Run
Comments: Unfortunatley, my achillies tendon was sore right from the get go today, so I think had it felt better I would have been able to get (or beat!) my goal of 45 minutes. Once I had warmed up a bit (about 2k) my achillies hurt less, but I still felt stiff. (The small, short uphill at around 7k was the worst part in terms of pain.) The rain was a bit annoying because it was running off my face, but at least it kept me cool! I loved that we could wear iPods, so I was rocking out to my favorite tunes. I noticed my cadence drop down a little bit between 5k and 6k but I managed to only lose about 30 seconds on the second half. COOL STUFF - People in the apartments overlooking the route taking pictures of us; a guy dressed up as a red robot running; cheering on the leaders as they passed us on their way back in; seeing my results afterwards; and the huge finish line (with clock) right in front of the parliment buildings. Such a good time! What would you do differently?: Not a lot! I'm pretty happy with this run overall. I could get some better sleep the night before and spring for a cab in the morning as opposed to transferring to my friends place kinda last minute. I would also train a little more speed to stay closer to the front of the pack. Getting more water the night before and directly after would also be on the to-do list...I felt dehydrated until today :( Post race
Warm down: Walked around a little with my 2 friends who were also running, checked out the free food and had some water, gatorade, a cookie and a banana. Stretched my achillies tendon out and my hamstrings, then changed clothes because it was COLD! Left race ASAP to walk to the Greyhound station so I could go home to Nanaimo and meet the BF for Thanksgiving dinner. Let me say this right now - stretch lots after doing an 8k if you are immediatley going to sit on a bus for 2.5 hours. My legs are stiff today. Could have been avoided What limited your ability to perform faster: Achillies tendon for sure, as well as my lack of "going the distance" - I had only completed 2 8k runs in my training for this. I was a little preoccupied with beating a certain person too, and instead of inspiring me to go faster, I think it felt like a gorilla on my back. Too much pressure on myself. In the end, I was only about 1:30 behind him, so I did pretty good! Need to relax more...and also pee before the gun goes off. Lastly, get more sleep. I didn't take care of myself well before this run...Next time that will be a priority. Event comments: Please add 1 more gatorade station! Also, next time race director should not say "the weather will be perfect...i promise" in the race booklet - I believe this guaranteed the rain! And we could all do with a little less rain! Last updated: 2006-09-06 12:00 AM
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Canada
Royal Victoria Marathon
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 592/1581
Age Group = Female 20-24
Age Group Rank = 27/69
not much of a routine - the busses weren't running downtown early enough for the start time (plus many of the routes were all messed up thanks to the marathon) so I spent the night at my friend Ashley's place. Didn't sleep well - too cold! Got up about 6:20, had a banana, got dressed and organized. Realized it was raining, so we (Ash, her mom and I) all grabbed garbage bags and headed out at about 7:00am. Got the the race, checked my bag, skipped the washroom (LOOOONG line!) and got lined up at the start line! Funny story - I actually overheard a guy say the race needed "better urine displacement" - I was like "did you ACTUALLY just say that?" random!
Not much...light jog to the bag check and back, ankle rotations and a quick shallow stretch of my right achillies tendon.