So I have just made it home from the west coast, still haven’t managed to finish a full race report for the Vancouver Half and here I am planning my next running adventure.  Thanks to Karla over at RunKarlaRun, I have won a free entry to a midnight run in Philidelphia on July 20th!

The big event in the in24 Philadelphia race is actually a 24 hour urban ultramarathon.  There is also the Midnight Madness Run, the Finale 5k and a Relay Challenge, all of which take place during the ultra so there are runners out there keeping the distance runners company.  The midnight run looks like a blast; runners are asked to wear headlights, glow sticks and glow paint to help light up the night.  The course is an 8.4 mile (13.5k) loop in Fairmount Park, traveling around the Schuylkill River.  I have never been to Philly and I have never done a night run, so this should be a great experience, one I am very much looking forward to.  Now I just have to figure out how to get there, where to stay…etc!

photo from Wiki

While I have started a detailed race report, I’m finding it challenging to complete it when I am doing things like crossing suspension bridges and riding chairlifts to snowy mountain peaks.  So for now, a few memories I want to record about the Vancouver Half Marathon:

• The realization very early in the race that despite the sun and clear skies it never felt overly hot. Even better, there was just no humidity, making my lungs feel like they were getting extra oxygen with each breath.
• Finishing a downhill section, assuming it was the main downhill I saw on the elevation map, only to find out that the big downhill was still to come.
• Finishing that downhill portion to see I had run a 4:49 minute km.
• Looking out at the ocean and mountains; I think I may have said “Wow” out loud.
• Thinking I was approaching the 8k marker to find out I was actually at 10k. How did that happen???  How do I make it happen more often???
• Realizing at 10 k that I felt like I had done nothing more than a warm up run. At that point I was able to say to myself that this was simply an 11k race.
• Running up the Burrard Street Bridge and realizing it wasn’t as steep as I thought it would be.
• Realizing at the top of the bridge that I only had to coast and enjoy the last couple of kms since, short of dropping to the ground, I was going to finish my first sub 2 hour half marathon with room to spare!!!

After that marathon 4 weeks ago I needed a happy run.  So my goal for today’s Vancouver Half Marathon was to simply go out and have a good time.  That goal was completed but with an added bonus.  I can now say I have run a sub 2 hour half marathon!  That’s right, I had fun AND beat my previous best time by almost 6 minutes!!!  In short, it was one of those days where everything came together; I felt fantastic, the weather was perfect with absolutely no humidity, and the course was fast with some amazing downhills.  Lots of details about the race still to come but for now here are the stats:

Chip time: 1:57:28

Overall: 1305/3979

Women: 517/1882

Age category: 45/174

Couldn’t be happier 🙂

A successful race day!

Tonight was another first for me in my running life as I started as a 5k clinic instructor at the Running Room.  I love seeing people start (or restart) their running life.  I can honestly say I get just as excited when listening to the accomplishments of new runners as I do about my own accomplishments.  When I run with people who are just starting out it brings back all my memories of learning to run 5k.  Running provides such a high at all levels, but there is something special about working your way up to that 5 km goal.  I work with a few people who in the last few months have taken up running.  It is so much fun to hear them when they talk – often with a tone of complete shock – of their newest distance or pace.  Let’s face it, most of us don’t do this to set any records.  We do it to prove to ourselves we can do something we thought impossible.  And when that happens it is magical.

On a purely selfish level, I know this will be a great experience for me.  Two nights a week I will get to run with a group of people rather than on my own.  I love solitary running, but I also really enjoy the opportunity to meet new people and run in a group.  Now that the hot weather is here, the evening runs are perfect for this cold weather runner.  I also get the chance to run in a lovely part of the city and once I’m done with the group I can head out for a longer run along the Ottawa River.  And to top it all off, I get an employee discount for the length of the clinic.  Does it get more perfect than that?

Tomorrow I will run with the group again and then my next run will be in Vancouver.  I managed to do a 17k a few days ago and while the first 10 km seemed to fly by, that last km seemed loooong.  So it is a little hard to predict what I will feel like for my “fun run” along the seawall.  I am definitely not at my peak, but I am certainly not at my worst either which hopefully means a nice comfortable run in the 2:05 to 2:15 range.  More importantly I hope it means I will be able to finish the race with a smile on my face and that lovely high of a good run!

My plan for the Vancouver Half that is just over a week away is pretty simple… HAVE FUN!  No time goal, no pressure, no running until I want to throw up.  There will be sightseeing, high-fiving, maybe even some picture taking.  When I feel like picking up the pace I will, and when I feel like walking, I’ll do that too.  I’m not going to worry about negative splits or conserving energy.  I will just run for the fun of running because yes, even though it isn’t always the case, running can be fun and sometimes I need to remind myself of that.  A few days after the marathon I realized it wasn’t my disappointing finish time that bothered me most, it was the fact that I missed the “high” of a race, that rush of excitement that makes you feel like a kid again.  To a certain extent I am still in recovery mode from that day, so I know there is no chance of a super fast half.  But that isn’t the point of this race.

The run should be beautiful and the course is a net downhill but with a “bump” in the road so to speak.

See that bump near the end?  Doesn’t look like much on an elevation map.  However, this is what it looks like in real life:

I think I will probably feel this one on the way up, particularly so late in the race.  But the view will be amazing and the bridge is commemorated on the race medal:

I’ve not been training for this race.   I have had a few fun runs though and have managed to do a 10k and 14k as my “long” runs.  I’m hoping to get one more of those in before race day.  June, along with December, has always been a low mileage month for me.  As a teacher there are just too many things to do at this time of year.  Any run I get in is a bonus.  And now that the marathon is complete, I am enjoying treating myself to some junk food and am just not prepared to give it up for this race.  So essentially, I am not doing anything “right” for this race… except getting excited enough to have a smile on my face whenever I think about it.  🙂

… or at least it is in the U.S.  I’m not sure if we have a National Running Day here in Canada, but I made a badge anyway.  And yes, I should actually be writing report cards…

…to run in a running bra without a shirt 🙂

ok. I might be sucking in a little

I have just never felt quite right about running without a tech shirt on for a few reasons:

1. I am 45 years old and I have had two kids.

2. I have not even been in a bikini since my age was a single digit.

3. Because of number 2, there is probably not a sunscreen strong enough to keep this white tummy from burning to a crisp.

4.  I often run in the same area in which I teach.  There are some things my students (and their parents) just don’t need to see.

But last week in a slightly secluded stretch the tech shirt came off.  After a couple of minutes of feeling self conscious, it started to feel liberating.  And within about 15 minutes I loved it.

The heat and humidity in Ottawa can be nothing short of stifling.  On today’s late afternoon 10k run (30 degrees with the humidex), the tech shirt came off again.  This time I didn’t care that I was running along a busy route.  I was working my butt off, who cared what I looked like???  Personally, I don’t think I would do it with a high sun on a cloudless day.  The sun beating directly on me just makes me hotter.  But with a late day sun, clouds and/or a great breeze, I am a convert.

After the run – with the shirt on I should add – I headed into the pharmacy to grab my much needed chocolate milk.  I always have an inner laugh when I head into this store.  You have to enter in the “beauty” section.  I walk in in my sweat soaked running gear, ball cap jammed down over my eyes and soaking wet hair sticking out at all angles.  I must look like too much of a project because no one ever approaches me to see if they can help me find a product.  Today though I was greeted by a large sign that said “You are invited to feel beautiful…can we pencil you in?”  I grinned and thought, “Too late, already feeling beautiful.”  A sweaty, heart pumping, 10k run (in a bra without a shirt no less) beats a bunch of beauty products any day 🙂

Oh – and on my shopping list…a fun, bright running bra!

Two days off, one day with yoga and today back to running.  Another very brief training cycle begins in preparation for the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon.  I wasn’t sure what running would feel like today after that awful day of running I had on Sunday.  But today’s run ended up being a comfortable 6k, 3 km of which were under a 5:52 pace. No pain, no stiffness, so it is time to do some work to make sure I am ready for Vancouver.

The fun part about this race will be that there is no pressure.  I have promised myself that any destination races I do will purely be for fun.  Of course if I get out there on race day and feel awesome, I will go for it.  But if I am going to run in a beautiful city I am going to make sure I can enjoy the sites on the run and feel good enough after the run to continue playing tourist.   And who wouldn’t want to enjoy the views when running a course that looks like this:

Ideally next week I will work my way back up to 12 or 14k.  The following week I will aim for an 18k run, then time for a mini taper and Vancouver…here I come!

I admit I am still struggling a little with the outcome of yesterday’s marathon.  But the encouraging messages from family, friends and blog readers have been so helpful!  There have been so many kind words, many of them ending with, “You finished a marathon!!!”

One of the reasons I wanted to beat my first marathon time was so that I would not have to do another.  I am serious.  I really can’t see me running a marathon each year, or as I have just done, running 2 marthons in 7 months.  I am really looking forward to running faster half marathons and 10k races.  I can also see me heading to the Around the Bay 30k race each year as my distance run.  These goals interest me more than the marathon.  Of course now though, despite the fact that during the marathon I was telling myself over and over again – sometimes out loud – that I will never do one again… well you can guess what I am thinking.  At some point I am going to have to try another one because finishing up on this one will bother me forever.  But for now the third marathon can wait.

As for Ottawa Race Weekend, if this isn’t an event you have tried you need to put it on your list of races to do.  This is an event that seems to take over the city and I honestly think it must be one of the best races in the world for spectator support.  I am always amazed by the number of kids who line the streets to cheer on the runners.  My boys spent quite a bit of yesterday having a blast high fiving marathoners.  They were thrilled with how many runners would cross from the other side of the road just to get the high five.  I feel more than a little guilty that I was not in the right state of mind to truly appreciate the spectators who took time out of their day to cheer us all on.  Next time, I promise.

I also think it would be tough to beat the scenery, this is simply a gorgeous city in which to run.  The only unfortunate part was the amount of road construction, but as I heard one person say, there are two seasons in Ottawa; winter and construction.

As an aside, one amusing part of the weekend was the marathon bus tour.  I decided to go so I would have a picture of the course in mind and maybe learn a few things about the city.  I assumed that a runner or race volunteer would be giving the tour.  Instead it was a City of Ottawa Tour Guide who really had no idea that we were all there to see our course.  She was unsure of whether or not we were even following the course until the bus driver called out that we were.  About 3/4 of the way through she asked how far we would be running.  At one point several people were noting that there was no shade to be found on much of the first part of the route.  I think she must have looked at someone’s race map, noticed the tent symbol for the water station and then told us that there would be tents for us to rest and relax in!  She definitely wasn’t getting the whole marathon race thing.  She also told us that the Quebec area was hilly so that would be a fun area in which to run.  Uh huh.

Check out the size of the marathon medal!

The bling for the marathon was awesome.  The medal is massive and the shirt will make a perfect Canada Day shirt.  I admit that yesterday I questioned if I would even feel right wearing the shirt given how I felt about my race.  But today I have decided that the shirt will represent all of my training rather than the race itself.  I devoted a lot of time to running these last few months.  A lot more than say housework or cleaning up the yard and gardens.  I think all of that training is worth a cool shirt.

And finally some pictures from ORW 2014:

The boys at race pick up.

The canal before the rush of runners.

The sign I made for Luke.

The sign I made for Evan.

Signs made by the boys for me.

More signs for me.

My 5k boys.

No point going into details on this one – it was awful.  All that training and when it came to the big day it just wasn’t going to happen.  I have no idea why but I battled nausea and lightheadedness from 8k on.  When I tried to refuel it just made things worse.  Normally this is how I react when over heated but the temperatures actually remained a little cooler than called for, or at least I didn’t feel overly hot most of the time.  I have no reason, no explanation.  I just know that by the time I hit the half way mark the race had just become about finishing.  I’m happy I finished, it would have been easy to quit.  I knew I did not want to send that message to my children who met me at several spots to cheer me on.  But I am sad of course too.  Not so much about adding more than 20 minutes to my first marathon time.  More so because I missed the rush, that amazing feeling of racing and crossing a well-earned finish line.  I was envious of the people around me who were just so pleased to finish the course.

Here’s the irony… when I trained for my first marathon I honestly felt that my running became worse.  I was slower and seemed more prone to injury.  This time around I feel I became a much stronger runner, yet the race itself was much worse.

As always, it is good to look at the bigger picture to try to feel better.  In my training I ran my fastest km, fastest mile, fastest 10k, fastest 10 miler and fastest 30k.  For the first time I hit 200 km or more of training in a month.  In fact I hit that 3 months in a row.  I put in 100 more km of training than I did last time.  I guess I will work on focusing on these achievements.

There were two highlights of the weekend.  Evan ran an amazing personal best, finishing the 5k in 25:22, putting him in the top 1000 of a race with more than 8500 participants.  Luke ran his very first 5k and finished in an incredible 32:02 I am sooooo proud of them both!!!