I know what I did this weekend!

Well to sum before I even start, this weekend lived up to and surpassed expectation.

I had been wondering whether or not to take part in a trail race this weekend as I have never done one and do enjoy the trails and wonder what the differences would be from running on the road and on the trails. This weekend saw the first of the Five Peaks series and I had thought about giving it a go. As it turns out I didn't, It cost to much and it was to far away so the story of my first trail race will have to wait for another day :)

Instead, Ross, PRR's esteemed president suggested doing an orientation run (means trial run, I think) for the ominously named, although I'm assured it's for a different reason, Iron Knee and Tender Knee races. So at 8am on Saturday morning Ross, Barry and myself were to be found on the North Shore lined up in the drizzling rain waiting to go for a bit of a jolly in the mountains.

The group that organise these events are called Mountain Madness, name says it all, and are very well organised at that. On arriving we were handed maps with a full list of directions on that the course would be taking. Unfortunately these directions mainly consisted of trail names such as Power line, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Old Buck and Mystery Creek to name a few. As this meant pretty much nothing to any of us we resolved to follow the trail run leaders instead, who make sure no one actually gets lost. There was a many groups to cater for most abilities so if anyone is tempted, you could do a lot worse than to try it out with theses guys and girls, and for once in running the girls seemed to outnumber the boys.

This would be Barry's first real trail run and while the temperature was cool and the rain coming down it did nothing to dampen his spirit of taking on the challenge. We all headed off and the order for the rest of the run was pretty much sorted straight off, Trail leader Darren in front, Barry close behind and Ross and I trying to keep them insight. The course was only 12k long but fairly soon into the run we were faced with the Power line Trail which is aptly named as it follows the power lines running up to the side of Mt. Seymour, raising over a 1000ft in elevation over nearly 3k of constant incline. After attempting to run the first couple of hundred metres we all pretty much switched to power hiking, then hiking, then walking and then using our arms to push our legs to keep them moving. I have to say it was a bit of a challenge. As always though, what goes up must come down and let me tell you it was a fun run down. I have said it before about trail running but there is something that makes me feel like a little kid again. Running heedlessly down a mountain jumping over rocks and trees and splashing through mud and puddles, it real is great fun. We eventually arrived back at the start after nearly an hour and half, coated with mud and all with big smiles plastered over our faces, although that could have been due to the fact that we could now change into warm dry clothing, you decide.

The fact that it was still only just after 10am meant we decided to grab some brunch and headed over to a place I first went to when I got to Vancouver, The Three Lions. A British pub where the football (soccer) was on the TV and we could grab some breakfast and an early beer, well we had been running we had earned it!

After getting home and soaking in the bath for a while to regain feeling in my toes I got the mundane weekend tasks out the way, clothes washing/drying etc and in between cycles, catching some welcome naps.

Saturday night and for once I had plans that didn't involve running what so ever. Ed had organised a meal at a restaurant called Chambar where Belgian Tapas was the theme, followed by a film and then a few drinks.

Trying to speed up this blog I will just say that while the food and drink at Chambar was amazingly cooked and presented I was left a little hungry and it was a tad expensive. I think that it is more due in fault to me than the restaurant. I get a little grumpy when portion size is small and to be honest I'm just probably not sophisticated enough for places like this, which the fact that I managed to drop a muscle into my lap attested to. Don't get me wrong though I did enjoy the meal, The different beers that the waiter kept recommending were great and I did try muscles for the first time which as long as I didn't look at it as I ate it, tasted lovely. The bits of bison we had while small were very tasty as well. Although I did draw the line at calamari, I have said it before and it is worth saying it again, I like calamari as long as it is not in it's original form, tentacles, I don't do tentacles!

It should be observed at this point that this weekend has not been a good one for the vegetarian challenge with several slip ups. I would however argue that I would have hardly eaten if I had stuck firm and frankly I have been very hungry all weekend.

The least said about the film the better. We saw Control Alt Delete and frankly while I try and find the good in most movies this was just horrendous from start to finish. It was a Canadian film, shot in Vancouver I wanted to like it but just couldn't. Not to spoil it for anyone but the basic blot is that it is set in 1999 and follows a stressed head programmer who is in charge of Y2K fixes for a major corporation. He finds the only ways to 'relieve' his stress is to drill holes into PC's and screw them. I kid you not. There were a couple of funny moments and good performances but nothing could make up for the scenes of him banging away at his desktop or in the big finale, the firms mainframe. Wrong, wrong, diddly wrong! Stop funding this rubbish, there are talented people out there, let them have a chance.

Right, I've got that out my system. Thankfully the evening picked up again after that with us heading into Gastown and a great cozy little bar called Six Acres. With pictures on the wall of celebrity guests, ranging from Rowan Atkinson to Don Johnson and a shelf full of board games like Ludo and Connect 4 this was a great place to hang out, sample some more tasty beers and enjoy the conversation. With Victoria back from her trip to Australia and Barry, Ed, his friend Fiona from New Zealand and myself we covered most a vast array of topics thinking nothing of bashing our way through politics and religion, insulting pretty much everyone along the way, or I did at least, fun times :)

Sunday morning and again the alarm is going off before 7am. With only a week to go before the Vancouver Marathon and Half, this morning's Sunday PRR club run headed off the trails and back onto the road. We were running from the False Creek Community Centre where we meet on normal club nights and running up to the UBC campus and back with a round trip of just under 22k, perfect warm up for those running the half next week.

The run is basically a 9.5K 'ish flat run out to UBC where we climb a long but not steep slope into the UBC campus, turn around and retrace our steps back to the Granville Island. There were lots of runners out today getting in the final long run before next week and several times we saw people we knew along the way. The running community here is very friendly and it's great to have some one give you a wave when you are not feeling that into it. We also managed to run through a film location who seemed to be trying to recreate a carnival type scene at one of the many beaches along the way. I do still get a kick from seeing all the trucks and lighting and cameras although it is a fairly common occurrence here.

After getting to the top of the UBC hill and turning around the weather which had started off cold and windy decided to through another element into the mix, rain. It was a long hard slog back, running into the wind and rain I was soon drenched and frankly I was sapped of any energy I had left. The film crew seemed determined to get there scenes shot with background cast playing Frisbee and the like in beach wear while simultaneously shivering. The last 3K were really rough, with not a dry centimetre of clothing and cold hands and soaked feet I had to remind myself many times that I was doing this for fun. I think I can safely say we were all glad to get back and finish and in not a to shabby time considering the conditions.

A quick change into dry clothes and a hot drink and muffin at Pedro's perked everyone back up in no time.

Getting back home and again sitting in bath to warm up all the cold bits I found myself heading for what must have been the umpteenth nap of the weekend. I'm a napping animal!

Power nap over and done with, I awoke to find the sun had come out. I had promised Sukhi I would take a quick look at a PC problem he had and I took a walk in the sun over to his house. Thankfully I managed to find the problem fairly quickly, which went to fix some of the wounds to my ego that my issues earlier in the week had caused and in reward Sukhi came along to help me look for a bike. I have been thinking of getting gone since I got here as Vancouver is a very bike friendly place and it would not only give me a different form of exercise but also save me a little money on Sky Train tickets.

I'm still indecisive about getting a road bike or a hybrid but I'm leaning towards hybrid as it would take a little more punishment which as I haven't really ridden a bike in many years it would probably sustain regularly.

To top of the weekend I was even treated ti a magnificent home barbecued burger with freshly made spicy onions. I know, I know, I'm not meant to eat meat at the minute, but I have been hungry all weekend and have exercised more than enough to justify the calories and frankly this weekend I have been so low on energy that I felt that I need meat. I will say that this is my own fault as for the rest of the month energy has not been an issue but with a tough end to the week and a busy weekend I have not had the time it takes me to think of and prepare the proper vegetarian dishes. I have been lazy and that is the cause of lack of energy but it still doesn't alter the fact that I was drained and so fell back to what I know and that is meat. Sorry, I feel bad, I really do, but I want to be honest about these challenges and some are harder than others.

On the plus side on getting home and pottering around for as bit I discovered I was still hungry and even though the desire to fall back on my old friend McDonald's was strong I didn't and instead whipped up a fast vegetarian pasta dish which did the job nicely.

So while eating that meal I made another error by watching this weeks Doctor Who episode in the dark. For those that don't watch it you may think me foolish but I would put money on the fact those that do understand why after a few minutes the little voice in my head was screaming at me to turn on the light or at least pull the blanket up a little higher. Good to see the new Doctor return to form.

Oh and I nearly forgot, as near misses of death inducing embarrassment go the trip to Costco ranks right up there. Popping into the rest room I walked into the men's area to be faced with a fairly common sight, a big long chrome trough to pee in. As I stood up next to it and prepared to get out little David I started thinking how high this trough was off the ground, it was pretty much at my waist height and being 6ft (YES I AM!) I thought this a little odd. with fly down and getting ready to 'shake hands with the man' I finally realised one small detail I had previously missed. this particular chrome trough came with taps! Bugger! I had very nearly peed in the sink. As I subtlety relocated myself to the right location I did say a little prayer of thanks for the last minute revelation. May be a little more attention to detail is required on my part.

April Fools' Run - Half Marathon Race Report

With all my bluster about about not racing ant long distances for a while and concentrating on the shorter 5k and 10k races the other weekend I headed over to the sunshine coast for a quick half marathon.

The Friday morning I had placed some remark or another on Facebook about facing a quiet weekend and stepping up to the plate was Sukhi with the suggestion that I might fancy ago at a relatively local half marathon the Sunday morning. I do love the fact and I hope I never take it for granted that the suggestion of running a half marathon in under 48 hours time can be offered and accepted with little thought of the fact the race distance is 13.1 miles. It took me nearly 6 months to train for my first Half and I do feel very lucky that through a little hard work and a lot of just getting out there week after week has paid off to the point where this is possible.

Adding to the fun, Barry decided he also fancied giving it a shot and after some slight cajoling and bare faced lying ("21k is only double what we run on a club night, it will be easy") Sarah was persuaded to join in to. This is even more crazy as the furthest she had run to date was 15k and that was only a few weeks before in the Birch Bay race the club attended.

The location of the run was Gibsons to Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia which is on a sort of peninsula off the coast of Vancouver. We would be taking an early morning ferry from Horseshoe Bay over to Gibsons to be there for just before 8am to sign up and be ready for the 9am start. Due to the early start and having to be at the dock by about 7am, Barry arranged to pick us up at about 6am and so an early evening would have been a good idea.

Frankly I had decided to do a last minute half and get up at 5:15am on a Sunday morning , good ideas were obviously not in abundance that weekend so when Steve asked if I would like to watch the UFC fight happening that Saturday night, I readily agreed.

Steve's neighbour hosted the evening and what a great evening it was. We yelled at the TV, got a few good fights, some not so good and some just plain stupid and got to drink beer, eat pizza and gorge on M & M's late into the night. Perfect pre-race preparation. So when midnight was beckoning I thought it was probably best to head out and at least pretend to get some sleep so by the time I had navigated the very good public transport of Vancouver and got home and sorted out kit for the morning, I was still going to get a solid 3+ hours sleep.

About 2.5 hours later I was bolt upright awake. Pre-race nerves even one in which you have put no training or expectation into can make sleep a very slippery customer. Breakfast, dressed, lubed and ready to go I headed out into the still dark Sunday morning. With a short drive to the harbour and time for a quick slice of lemon cake and a cup of tea which I'm sorry to say had a tea bag in it which couldn't have looked more like a scrotum if it tried, we got on to the dawn ferry and set sail.

The journey was beautiful with the sun coming up over the mountains behind us and the day looking to have perfect weather for the run it was already proving worth while getting up at that time. The ferry was full of runners heading over and a there was an excited atmosphere on board. Sarah started having doubts about this being such a great plan but we all told her that "... it's only 6k further than you raced the other weekend, you'll be fine!". 45 minutes later we docked and and were shepherded off the boat and onto a waiting yellow school bus to take us to the start line.

The race was a point-to-point race starting in Gibsons and ending next to the beach at Sechelt, 21.1k away. Signed up and ready to go we got to the start line with time to spare and due to the fact that this race only recorded your gun time (from whe n the gun goes off to when you cross the line) we got as near to the front as possible. While waiting we did bump into a few characters, one who was wearing a full Darth Vader helmet and cape and another guy running barefoot. We also managed to touch base with the other PRR club members and friends running the race including Mike Palichuk who only the day before had race din a 50k trail run and had come fourth.

To the race was great. After struggling with LA and a few other races I have done recently, this was exactly what I needed. The weather was cool with a slight breeze which stopped me overheating, the scenery was postcard worthy to keep my mind occupied and the fellow races were chatty and friendly with everyone enjoying the run. I have the goal this year of running a sub 1:30 half marathon and after getting a good start and feeling great I started to think that maybe today was the day. The course was not flat by any measure but I even enjoyed the hills and actually managed to overtake a few people going up them which is unheard of for me. My Garmin showed I was safely on pace to achieve my target time and even with the big hill at about mile 9 of the 13.1 I was still on pace at the top with just a nice swooping down hill and then flat finish to the beach. Here is the problem, Garmins are a great training tool and I wouldn't be with out it, but boy can they get you into trouble during a race. For one reason and another my garmin had recorded I had run further than the race markers were showing that I had and to add to the problem I believed my Garmin over the markers so when I go to where my watch thought the end was I still had another 550 metres to go. This meant that while I finished in a personal best time of 1:31:29 it wasn't the 1:29:17 my watch led me to believe was going to be mine.

Straight after crossing the line I was a tad grumpy but this soon faded as I took in the surroundings and realised how much fun I had had at the race. The finish line was at the beach and a beautiful mountain packed sky line was clearly visible over the ocean. Barry finished his first half in just over 1:28 and Sukhi and Sarah came over the line a few minutes apart in the early 1:40's. I even beat Mike who was 30 seconds behind me. All it takes for me to beat him is to get him to race a 50k the day before, sorted! We all had a good race and after a quick paddle in the very cold ocean to cool my calves down we watched the prizes be given out and headed back by bus to the start area.

Having got back to the start a little after a ferry had left we had some time to kill before the next sailing so we found a nearby pub and grabbed some lunch. Unfortunately speedy service was not on the menu and after wolfing our admittedly nice food down we raced back to catch the buss to the ferry only to find we had missed by a couple of minutes. Taxi's were not to be found and thankfully with the next ferry departing shortly, the very nice gut at the leisure centre reception desk offered to personally drive us down to the ferry and getting there with a couple of minutes to spare.

After a relaxed crossing back and a few light suggestions that Sarah may want to look at a marathon next as it was "...only the distance of that race again", I got back home around 4 ish just in time for a very pleasant and well earned afternoon nap.

Thanks to Steve, Anne and their neighbours for putting up with me for the pre-race evening and to Sukhi for kicking it all off, Barry for driving and the race director for putting on a great and well organised race. Not a bad way to spend the day at all.

Birthdays come and go

Well I certainly have been busy over the last week so I will try and not bombard you with my usually level of mind numbing detail.

After much self congratulations on hearing I had finally completed my Open University degree last Thursday morning, I wandered up to Swanguard Stadium in Central Park to watch the final of the men's 5k race in the World Police and Fire Games. Not wishing to show any disrespect to the fireman of the world out there but it seemed to be they received a good drubbing from the police. But that is just my take on it, not sure who came out on top for the entire games. The racing was good and it gave me a chance to practise some sport action shots with my camera, as it turns out I still need more practise.

Thursday nights club run turned out to be a little harder than I had imagined. A large number of the club was taking part in a 80k (50 mile) trail race on Saturday so I had thought that most would be taking it easy on Thursday in preparation for this. I yet again underestimated these guys. Their idea of tapering for a race is very different from mine. In brief, after running up a hill ()I say hill but I think crampons would have been more suitable than running shoes) to what I can only guess/hope is the highest point in Metro-Vancouver, we had a brief respite in Queen Elizabeth Park (awesome views) before running (free falling) down the other side of the hill to the site of the 2010 Winter Olympic village. After reaching (hitting) the bottom I committed the cardinal running club sin of falling so far behind that I missed the pedestrian traffic light and the rest of the group had to wait for me to play frogger across the road to catch up to them. It didn't get much better from there, I managed to keep them in line of sight until the last kilometre then just meekly finished off.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. The rest of the runners in the club are fantastic, they have been really friendly and welcoming and have never once complained or even rolled there eyes (that I have seen) as I gasp for breath at the back of the pack. I also don't want you to think that I'm not enjoying it either. It is a great challenge every time I go and I feel even in the short time I have been going, my running has improved. So far each run has had a different route and I'm seeing parts of the city and surrounding area that I would not normally see. Running clubs are only as hard as you want to make them, give it a go, you don't have to be fast or take part in races, you get to meet some great people who encourage and help you achieve what you want.

Friday was my Birthday!!! Thank you to all those that sent messages, it was great. After a finishing work and speaking to my Mum I had a day of mooching around, and buying myself some presents. I have now got my wireless network up and running so watch out for the video guided tour of the apartment soon. I also got the Wii connected up so I could practise my tennis. In the evening I headed off downtown to try out another restaurant , this time The Keg won my business. The Keg seems to be a Canadian chain who specialises in steak, who am I to argue. I had a great meal here and while a little more expensive than else where, on special occasions worth the extra, nothing too fancy but nice. After steak, jacket potato and a range of deserts (best not to ask) I got home after having a good night out.

As mentioned a little earlier, PRR members were taking part in a race over the weekend called the Stormy Trail Race which wound it's way around the mountains of Squamish valley. This was meant to be a relay race which the club had entered 5 teams, but some thought that the idea of taking part in a 80k (50 mile) relay version of the race was a little to sissy for them so they attempted the whole race on there own! I had volunteered to help out at one of the aid stations along the course and to be a backup runner if anybody had to drop out. I could do a whole race report here on the days events but in the hope you are still reading this and I would like you to finish I will be concise.

The alarm went off at 3:30am and I was picked up at 4am, FYI, people were still coming home from a good night on the town. We got to the race start by 5am and the race got underway at 6am with a 12 hour cutoff for the race. I nearly got to run a couple of times but on both occasions the opportunity was wrenched from my grasp (sigh). I spent the day eating sweets and crisps that were meant for the runners and cheering as they went by. Meanwhile, our club runners put in an amazing effort. Every team finished and one team only missed a prize due to a course marshal mis-directing one of there runners. All of the solo runners finished under the 12 hour deadline and not only that but Elle beat the male and female course record from last year, winning the women's race and coming third overall having taken 57 minutes of the female course record (her own). These guys did an amazing job and I can't wait to give trail running ago myself. This will have to wait just a little bit though as the amount of lost skin and blood makes me think I will wait until after the marathon. An awesome BBQ followed the event and finally made it home at around 9:30pm. Long day and I didn't even run.

Up early again on Sunday at 5:30am. This time it was my turn to run. I was taking part in the Delta Half Marathon which was about 25 mins south of Vancouver and most importantly, flat as a pancake. Due to some interesting difficulties with my car here I was very grateful for the lift to and from the race. On arriving at the start the first thing I noticed was the three fire engines lined up out side the leisure centre where the run was starting from. I'm still not sure what the problem was but the result was there were no restroom facilities, thankfully a nearby tree did the trick for me but members of the female persuasion were getting a little antsy. A Porty-potty was found and after a 15 minute delay the race was started. Just before we got off a light rain started which kept me nice and cool, if a little damp, for the race. I set off well and after settling in everything went well until the course turned into the wind, in all fairness wind might be an exaggeration, draft would be more fair but at the 9 mile mark it was enough to slow me down a little. My target was to finish in between 1:30:00 and 1:35:00, I crossed the line in 1:32:27 so job done. They had a nice pancake breakfast for the finishers, a good medal and just as important for me, a good ribbon too.

For future reference, a steak dinner on a Friday night, an early morning the next day eating sweets, crisps and BBQ, followed by a late night, another early morning and a 13.1 mile race does not a happy stomach make!

I'm going to cut you off at this point as there is more to come from the day and I don't want to overload you. I'll post again soon.

Thanks for reading.

Back to the point

Given the title of this blog, I thought it appropriate to write an actual entry about my current running endeavours.

Out of pure narcissism and for the record so I can look back and compare here are my current personal bests (PB's):

5K - 21:14
10K - 41:27
Half Marathon - 1:36:01
Marathon - 3:24:37

I'm currently training for the 2009 Chicago Marathon which I'm running on Sunday October 11th with Andy and Martin. We will all be running separately, aiming to hit our respective goals. The reason I picked Chicago to run at is that it is a fast flat course, you are constantly in the city with things to look at and it is fast becoming recognised as one of the top marathons in the world.

My goal for Chicago is to get my time down below 3 hrs 20 minutes. I was hoping to do this in Paris but due to heat, inadequate amount of drinks and mainly due to me not training right, I missed my goal by 4 minutes and change. I say this is my goal but to steal a quote "I have a dream..." (I'm thinking more Martin Luther King than ABBA here) I would love to use the Chicago Marathon to Qualify for Boston.

For those that don't know, the Boston Marathon to some is the pinnacle of marathons, the Everest to which some of us strive to reach. It is the only major open marathon (I think) that requires you to have done a qualifying time at another marathon to enter. In my case for my gender and age I have to have completed a marathon in 3:10:59 seconds. So I have basically got to cut 14 minutes of my time, which may sound easy, but you are going to have to trust me on this, it isn't!

So there is my ultimate goal, 26.2 miles / 42.2 kilometres in 3 hours 10 minutes and 59 seconds. To achieve this I have changed my training plan from the last 3 marathons I have done and I'm using a plan downloaded from Runners World specifically created to help me run the distance in the time.

Now this is where reality sets in. I've now just come to the end of my fifth week of training for the race and this is the first week I have completed all of the runs I'm meant to do at the pace and distance I'm meant to do them. I could use the fact that I moved to Canada at the very start of the plan and it has taken me a few weeks to settle in but don't be fooled this is just an excuse. The truth is that it is damned hard and I have used any reason to dodge out on a run even though I really want to achieve this.

But enough with the negativity, as I said, this last week I did complete all the training for the week. I now feel awful as a result but there is a happiness in that aching, exhausted feeling. I'm on my way now and I have to keep it up. Over the next few weeks I'm going to try and turn it up to 11. I want to drop about 7lbs to get back to a better race weight, improve my flexibility and start training in the gym again to help rebuild my core strength that will keep me going over the distance.

So that is where I stand at the moment. For any that have made it this far in to the post and have managed not to fall asleep or be put off my the excessive use of the word 'marathon' (11 times by my count) I have included links at the very top right hand corner of this page which shows you my last 5 outdoor training runs. When a link is followed, you can see the route I took for that run, the distance I did, how long it took me, how big the hills were, how high my heart rate went, pretty much everything you didn't want to know and more about my training effort.

For those who are still left, thanks for sticking with me, it is appreciated, as are any comments on you might have on this blog experiment.