Races

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Junkitalia

Sigh... it's difficult to be me, sometimes. A few days ago I slipped in my shower and unknowingly got my sacrum (triangle part of my pelvis) twisted up. It didn't hurt when I did it, but I knew in that moment that something in the world just shifted, you know? That feeling that something just isn't right. My hamstring started twinging on me during my next couple of runs, and when I did my 5k time-trial (19 minutes! Which means I could do a sub-19 in a 5k race!) my hamstring really gave me some grief. So I went into see my physiotherapist who helped me figure out what I had done when I fell in the shower. So he put my sacrum back in its place, and la-dee-da, all was right in the world once again.

Until I went to work today and told someone that I had put my scrotum out in the shower, which was why I was limping.

My life is over.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Garbage Juice

I was grouchy yesterday and I had someone snidely say to me, "Wow, Suzy... think it's time for a run?" Ha HA... hilarious, eh? Clown. But you know what? I'm glad that that was the only option. There are so many outlets out there, most of which don't exactly promote health. And for people who have no outlet...well, their stress is burbling inside of them like green garbage juice--it leaks out eventually.

 My boys take the garbage out for me, and one time one of the bags was leaking or something. They came bursting back through the front door freaking out because the garbage squirted "garbage juice" all over them. I'd freak out too! And then I remember one time last summer I was running behind a garbage truck and there must have been a river-full of dead fish in its box, as the road was all wet with stench, cooking in the sun. It took everything in me not to hurl.

 I'm not perfect. I have my share of burbling green garbage juice! I'm just glad that I am able to run most of it out. And if any of it accidentally gets onto some cheeky bystanders, then all the better!


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Website!

I finally did it! I have been mulling this around in the back of my mind for years. I've led running clinics through SportMed BC and on my own (I trained a group of people for the Abbotsford Police Challenge 10k in 2009) and I've done some one-on-one running training as well. Besides that, everyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I have probably written up a training plan for almost everyone I know! Why? Because I LOVE it. I'll never shove the sport of running down people's throats but if you approach me and ask me for some help, I'm all over it.

I decided to start up my own business, launch a website, and throw myself on Facebook. Check it out!

The Runs Coach


Saturday, May 12, 2012

BMO Vancouver Marathon Race Report

It was a gorgeous Sunday morning, the crisp air pregnant with promises of sunshiney splendor. I lined up in my corral with the other zoolander-esque party people in our finest technicolor nerdery and anxiously awaited the start. I chit-chatted with other nervous runners and confessed to them that maybe my Indian food wedding buffet dinner the night before wasn't one of my best choices and perhaps I should have stuck with the dinner buns. They wagged their fingers at me but I knew that all they were concerned about was making sure they were running ahead of me... for obvious reasons.

We took off, and I flew. We had to climb a beast of a hill at around the 10-12 km mark at which point I shed my long-sleeved shirt. It was getting warm. I ended up hitting the half marathon mark at 1:31 which was a mistake, as I needed to be a lot closer to 1:35. I reined it in a bit but I knew my legs had already been kicked around a little too much at that point.

My leg muscles started to fade after that and I starting feeling my left hip flexor kick up a fuss. I focused on gliding along as softly as I could, which bought me some miles. But at the 30km mark, everything fell apart. My left set of toes started to cramp and curl under and my right calf muscle would ball up and spasm from time to time. All I could think about was to keep moving as softly as possible. I knew I was slowing down but I kept plugging along. The only way this thing was going to end was for me to cross the finish line.

I'd get waves of nausea but I'd fend them off with a squeeze of my gel. I use Vanilla Bean Gu for fuel (electrolyte replacement) and I'd hold one in each hand. Whenever I'd feel my guts turn I'd give my gel a little squeeze in my hand and the nausea would pass. It was the weirdest thing, but it worked!

I rounded the bends and lengths of the SeaWall until we came back out onto the roads of Downtown Vancouver. Knowing that I had the last km stretch of the race to go, I gave it my all and dug deep. As soon as I crossed that finish line I swear every muscle in my body balled up into fists and beat the living daylights out of me. YOWCH. I wanted to run it in 3:10 and I squeaked in at 3:10 and change.



Friday, May 4, 2012

Soar

I'm not going to be an Olympian but that doesn't stop me from leaving everything on the road this weekend. Whether someone is aiming to complete their first 5k in under an hour, or if their goal is to clock an Olympic qualifying time, all of us have put in the hours, days, weeks and months of training to get to race day. It's that momentous day where our work translates into reward. Where we can look back and say "it was worth it."

The tougher the climb, the more beautiful the view is at the top.

To me, and from what I have learned about most runners, running is an outlet. It's the vent through which our stress passes so that we don't carry it around like a sewage tanker truck. It feels much better to sweat it out than to let it fester in our blood and organs. So a lot of us, when we look back at those months of training, we don't just see sore muscles and sweat. We see adversity. We see emotional struggles. We see obstacles and climbs that we have scaled and conquered, that have strengthened not only our muscles but our wills.

It takes a lot of work to get to race day. The struggle is over--now it's time to enjoy the view.