Naturally, the weekend started off disastrously. I just got off a night shift on Saturday morning at 7:30 am, so I went home and we managed to get on the road relatively early. I zonked and slept in the car pretty much all the way to Victoria. We got to the Marriott, our home for the next 2 nights, and as we were getting our bags out of the car we realized we had left Glen’s at home. His bag was packed, sitting by the door ready to go, but we had gotten in the car without putting the bag in it. Curses! Luckily it was only a 2 day trip, so we decided he could live without it. We bought a few things at the store so he could get by. And for future reference, you can get deodorant, toothbrushes, razors, shaving cream, toothpaste, and all that other stuff you need all at the 7-11. Then when we went to pick up my race package, they had gotten my shirt wrong. I’d asked for a men’s small so I could get sleeves that were long enough, and they had re-interpreted that as a women’s small. I did manage to swap that after the race for one that did fit, though.
Now on to the race. I ran it in 4:20:26. It was faster than my personal best thus far, but not the 4:15 I had been hoping for. It was, however, the best I have felt throughout the course of a race. Ever. Really. One might ask how it’s possible to feel pretty good when you’re forcing your body to cover such an unnaturally and insanely long a distance as 42 km. I felt good for about 28 km, then the pain started to kick in, but that was okay. Pain I can deal with. Fatigue is worse, and I wasn’t feeling that just yet. Then somewhere around 32 km it started to feel like a slog and the fatigue started. But I’ve heard that the last 10 km are a slog for everyone, even those really experienced runners. Despite the slog, I never had the complete and utter despair set in like I have in my other 2 marathons. I never felt like I couldn’t cover the distance. I did feel like my legs were simply going to fall off and that I’d have to drag my body over the finish line sporting just bleeding stumps, but I never felt the complete and utter despair that I would never get to the finish line because it was, simply, too far. It was great. So despite the fact that I didn’t get the time I’d been hoping for, I’m quite satisfied with my run for how I felt throughout. And that’s what I’m going to remember about this race.
The Victoria marathon had fewer participants than the Vancouver marathon, so we all managed to get spread out pretty quickly. It was nice because there was far less people dodging throughout the race. I also particularly liked the course itself. There were a lot of twists and turns, and very few hills. I find the twists and turns help because you can’t see how much farther down the road you have to run. This helps in the last couple kilometres when you swear that the long stretch of road you can see ahead of you is never going to end. It’ll just keep going forever and you’ll die before you get to the end. That didn’t happen with this course, because it winds enough that you can’t see more than a couple blocks in front of you. And the hills that were there were small and short. Hills bad, flat good.
So now I shall recount all the little tidbits I feel are worth mentioning.
The Weather. The day before the race I was freezing. I don’t know if it was because I was tired or if it actually was cold out, but I was dreading waking up early so I could get out in the frigid morning weather and run for nearly 4 ½ hours. It just didn’t particularly sound like a super-fun Sunday morning. Then came the decision: tank top, t-shirt, or long sleeves. Well, it’s not quite winter so the long sleeves were out right away, but I figured it was cold enough for a t-shirt. I did bring a long sleeved shirt that I wore until I warmed up, and promptly ditched when I felt it wasn’t needed anymore. This is a trick a lot of runners use, you just get an old shirt you don’t want anymore and ditch it when you get warm enough. Little did I know just how enjoyable it would be when I did dump the shirt. It was very satisfying, just taking off a piece of clothing and tossing it on the ground, never to be seen again. I highly recommend this if you’re not sure of the weather on race day. The weather turned out to be perfection, and we couldn’t have asked for better. It was slightly cloudy but the sun did come out a few times, but not for long, and not long enough to make it hot out.
My support crew. I take my own water and fuel during my runs. This gets a little complicated when it’s a full marathon and my fuel belt simply doesn’t carry enough for the whole race. So I had to figure out a way to get Glen somewhere out along the race route to swap me some bottle so I’d have enough. We managed to get his bike into the car, and he rode out to close to the middle of the route so he could be there with my bottles when I came by. It worked perfectly. He even managed to get a couple good pictures in the process. These races would be so much more complicated if I didn’t have such a supportive husband, so thank you, Glen. I’d be lost without you. (The irony is that Glen will likely never read this blog even though I always send him the link. He’s lazy, and that includes reading.)
The crowds and the other runners. Major props must be given to the people of Victoria for being such an enthusiastic bunch. Some of them must have been clapping and yelling for 4 hours. It was amazing. And they’d yell out your name if you got close enough for them to read it off your race bib. And if you didn’t get close enough, they’d yell out some article of clothing. I think I got called “blue shorts” about 4 times. Take a look at the picture and you’ll know where that comes from. It’s pretty hard to miss the blue shorts. Up to this point I had also never realized how much fun it was to be running a race where there are other people you know in it, and you actually see them along the course. I got a high-five from Linda, who I’m sure at the point I saw her didn’t have a whole lot of energy left, but it was awesome nonetheless. I yelled at Dawn, though I’m not sure if she heard me since she seemed pretty “in the zone” at the time. And I got a thumbs up from Coach Mark as he went by in the opposite direction, despite the fact that he looked pretty rough at the time. Sorry Mark, but you kinda did. And then there was the rest of the crew, parked up on a balcony at the Admirals hotel, who I could hear screaming from the street, despite the fact that they must’ve been three stories from the ground. Runners can be loud when they want to. Now if only they’d thought to toss me a beer…
Speaking of beer, the beer station was there again this year. I once again did not partake, but I definitely thought about it. Had they been about 5 km closer to the finish line there wouldn’t have been any thought involved. Oh, and the best part was there was a cop standing about 100 metres down the street directing traffic. Funny.
After the race, around 6 pm that night, just as Glen and I were about to head out for dinner, the power went out everywhere on the island south of Nanaimo. I still don’t know the cause, but when Glen and I did leave the hotel we had to take the stairs, and we were on the 5th floor. That was 5 very long floors I had to walk down, my friends. It wasn’t pretty. We thought when we got to the bar they’d just seat us and let us sit until the power came back on, but no such luck, so we were turned away and headed back to our hotel. We were almost back when the power came back on so we turned around and went back to the bar again. The beer was totally worth waiting for. Mmmm…
All in all, I had an excellent time in Victoria, despite forgetting Glen’s bag, a shirt that was the wrong size and a one hour power outage. It was a good weekend, and a good race. And also, I would like to point out, no new scars to add to my tally. So yes, a very good weekend. Stay tuned for my next great adventure!
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