Lets start with what happened before the race. About a week and a half before I decided to go hiking with a friend up to Cape Scott. During that trip I managed to get a couple gigantic blisters on each of my heels. I also woke up the morning after getting back with a raging cold. So things weren’t looking particularly good but I was going anyways since I had already paid for the race and at least one night at the hotel. We stayed at the Westin Bayshore again, a fabulous expensive hotel, but totally worth it for only 2 nights.
So the race itself went reasonably well, or so I think now. But at the time it was terrible, and for about an hour and a half I was cursing myself for deciding to do this again. And I ended up going out and running the first half at the speed I wanted to, but somewhere between 25 and 27 km I kinda fell apart and had to really slow down. But I still managed to finish in 4:21:44, which is faster than last year, and that’s what I’m going to cling to. And I got the medal and the T-shirt, which is the reason we all run, right? And the last 12 km of the race were the most difficult 12 km I have ever run. All I wanted to do was stop running and sit down. And it would’ve been so easy to just stop and walk for a kilometre or two. But then I wouldn’t be able to say I ran it. So I kept running. I swear that stretch of road that heads up to UBC and then comes back is the longest stretch of road ever! It just keeps going and going, and then when you finally do get to the end you realize that now you’ve got to turn around and go all the way back again! And when you finally do get to stop it’s the weirdest feeling, ‘cause the blood is still rushing to your legs but you don’t need it to anymore. And that’s when the pain finally kicks in and you realize how sore you are. Really, really sore. Which brings about the marathoner’s walk. Similar to hikers walk, but involving a lot more groaning and gritting of teeth.
The other thing you experience is every possible human emotion you could ever conceive. From total and utter despair that you’ll never make it to the finish line and simply drop dead, to complete elation that when you believe you’re actually going to finish. Pain and anguish right alongside total enlightenment, and all within minutes of each other. And that’s all part of the experience.
A lot went on in the 4 hours and 21 minutes I was on that race course. So I’ll try to recount what I remember.
The sponge stations. Last year it was raining and there was no real need for the sponges, since we were all already dripping anyways. But this year there was no rain and it was around 10 degrees so it was reasonably warm and there was plenty of sweating. So the salt began accumulating. Which is where the sponge stations came in. I grabbed one and managed to get most of the salt off my face, and it felt pretty good. It’s amazing, really, how well those little sponges hold water. There’s almost enough in one sponge to get your head, back, and front wet if you wanted to. I did use a couple to cool off my back, which helped me get my second wind once. And for the record, yes, every time I passed a sponge station the Arrongant Worms song rolled through my head. There was also a candy station, and we all know how Sara loves the candy. I actually saw the Vaseline sticks, too. It’s pretty much a popsicle stick that’s been dipped in a vat of Vaseline and gets used for on-the-course chafing relief. And while I, myself, did not actually partake of any Vaseline, I imagine that after 30 km or so of irritation, Vaseline on a popsicle stick looks pretty good.
Chafing. The Vaseline leads me to my next subject, the chafing. As most of you know, last year I suffered some pretty serious chafing, most notably around my neck from an ill-fitting sports bra. That particular bra has since been retired. The scar is still there. I didn’t have many chafing problems this year, praise be to the Body Glide. I thought I was going to have problems when I could feel the shorts starting to chafe around half way, but they somehow stopped shortly after. My fuel belt and the elastic waistband from my shorts caused the biggest problems, but even then they were small areas and not really that bad at all. So I made it through relatively irritation-free. And hopefully with no new scars for the future.
The Relay Runners. I hated them last year and I hated them again this year. Because they were dry. And they weren’t tired. And they kept passing me. Last year they were dry while the rest of us were dripping from the rain. This year they were dry because they weren’t sweating like everyone else. There was no salt precipitated on their faces or their legs (yes, I did have salt lines on my legs!) and they didn’t have wet hair from either dumping water on themselves or sweating. They’d just bounce by me like I was standing still, with their un-soreness. Well, I’d have a lot of energy too if I hadn’t already run 25 kilometers. But I didn’t have 3 other people to share the distance with. I had to run the whole way myself! So there!
The spectators. There weren’t nearly as many good signs along the sides of the road as there were last year. But there were a lot more people, and thus a lot more people cheering. I would now like to thank each and every person who yelled my name out on that course. You have no idea how much it helped me, even if I have no idea who you are and will never see you again. There’s just something about having someone cheering your name that makes it a little easier to keep going. One lady in particular was standing about ½ a km from the finish line and screaming, “You’re all marathon runners!” It was pretty cool.
Bobbing ponytails. There were plenty of bobbing ponytails to be seen at the Vancouver marathon. Sometimes they bother me, sometimes they don’t. It depends on the type of ponytail, really. Shorter ponytails bobbing about weren’t particularly annoying that day. It was the longer ones thrashing around that were grating on my nerves. One woman had her really long hair up in pigtails, and by about half way through they were sweaty messes flopping about. And I had to continue watching them for another 20 km. Eww.
Anyways, that about wraps it up for my experience at the 2008 Vancouver Marathon. Until next time, and my next great adventure!
