Mission Accomplished?

What a day, what a day... First, let me thank my friend from NYC LiveStrongrrrrl who accompanied me on the trip and helped me out tremendously pre- and post-race. We drove to Vancouver and got there Saturday afternoon. The forecast called for occasional showers in the morning on Sunday.

When we got to the starting line at BC Place at 7:20 it was raining steadily and the temperature was only 46--fortunately I had my rain pants and jacket on which I took off a couple of minutes before the starting gun. I ran with "dry-fit" shorts, long-sleeve shirt, and a hat.

I started off at a pretty fast pace, probably about 7 minutes/mi. I felt good and speeded up a bit. I ran with a group of 5-6 runners for a few miles but decided to go past them. Meanwhile, it kept on raining and my hands were cold. I regretted not putting on gloves but they warmed up after maybe 45 minutes or so.

I knew I was running at a sub-7 minute pace and no one passed me until about mile 12 when two guys approached me. I asked them what their target was. They said 2:55. This was a perfect opprotunity for me to finish under 3 hours and I decided to keep up with them as long as I can. At the half-marathon mark we clocked in at 1:26:28. We kept running at a 6:40 pace (one of the guys had a watch), even on the up-slopes in Stanley Park and on Burrard Bridge. At about mile 15 I think, the runners from the half-marathon race were running with us and so it was crowded at the next water station. One of the guys slipped there and I thought he wouldn't get up because it looked like his leg twisted the wrong way. But apparently he was fine and he even skipped the drink. At the previous stop, they drank while they ran. I, on the other hand, stop for a few seconds to drink, so I'd have to catch up with them on those two occasions. At mile 18, we were still going at the same pace. This time, after a water break, I couldn't catch up with them. My left leg locked-up and I started to slow down.


It was all "downhill" from there. At the mile 20 checkpoint, I clocked in at 2:13:48. Looking back on it now, all I had to do to finish under 3 hours is to run at 7:25. But I just couldn't do it. To add to my demoralization, a couple of the 5-person group I ran with in the beginning passed me. I think it had stopped raining by then but it didn't really bother me except for the first few miles. The last two miles were the toughest, and I thought I'd finish over 3:20. When I appoached the finish line, I couldn't believe the clock was at 3:07. That lifted my sprits because I beat my previous time and I qualified for the 111th Boston Marathon next year, which I plan to run. Still, I thought I had a chance at that elusive 3-hour mark. Maybe next time :-).

BTW, those two guys finished in the top 30 at 2:55. The guy who fell was 50 years old and when I ran into him later he had dried-up blood running from his knee down to his shoe. He also had blood on his left foot which he said he got from a blister. That's what I call determination.

Finishing first for men was Kassahun Kabiso from Ethiopia at 2:18:39, and for women Malgorzata Sobanska from Poland at 2:37:06, a new course record!

Total: Vancouver Marathon, 26.2mi Race (3:07:10; 7:08 min./mi. pace; 77/2019 male; 18/322 30-35 age group; 87/3585 total)

P.S. The marathon was organized well except for the following: there was no cop at one intersection where they allowed cars to pass by (when there were no runners present) and an SUV almost hit a runner about 10 yards in front of me. Also, the path was pretty crowded when the route was shared with the half-marathon runners and walkers. Not sure if anything can be done about that, but it's a dangerous situation. And there were no energy gels. I knew that prior to the race and took two with me but it was somewhat uncomfortable to have them bouncing up and down in the back pocket of my shirt.

P.P.S. The day after:



[Backdated on 05/09/2006]