I was excited about running the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon again as recently as Tuesday.

Tonight though (Friday), when it’s time to be packing and hydrating and fueling, I’m looking forward to spending a few days at home instead.

I love Vancouver, but I’ve been back and forth a lot lately and one more trip just looks like No. Fun. At. All.

I just got back from there yesterday. If I was to go to Vancouver tomorrow, I would return by ferry Sunday afternoon, then turn around and go back to Vancouver Tuesday through Saturday next week. I’m getting exhausted just writing all that, let alone running a 21.1 km race on Sunday to boot.

I don’t think M. feels all that great about my traveling either, and we discussed it tonight. If she were to come with me she would have to work around my race instead of having fun with Mom in the city.

I’m not without choices though: most of my other running clinic buddies are signed up for the Oak Bay Half Marathon on May 16. I can sign up for that one, hop back on the final two weeks of their schedule by running 1:30 or 1:45 tomorrow and some hills on Wednesday, then taper (again) for another 10 days. Heck, it would even be cheaper than taking the ferry over and eating all our meals out, etc.

In the end it comes down to this: I run for fun. It’s not an imperative, it’s not a job. It’s a way to challenge myself and feel great afterward. It doesn’t matter if I run Vancouver or Victoria; it doesn’t matter if I run sub-2 hours or 2:15. What matters is I show up and feel good about my effort.

So, the plan has changed – I’m in training for another 2 weeks and I’ll run in my own town May 16, after sleeping in my own bed the night before.

Tori with grandson Oliver, 3 days after running the 2009 Royal Victoria Marathon

I love a running group: meeting new people, finding out why they run, what they do besides running, what motivates them. It makes the hours and the effort float by effortlessly. One new running buddy is a woman with two children, aged 6 and 9.

I must admit – at this stage of my life, with a self-sufficient teenager at home and two grown children (including one grandchild) – I couldn’t imagine at first how one trains for a half marathon with little ones. Case in point: my new running friend was going home after our run to prepare for her son’s birthday party and host a family dinner –that same day.

“Whoa – I usually go home and have a nap on Saturdays,” I said.

“Yeah – I’m going to be exhausted,” she said.

In contrast, I went home to have a glass of chocolate milk, a leisurely soak in the tub, eat some lunch, do some errands in the Village, have coffee with friends, make some appetizers and then, later on, shake some martinis a small get-together with some other friends.

I do remember training for a half marathon when my children were that age. It can be done! with a little creativity and trusting that your kids are all the better when their mom takes care of her health. For instance, my kids and their friends loved that I could do cartwheels, especially when they were really little.

Here are some of my tips I shared with my new friend:

• Figure 8′s: while the kids played with each other in the front yard, I ran 800 m figure-8 loops around the two blocks surrounding our house, waving at them as I ran by. Even if it’s a short run it’s better than nothing.

• Candy Cane Park: along the same lines, I found an open play park with a nice loop where I could keep an eye on the kids playing while I ran around, and around, and around. Hey, it gets boring, but you can join the kids afterwards and do stretches and pull-ups on the playground equipment. Note: tracks are really boring for little kids, try to find an open playground instead.

• Cheap child care at rec. centres: take advantage of it! Look around – most of them have some child care times. They’re usually bedlam – but they’re only there for an hour or so, and most of the time the kids have a ball and you can get your workout in.

• Swim or skate lessons: most facilities have a workout area that’s available for you while kids are in their class. Get on that treadmill and work out when they do!

• Bikes: kids on their bikes, you running. Try and keep up, will ya?

• Take them running with you! This usually meant my son – he’d sprint ahead and stop to catch his breath. When I caught him he would sprint ahead again .. and so on. Make a short loop so that when child decides he’s had enough, he can go play with friends while you keep going. (P.S. my son – now age 22 would still be running if he hadn’t torn his ACL playing football last summer.)

• Get Dad (or a friend) in on it to trade off child minding duties. My ex-husband and I liked to run together, but it was a treat because usually we could only go one at a time while the other stayed home to mind the children.

• Get up at an unseemly early hour. I still do this. It’s my “me” time: 5 – 6:30 am.

• The running stroller. Never had one, they were out of our price range – but I always wanted one. Train while pushing your child, and when race time comes you feel so light and free! Actually, I did wear out (very quickly) one cheap stroller when my youngest was about 18 months old. We found out the hard way – I was running down the street and the thing just – disintegrated. Wheels fell off, I’m eating pavement, daughter is laughing, tipped over sideways on the sidewalk. Luckily we weren’t far from home, and I only wounded my pride.

No excuses – just do it. You do have time to take care of your health – if you make it a priority.

Three workouts in 36 hours. Not enough to outrun the deafening silence of still unfulfilled dreams.

Slick with sweat last night, no window open wide enough. Perimenopausal? Flu? Nerves? Restlessness?

We all have our reasons for running. Mine are no different and no clearer and no more mundane or less important than anyone else’s.

The hills slay me. I choose them. They are my poison. Post-marathon, there’s no training group and I am finally alone. I forgot how much I love to go inside – deep inside – when there’s no chatter and laughter and distracting us from 3 hours of tightening hips and growing blisters, averting our gaze from the boredom and the pain and the effort.

I love the boredom and the pain and the effort. I love the wet soaking through my jacket, I love dancing around puddles and the thrilling little shock of cold wetness on the toes. A surprise – I find a fresh alley, a new tree, a shiny streetglow under a lamp that wasn’t on at this time 3 months ago. I find a new insight, a poem written and forgotten before I see warmth again, a story plotted with characters and lost to the search for a bagel back in the cozy smallness of the kitchen.

I am naked when I run alone.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ-5SYqp8kI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]

I’m moved, but still have no sofa, bed for my daughter, end tables, living room lamp or desk chair for this computer. Not only that but the new place (why didn’t I notice this before?) has no linen closet. I need trunks or some other storage solutions. It’s going to take a bit of fussing to get settled. No problem, right? Right.

Grin and bear it

Except for an increasingly punishing training schedule, looming deadlines and staffing shortages at work and a frustratingly ambiguous yet potentially very exciting love life at the moment. Oh yeah, and then there was the fall down the back stairs in the rain on Monday, from which I got a bruised tailbone and elbow. I still can’t quite sleep properly (I never realized how much I like to sleep on my back…)

A wise massage therapist once told me that once you’re running over 15 miles a week you’re not doing it for your health, you’re punishing your body. At that point you’re doing it for some other reason. Marathons are for fit people, for determined people, for people who perhaps have something to prove. But they’re not going to keep you healthy.

Well, I am kinda crazy and determined to reach my goal, so I push on, trying to fuel up, get enough sleep and resist the urge to freak out when some new surprise in my new place, my new neighbourhood and my new sorta-relationship comes up. (Um, ok, so I have freaked out. Once. After tempo run/hill repeats this week. So sue me, I’m not a saint.)

I saw a counsellor/coach yesterday who taught me a relaxation-meditation exercise that seemed to work instantly – in her office anyway. The trick will be to use it when the stress response starts to kick in. I’ll try it after the next set of hill repeats.

Though I started out strong (and truth be told I ran the entire race strong) I felt a little – off. I can’t really describe the feeling, but it took me just that extra bit of effort to pull off that 2:12 time. I certainly felt better this race than the other 2 half-marathons I’ve completed, but I somehow felt only 95% there the entire time. It think I’ve figured out what I needed 5% more of: rest and electrolytes.

Rest:

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Traveling to run a race poses its own challenges, chief of which for me is the fact that I wasn’t snug in my own bed the night before. However, the fact that I was snug in D-man’s bed (a bed I am by now very familiar with) helped. Nevertheless, I started getting nervous a few days before the race, was busy with various engagements (including teaching a 1-hour spin class Thursday morning) and had a couple of relatively sleepless nights going into it.

Electrolytes:

Electrolytes are the chemicals in one’s blood that keep your heart pumping in a regular rhythm and your cells firing to fuel your body and your kidneys functioning normally. They’re what keep your spark plugs firing and your motor running. There are a number of them: potassium, sodium, magnesium being the main ones – that are normally present in a certain ratio to each other in the blood stream. If they get out of whack, you get into trouble. Sweating sheds electrolytes (chiefly sodium) that can cause an imbalance. If you don’t replace the electrolytes during endurance activities you are more prone to heat exhaustion, dizziness, or worse.

For that reason I was stocking my body with electrolytes added to my water a couple of days beforehand. The night before the race – just as with every long training run I’ve done for the past four months – I prepared (or so I thought) 20 oz of water and 20 oz of water+electrolytes in the bottles I carry on my belt. While I run, I alternate between drinking plain water and drinking electrolytes. (During a race, I like to blow by the water stations rather than slowing down to take water or – gag me – sports drinks that could upset my stomach).

During the race, I couldn’t find my electrolytes. Only after I ran the Prospect Point hill (200 m elevation gain over 2 kms or so) did I realize I had only plain water and my energy gels, which gave me fluid, calories and caffeine (my performance-enhancing drug of choice) but not sodium or potassium. I must have become a little distracted at D-man’s handsome physique while I was getting ready the day before! No big deal – I was nowhere near the nasty signs of severe imbalance: fatigue, nausea, dizziness, lack of co-ordination. It just meant that I had to focus that much more and reach into my mental and physical reserves just a touch further than I had planned.

I say no big deal now, but look at that expression on my face as I approached the finish line. Normally, knowing my picture is about to be taken, I look up and smile. Not yesterday!

The  last 5 k, my only aim in life was to Keep. Up. This. Pace. It became the only thing that mattered. I chased my friend and run clinic leader, Rita. After training with her for four months, I knew I had it in me to keep up, so I focused on the back of her head about 25 metres ahead of me and soon everything else faded away: other runners, the crowds lining the streets in downtown Vancouver, the noise they made, the beautiful skyscrapers, the clear gorgeous day. They were all gone, it was like I had tunnel vision. There was only Straight Ahead.

I timed it almost perfectly – about 1 minute before the finish line I started to feel like real hell. Rita slowed down and ran beside me. I managed a smile “Are we doing this together girlfriend?”

“Yep, pour it on and we can beat 2:12,” she said.

“I feel like hell,” I said.

“What is it, your foot?”

“Nope – just all over,” I said, and tried to pick up the pace to cross strong. Man it was tough. I saw some chip-sensing pads before the FINISH banner. “Is this the finish?” I gasped.

Race photo by melaniejo

“Nope, just so they can see your name on their screens to announce you’re coming. Let’s go!” said Rita.

That’s when I think I gave a gutteral “grrrraaahawaaaa” which I’ve heard come out of my mouth only four previous times, when I gave birth.

When I crossed the real finish line I really just wanted to stop and throw up (a sensation I recognized from previous speed and hill workouts). Within seconds, I felt Rita’s hand on one elbow and a medic’s hand on the other one. “How do you feel? Are you OK?” someone said.

“I’m feeling pukey.” I said

“Do you want to sit down?” the medic asked.

“No – no, I’d better keep walking. I’ll be all right.” By then – in seconds – pukiness had largely passed.

He was doubtful: “I’ll be fine” are the famous last words of 99% of people before they pass out or toss their cookies. When he saw that I really was probably fine, he handed me over to a junior volunteer medic named Matthew who talked to me for a couple of minutes before ascertaining that I didn’t need babysitting any more. He said he was fighting an injury, that’s why he wasn’t racing, and he congratulated me on my run. I laughed and told him I volunteer at races too when I can’t run them, and I appreciated his committment to the sport.

Then Rita and I lingered at the finish line to greet the other runners in our pack with whom we had started out.

D and me on the breakwater, Victoria BC

Later, after a big brunch, two epsom salt baths, and a four-hour nap, D-man made me a huge steak for dinner. I ate the whole thing and told him I’m just crazy about him, and I hope he’ll be my support crew when I run the full marathon in October. He gave me one of his completely disarming big goofy grins and said he’d be delighted.

Life is 100 % wonderful.

When the rain comes (3)

Originally uploaded by VeNiVi

My long slow run yesterday was 19 kilometres in 2 hours and 10 minutes. It rained the entire time, by the first five km I was thoroughly soaked. At the 1:40 mark, in the middle of our second 30-minute tempo pick-up, my left hip and calf started to twinge with tightness.

Afterwards I had a bath, ate, went out to get groceries, ate again, and slept for an hour and a half, then cleaned my place and hosted friends for dinner. I finally got the kitchen clean and went to bed at 1 am. In all that time – no hobbling with stiffness. No sore feet. No blisters.

I woke up this morning – a little dehydrated from the wine, but feeling great otherwise. No lactic-acid-drenched legs, feet perfectly fine.

What?? After last week’s run of just over an hour I stiffened up by dinnertime! I must replicate this non-stiffness in the future. What did I do right?

I think I did four things to help my recovery – long hot soak, lots of hot tea, restorative nap and light activity.

When I got home I threw off the soaked clothes and ran a hot bath. My skin was red where my soaked running clothes had touched. The hot water actually felt cold until I started to warm up. My daughter boiled a kettle of water and slowly added it until it was the temperature of a hot tub. Ahhhh. It was hard to get out of there.

Rehydrating is essential – I drank two big mugs of tea.

After I shopped for the evening’s meal, I crawled back into bed and was blissfully napping until it was time to get up, clean up and start prepping for my dinner – halibut fillets in an orange teriyaki sauce, new steamed potatoes, asparagus, salad, olives, whole-grain baguette. My dear friends brought pie – PIE! for dessert. Yum…

I made sure to drink a big glass of water as I was washing up after they left. I think the fact I didn’t just lay on the couch and watch movies and eat cereal had a lot to do with it – I kept moving — cooking and eating well and laughing with my friends.

It was absolutely lovely to wake up feeling great with supple, not wooden, legs. I felt like a kid I was so happy! Get ready for more dinner parties thrown by yours truly.

✘ A social life. Who can stay up past ten when they do five or more hard workouts a week lasting an hour or more each? Parents of small children beg off parties at midnight, laughing about how they magically turn back into moms and dads at the stroke of 12. Marathoners start yawning at 9 pm. “I just hate to go, but I’ve got a 15 K with two 5 K -pace pick-ups tomorrow morning,” while their orphaned friends say “huh” and pour another drink. Speaking of drink –

✘ Fine wine and spirits. They’re dehydrating. More than one and you’re headachy and your run the next day sucks (if you’re a lightweight like me that is). They contain too much sugar and your body needs good calories. Stay away if you know what’s “good” for you dammit! Speaking of which —

✘ Feeling full. Crikey! Are all marathoners hungry all the time? I once worked with an economist who was an ultra-triathlete. That means he did two or three Ironman-distance triathlons – back-to-back, all at once. Now that’s definitely in the category of bats**t crazy. If anyone brought any food – be it donuts, cookies, rice cakes, carob-coated seaweed clusters, thawed out frozen hamburger patties that had been sitting in the freezer too long and microwaved to soggy goodness, I mean anything – he’d literally leap over his desk and be first in line. I’m not that bad. I bring 3 healthy mini-meals to work every day, otherwise every two hours I’d be heading to Timmy’s across the street for a crueler. Which leads me to —

✔ Excess weight. This only works if you watch your nutrition. There are many marathon runners of all shapes and sizes. I lost that extra ten pounds I’ve put on in the last three years by dedicating myself to bootcamp-style workouts with Megan for twelve weeks and sticking to good eating habits – that was mostly before I started training for the marathon.

✔ New friends! People are still flocking to sign up for training clinics at shoe stores everywhere. There is a huge community of runners out there who train together, socialize together and travel together to various races across the world. I did a Google search for “running tourism” and came up with over 10 pages of entries: I found a recent Canadian article on the subject.

✔ Feeling bloated, crappy and blah People who exercise regularly have more energy, better sex lives, yada yada. You’ve all heard it before, and it’s true – to a point. After a run that lasts more than 1.5 hours, I’m a write-off the rest of the day. Naps are my friend! Otherwise, I have fewer bouts of vague achies and sickies than I did as a less active person. That’s also due to another great loss –

✔ Stress. This is true to a point as well. While exercise makes you stronger, more relaxed, lowers blood pressure and helps get rid of the bad stress hormones plaguing your bloodstream – once the mileage piles up, the reverse can happen to a marathon runner. Or, as my massage therapist  (Duane of Duane’s House of Pain infamy) once quipped:

“Once you cross the 15-or-20 mile a week threshold, you’re not running for your health anymore, you’re putting extra stress on your body you have to deal with.”

And with that, I must go ice my feet …

TRUTH #1: long runs get you to the finish line. I just love hitting the pavement (or better yet the trail) for hours at a time, especially with running partners. I could run for a couple of hours by myself, but I’d really rather have company!

TRUTH #2: rest days keep you healthy. Oh boy I found this out the hard way a couple of weeks ago when I did 8-workouts in six days, then crashed and burned one Saturday after a long run, spending most of the day in bed.

TRUTH #3: cross-training lets you work while you rest. I cannot run more than 2 or three times a week any more – too hard on my feet. I need spin classes, weights, climbing, biking, etc to keep my heart rate up the rest of the days.

TRUTH #4: pace work is critical to race success. I haven’t done enough of it in the past, so I have either gone out too fast or too slow for a race. We’ll see how much better I judge my pace this year.

TRUTH #5: speed training can help you to a personal best. I’ve tried to do hills and speedwork on my own in the past, and ran into pacing problems: I tried to be TOO speedy. One time I trained for a marathon and had to abandon training because of a knee problem. This time, the Frontrunners group has been an eye-opener – a pleasant one. The hills and tempo runs have been much “easier” than I expected.

TRUTH #6: just plain running is the staple to your program. Like the Zen master says: if you are eating, just eat. If you are running, just run. Or, as a wise friend pointed out to me last week: you are a writer – because you write.

TRUTH #7: weekly distance doesn’t have to be mega distance. I already knew this from my two previous half-marathons. I ran at most three times a week for those races, however I didn’t do enough cross-training then.

TRUTH #8: step back help you step up your training. This is a new one for me too. We’ve been building up to a 1:45 run this Saturday, but the following week is only an hour for the long run.

TRUTH #9: racing builds experience. I’ve run a lot of races, but I’m still so nervous at the starting line I line up at the biffies three times before the starting gun goes!

TRUTH #10: the taper is the time to recover and refuel for peak performance.

TRUTH #11: motivation holds it all together. I think those who know me would agree: this year I am nothing if not motivated! I’ve signed up for the Vancouver Half-Marathon on May 3, and the Royal Victoria Marathon on Oct 11.

ENTRY FEES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE, NON-TRANSFERABLE AND NON-DEFERRABLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

By the way – the picture is me with Ravi – an Olympic athlete who competed Beijing last summer. I’ll sheepishly admit I didn’t follow his progress. RBC – an Olympic sponsor, had a traveling exhibition in summer ’07 and I took my kids when they hit Victoria. We had a great time. It was very motivating!