September 17, 2008

One and a Half

In a week and a half I will be heading down to Toronto to run my first ever (and hopefully not my only) Full Marathon. I had run a Half Marathon (21.1 km) back in May and had a good time finishing it so I thought the next thing to do was train for a Full (42km). The only problem was that there was no time to recuperate after one race before training for the next. I guess I didn't have to choose this Marathon as Toronto has another one mid October, but I liked the idea that the Waterfront Race was quoted as being "flat, fast and festive". I wanted a good experience for this first one so that I would be willing to try it out again and one day get qualified for Boston (one day).

The training through the summer was tough especially with all the humidity we had this year, but I made it through and learned a lot about my body and what gels worked. I was also busy this summer with Ultimate Frisbee which is a nice change from the constant pounding of my poor feet. My summer Frisbee team had a pretty good season in that during the playoffs we won the second tier. Now the fall season has begun and we now play 2 nights a week, which means that along with all my running and the increased distances/speeds/hills I don't really get much of a break. Plus when I play Ultimate I don't just go and have a good time but I am also very competitive and want to make the plays so I have fallen on my knee a few times the past week (but hey, I caught the disk), I now have a few bruises there but not too much pain right now. I will be playing in 2 more games before heading to Toronto so maybe I should go a little easier on myself (if possible).

I do have to say that after all the work I have been doing I will definitely be glad when this race is over and I can just go and run with no plans and schedules. I will let you all know how well I do after the race, but since it is my first and I am just wanting to finish the race I do still have a time to finish in mind (between 4h and 4h30min).

Wish me luck

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