We finished the marathon with personal best times

The victory photo.

The Good News...

We finished this weekend's marathon in Victoria with personal best times. I barely made my personal best time but Jean-Louis blew his away. Holy moly is what I said! Notice how I actually beat him in our first marathon?? Hard to believe now.

April 6, 2003 Le Marathon International de Paris:

Jean-louis	04h 16' 15"	9010th/25806 Males
Susan	03h 59' 54"	652th/4339 Females

October 7, 2012 Victoria Marathon results:

Jean-louis	3:22:07	158th/1076 Males	10km mark: 45:29	21.1km mark: 1:34:48	30km mark: 2:16:28
Susan	3:57:47	182nd/837 Females	10km mark: 49:29	21.1km mark: 1:48:06	30km mark: 2:39:35

The Bad News...

I never quit and I didn't quit but in my mind I did kind of "cheat." I had to walk and jog the last 8 kms :( For the record, I have NEVER walked before during a run in my life. Not even during training have I walked. It doesn't count if you walk. So obviously I feel sad that I had to. When I say I "had" to, I really mean it too.

As you can see from my times, I started out well and as each kilometer went by, I got slower and slower. Most amateur newbies do this actually. Lol. I ran non-stop until around 34 km. It was then that my left calf went into spasm, along with my upper right thigh and front lower part of my right leg. It was so painful I thought my muscles were going to burst out of my flesh! I came to a complete halt and started pounding on them with my fists. I walked a bit to try to shake it off. Each time I tried to run, the spasm would occur again in the same places. Of course! I thought I was toast. I thought the race was over for me. This has never happened to me before. I never get leg spasms! Never. So then I had to walk, jog, walk, jog until the end of the race. I was not happy walking. I was embarrassed to walk. I used to judge people who walked but now I understand that some people may be walking because they simply can't run due to severe cramps, not because they were too exhausted and wanted to rest. Although that was the case for me too. I was exhausted of course but I would never walk just because of that. I would just run super slow.

So cute! I love this picture :)

I was discussing cramps and spasms with Jean-Louis. I told him that cramps you can run through, spasms you cannot. At least that is the case for me. I had chest cramps early on and ran with them for awhile. They would come and go and would occur in different places. But I kept running because in my experience they would always eventually go away. When I got the leg spasms, my legs just buckled and I felt like I couldn't move really. I had to stop and deal with them before moving on. It was awful! Even with just 2 km left in the end, I could not jog all the way. I still had to walk and jog through it. For the final few hundred meters, I tried my hardest to give it my all and when the spasms came again I kind of freaked out because I knew all the spectators would see me limp through the finish line in agony. So awful. So glad it's all over.

The cramping and spasms could be from a number of things. I believed I did train enough, especially since recovery right now seems to be going so well. I had half a banana the morning of the race for the extra Potassium. From what I have read online, other possible causes could have been extreme exhaustion, heat exhaustion and heat cramps, sodium depletion, or lack of Magnesium. I was drinking water at every station and pretty much energy electrolyte drinks at every station as well. It was really hot out that day! To be honest I'm not sure what I could do differently to avoid this next time. I would try again to run the first half slower and maybe look at eating more Potassium and Magnesium foods. All this could simply just be due to the unusual hot weather in October. It appeared that many people were suffering from cramps. Or maybe I just noticed them more. Jean-Louis and his boss, who also did this race, also complained about cramps during much of the race.

42.195 km for the marathon is a long race. Running it is hard. Even walking the entire route is hard. I walked two marathons in the past and it hurt. Running it is worst but at least it will end sooner. After a few hours your mind plays tricks on you and you question whether or not you are going to make it to the finish line. Your feet hurt so much that if you accidentally step on a twig, you weep in pain. The only thing keeping your body moving forward is your brain. Someone on Twitter asked me why I even bother doing marathons if they are so brutal. I told her that I choose to run marathons because they are hard. I like the challenge and when it's all over, I feel a bit more victorious. I did get my medal so yeah, I kind of do :)

Despite my unfortunate encounter with leg spasms, I was still able to finish the race faster than almost 10 years ago. I think that is amazing. Considering I took a big break from running and racing and I weigh at least 15 pounds more now. Lol. My target goal was under 4 hours and I got it. If I was spasm-free, I may have been able to do it in 3:45 even (which was my secret wishful target goal - doh). Guess we will never know now. That was so hard that I don't think I will be doing any more marathons again. My bucket list is already complete in the marathon department!

Bucket List:

Run a marathon
Run a marathon after going through childbirth

We bought cow bells for our cheering squad!

I finally got my hands on some cow bells. Boy are they hard to find! Some people suggested for me to check out music stores but I was looking for them at toy stores. Luckily, I found one at a local toy store in Vancouver called the Toy Box and Toy Jungle. They put their last cow bell on hold for me and this past weekend, we went to pick it up! It was $5.99 and then we got 25% off since it was during their annual anniversary sale. Score! They also threw in a toy blue one that doesn't make as much noise. I'm so excited about them!!! Now Tristan and my parents can make noise when they see us and for all the other runners in the race :)

We are all pretty much set now. Cow bells have been acquired. Training is pretty much over. Carbo-loading and operation "eat well" is in progress. Next weekend we head over to Victoria to the expo to get our numbers and Sunday morning we race.

Yesterday we ran a 14km route that included two hills. It was a great route because we barely trained on hills this summer and we really needed to. This was our second hill run. The run was easy, thank goodness. It is only 1/3 of the marathon we have to run next weekend. It better be easy, right?! :)

This is our resting week. Today we take a break from running. Tomorrow we do a 11km run. We break again the next day. Then we go on our last run, just 8km, which will fall on the Thursday after work. That's it! In the meantime, we are eating well and carbo-loading all week. It takes the body 2-3 full days to carbo-load without any exercise. Our race is Sunday morning.

Overall I'm feeling pretty good. If I'm not ready now, it's too late. The biggest advantage I can give myself now is to eat properly, carbo-load, take care of myself and rest this week. I was close to becoming sick with the common cold late last week. I had an increasing big headache, sore throat, and was very tired for a few days. Thanks to daily prevention cold-fx, I'm feeling more myself again :) I initially thought maybe I should go on a diet this week and try to lose a couple of pounds but now that I think about it, I should keep everything constant. It's just too late in the game for any changes! Although running a couple of pounds lighter could really help me :) But it could also present new problems and I already tested everything out that works so, yeah bad idea.

The one thing I am a bit worried about is my left foot. The spasm at the bottom has not gone away. It has been there for over a month now. It starts to hurt after about 20 minutes of running now. Sometimes right after starting. It definitely worries me but I can't do anything about it right now. It's unfortunate I will be taking this 'injury' into the race with me. I know it's going to be a big source of pain for me during the race. After the race, I plan to stop running for at least one week to see if it goes away. If it doesn't, I'll go see my doctor. That's the plan anyway.

Summer Recap

This summer has been a busy one for us. While other parents and kids were attending birthday parties, we have been running and enjoying sights in Vancouver. Weekends are also the times where we do the bulk of our grocery shopping and cleaning.

Since we traveled a lot in the Spring, we spent our whole Summer at home here in Vancouver. It was great actually! We have been very busy and the summer just flew by. Even with all the training we had to do on the weekend, we still got to do most of the things on my Summer bucket list.

2012 Summer Bucket List:

Do the Grouse Grind with Tristan
Outside picnic at a park
Boating at Deer Lake
Symphony at the Park (Deer Lake)
Redeem fish/chips voucher at Pajos in Stevenston Village
Take Tristan swimming at least once
Aquarium
Visit another bike skills park
Go to the beach
Go strawberry, blueberry, blackberry picking
Go camping
Attend a fire station open house
Weekend in Seattle

As Tristan gets older, there will only be more and more things we can do with him. My Summer bucket list will only be growing! Summers really are the best times in Vancouver. Some times I forget how lucky we are to live in such a great city :)

How was your summer? Were you able to accomplish everything on your bucket list?

Countdown is on for the Victoria marathon

We have less than 1 month to go. 26 days today to be exact! Ready or not Victoria marathon, here we come!

Today I am still sore. Yesterday I was very sore. I'm recovering from Saturday's 30km training run with Jean-Louis. It took me around 2 hours 45 minutes of continuous running to reach that distance. After the run, Jean-Louis was all smiles and said that he felt great. Me? I think I hit the wall. I'm not certain but about 4-5km from the end, my left foot had a killer spasm and was throbbing with pain, my back ached, I was thirsty and had no energy, my muscles and joints were sore and I was running really slow. I kind of felt like dying. If that isn't hitting the wall, I don't know what is :(

 

I've had a spasm at the bottom of my left foot for a week already. It never really heals since I keep walking and running right on it. Obviously it hurts more after I finish a run. I was worried about it when we started our long run this weekend but it didn't really start to hurt until about the 15km mark. Then the pain just intensified from there. Yesterday I was limping most of the day. I bought a compression band to wrap around it since something is better than nothing. I read various sources online about how dehydration and lack of potassium can cause spasms and cramps. Oh yeah, I bought bananas yesterday for the extra potassium! But I did eat more bananas during the week so I'm not sure it's that. The weirdest remedy seems to be pickle juice, which Jean-Louis mentioned to me before. It seems that the vinegar in that helps, not so much the pickle. I haven't looked into it too much but it's just odd to drink pickle juice.

 

My body covered in salt after running. I sweat A LOT!

Yesterday I enjoyed a full day off. Hooray!!! Today I'm going to have to drag my poor spasm recovering foot out on a 10km run. Overall, I'm more sore than usual :( I'm pretty sure it's because I slacked a bit in training the past week, almost got sick with the common cold, and ate somewhat badly in the past two weeks. It really does make a difference in my performance and recovery. Sadly, this weekend's run was a bit of a wake-up call for me.

Last time I ran a marathon (my very first one) was 9 1/2 years ago. Jean-Louis and I both did it. We trained by running races every weekend. I'm not sure if it's because I was much younger or not but I trained and raced without any particular problems. I didn't even get a single blister. I had a bit of a sore knee and had to wear a knee brace as a precaution during the race but that was all. It was kind of a breeze. Now many years later and after becoming a mom, I find that I'm sort of starting over again. This time I'm experiencing many problems common to new runners. Stuff I never knew about! I just can't believe it. Here is what I have encountered (so far - gasp):

1. Chafing everywhere! Under my arms from rubbing against my fat or clothing. In between my legs from rubbing there and other places I would rather not mention but also due to rubbing of clothing. I didn't buy new clothes to wear but all of a sudden I have problems. What the heck?! Okay so I'm at least 20 lbs heavier now than I was 9 1/2 years ago. Solution: Apply Vaseline in all areas that get rubbed during running. This works like a charm :)
2. Blisters from wearing cotton socks in hot weather and sweating profusely in them. Solution: No more cotton socks for me!
3. Black bruised toe:( This one was a killer. It started about 3 months ago(?) My toe was getting bruised more and more after each long run. It hurt so much I thought it was broken at one point. There was blood underneath the nail and the whole toe was red. It wasn't even my longest toe being affected either. I have worn my shoes for the past 3 or 4 years with no problems until suddenly. What the heck?! Then I started googling and it scared the bejesus out of me. Did you know that there are people who run often that lose nails all the time? Someone claimed they only had 6 toe nails left. It's only a matter of time before my toe nail falls off. I can see the new one growing underneath already! TMI? Solution: I bought new shoes 2 weeks ago! I specifically looked for the best running shoes for long distance running. No more black toes for me! I'm soooo happy :)
4. Ongoing foot spasm, as mentioned above. I'm still waiting for this to go away! Please go away. Solution: Compression band during rest, potassium, pickle juice???
5. Back ache. This has only happened lately on the long runs. I think I hunch forward a bit running when I'm super tired. Yeah, I'm going to have to work on good posture to correct this one. Solution: Focus on good posture?

I sure hope that is the end of it. OMG. Now that the 30km run is over with, we're dropping our distances. They say runners should run at least a 20 miler (32+ km) during marathon training but 30km is good enough for us :) With just 26 days left in training, we don't want to risk injury either. Next weekend, I want us to do a 10km mountain run. It's going to be a killer pushing the jogging stroller up a mountain. Luckily Jean-Louis is better uphill and since I suck maybe we'll actually get to run side by side. Lol. When the weather cools down even more the next few weeks, we're probably going to start stressing about getting sick. I almost got sick this past week since Tristan was sick. Jean-Louis did get sick around mid week and his nose is still running today! But he still kicked my butt during our run! He's at the top of his game. Yay for him :)

Long weekend staycation in Vancouver

We were thinking of going to Seattle or even going camping this past BC day long weekend but in the end, we decided just to have a staycation in Vancouver.

What we did Day 1:

Jean-Louis and I wanted to go to the Veg Festival downtown so we ran down there. We are training for a marathon right now and 17km to downtown seemed like a good distance. When we arrived, we wanted to have lunch at the Veg Fest. To our disappointment, there was only one actual food stand. I mean there were quite a few stands but they were stands giving out flyers, information, and a few bake and health bar stands. The one food stand sold Gardein food, which we have already tried. Somehow I thought some of the vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Vancouver would be represented there with food for tasting. Sadly, the festival was kind of lame. We decided to just run our errands and leave.

We stopped by Chinatown and grabbed some Vietnamese sandwiches (aka Banh Mi). We got a couple of the usual cold cuts, a chicken one, and a tofu one.

We got home, showered, and then took Tristan and his bikes to a nearby park. It was so hot! Tristan got to try his pedal bike for the first time. He had trouble starting on his own but once he was on it, he did great! Yay!

Strider running bike

2 wheel pedal bike

After biking, we went to Marble Slab Creamery for some ice cream. This was the first HOT day of the summer here in Vancouver. We stopped by Price Smart after wards to grab some fruit and then rented a dvd on our way out.

What we did Day 2:

Jean-Louis made us a vegan pancake breakfast. It was good. Then it was off to Metrotown for our weekly grocery shopping. We dropped off food at home and headed to North Vancouver for some shopping errands. On the way back, we stopped by at Rainbow Playland at Queen's park for a late lunch picnic. Tristan got to play in the water park there and we visited the petting zoo. I love how that park was so shady! That was one of the reasons we chose to go there. It was another toasty hot day.

What we did Day 3:

Jean-Louis went for a long bike ride in the morning. Tristan and I slept in and took our time with breakfast. I prepped some food for our dinner barbecue and then we headed out to the Burnaby Village Museum. We stayed there for a bit and played. Then it was back home to cook. We fired up the grill and feasted on a ton of food. What's new, right? :)

Homemade shrimp burgers with chipotle yogurt sauce.

Jean-Louis' vegan hawt dawg...whatever he calls it.

It was just the 3 of us this weekend but we had a great staycation. I even got to watch some Olympics. Most of them were replays but still :) I didn't know what the big deal was but staycations are actually pretty cool :)