Tag: First Half Half Marathon

2019 week six

Book Read
6. Circe – Madeline Miller

Kilometres Ran
week six – 54.1

2019 to Date: 252 KM

So I decided to read the fantasy/mythology book that was on just about every single best of 2018 list that I came across just to see what all of the fuss was about and for the first few chapters I was not convinced and then Circe finds out that she is a witch and I was hooked. I admit that I don’t know Greek mythology very well. Sure I have the two-volume Greek Mythology set from the Folio Society that I think probably every English Lit major got suckered into ordering *For Free* because while we’re book-smart we sure didn’t learn our lesson from Columbia House. But I didn’t ever get around to actually reading it, and maybe my cursory knowledge of mythology is also why I enjoyed the book as much as I did. It’s just not my bag, so I probably won’t be picking up Miller’s earlier, and equally lauded, Song of Achilles.

Pre-race shake out in the chute through the construction zone under Granville Bridge. On race day this section descends to the 3 KM marker. Coming back it’s the last incline, followed by a 600 metre sprint to the finish.

And speaking of achilles, on Wednesday I did a 10 km load test to see how it would hold up at something farther than the five or six I’ve been running the past few weeks. It was okay enough that my physiotherapist gave me the green light to run the First Half Half Marathon this morning on the promise that if it turned badly I would walk off. My race day plan was to test my achilles tolerance and test my current fitness level so I divided the race into thirds – 7 KM easy, 7 KM at goal marathon pace, and 7 KM at whatever was left in the tank.

This morning was cold, hovering around -6 plus a breeze that put the wind chill at -13. I lined up with the 1:45 pace group and we set out. Garmin got lost going under B.C. Place so at 3 KM in I was guessing pace, trying to stay at 5:00/KM. Achilles started acting up and I was concerned I’d have to quit, but it plateaued and then diminished a bit through 7 KM and I pushed the pace up to 4:30/KM. At 14 KM I caught the 1:40 pace pack and I felt great so I stayed at goal marathon pace through to the finish, crossing the line at 1:37:43. While that’s over five minutes off my personal best, it’s also over five minutes faster than my First Half 2018. I’m still elated with how today went, from expecting to gas out, and mentally preparing to have my first DNF, instead I ran my fourth fastest half marathon race and have a huge confidence boost in my current fitness with 12 weeks until the BMO Marathon. My achilles is still a bit of a concern. While it was just okay through the race and the walk home afterward, it’s less happy with me right now. So we’ll see how it feels in the morning. For now I’m too runner’s high to worry.

Disaster Averted.

2019 week five

Book Read
5. Motherhood – Sheila Heti

Kilometres Ran
week five – 40.0

2019 To Date: 198 KM

I suppose it shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise that I did not really enjoy reading a couple hundred pages about someone trying to decide whether on not to have a child but while I am no fan of children (in spite of the fact that people seem really excited to point out that I once was one as if that is the best argument that they can come up with) I am a fan of Sheila Heti, going back to her telephone conversation with Thea Bowering that appeared in The Capilano Review Issue 3:22 along with a really great short story called The Girl Who Planted Flowers. There were times reading Motherhood that I enjoyed and other times that I did not and quite a few times when I wondered if I’d misplaced the bookmark because damned if I hadn’t already read this once before. I’m glad that I read it and I’m not surprised that it was shortlisted for the 2018 Giller Prize but I’m forced to wonder if I give this book a pass because I’m a Heti fan. It is probably true that I would not have picked it up if it was written by another author.

Lunchtime at the office.

When I met with my physiotherapist last she said that if stuff was going okay that I am allowed to start increasing distance so I’ve made the dramatic increase from 5 KM last Sunday up to 6.6 KM today. My achilles feels okay but not great but not painful just the comes-and-goes sensation of imagine your achilles feels like dragging a string of wool across sandpaper. Not painful, but rather uncomfortable or annoying. I’ve taken the instruction to run less far, more frequently, and now have a 5-ish kilometres per day streak of 16 days and I next visit my physiotherapist on Friday when I will find out if I’m allowed to run the First Half on Sunday, February 10. I am not confident permission will be granted. But I am really curious to see what will happen if I am allowed to race given that my farthest run of the past three weeks is 8 KM some 18 days ago and it’s been over three weeks since I last ran more than 11 KM. My biggest issue weighing heavily on my mind is that in it now 13 weeks until the BMO Marathon and running less than a marathon per week is definitely not going to get me across the finish line anywhere near my goal time. And as much as I like the Half course I really do not want to have to downgrade to the 21.1 again this year.