LED lights on my wrists (so embarrassing, I would not be caught dead with them in the light of day…) and we made eye contact as I entered the crosswalk and he, I assume, thought, “I can beat him.” But I’m pretty quick for middle age and I figure that if I can touch your car in a crosswalk, it’s fair game. My hand is fine now, thanks for asking, and in case you’re worried I’m sure the cab is too. Two weeks until First Half!