October, 2010 – Building a running base: New Orleans, Toronto, Calgary, Halifax, and Ottawa

Leslie Spit, Toronto, ON, Canada

There is a little time before I need to start my 18 week, or 17 week, or 16 week structured training program that will get me to the start line on April 18th, fit, healthy and rested up but I do need to start building my base of endurance. I had spent a fair bit if time on the bike during the hot summer in Toronto exploring the city, with a couple of rides out to the end of the man-made peninsula into Lake Ontario called Tommy Thompson Park, or the Leslie St spit as many locals call it, a favourite ride. Had also done a couple of runs each week down to Lake Ontario from ‘Little Korea’ on Bathurst that was my temporary home neighbourhood from May through August; plus a few laps of Christie Pit park, but no runs of significant distance.

Ninth Ward, New Orleans, LA, USA

Running is a part of my life so there was always the non-plan, planned runs. Being more optimistic than pragmatic, I did pack my running gear for the weekend in New Orleans at the start of October. An annual ‘boys sports weekend’, this year 17 of us ‘boys’ converged on the bayous for a little golf, an LSU-Tennessee NCAA football tilt and a N.O. Saints NFL game. Sure I’d run! Come Sunday afternoon, I could no longer take the pressure of the shoes looking out at me from the closet so off I went. One of the best things about running is that it’s a great way to explore a city or town or even a park. I ended up running to the Ninth Ward which was one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The one hour long ‘tourist run’ was a great escape from Bourbon Street and a close-up look at the clean-up efforts.

Point Pleasant, Halifax, NS, Canada

Thanksgiving out west was a chance to reacquaint myself with some choice trails and I always get a couple of runs up on Nose Hill in north Calgary in the fall when the views of the Rockies to the west provide a stunning vista under blue bird skies. Then later in the month, I was out on the east coast where I never miss the chance for a Sunday morning run out to Point Pleasant Park, a real gem on the Halifax peninsula! So there were a few miles on the old ‘sneakers’, but now that 42.2km loomed in the spring, was it enough of a base to build on for serious training?!

October, 2010 – “How’d this happen?

On Monday Oct 18, registration for the 115th Boston Marathon opened and my “gal” Lisa in Calgary calls me to convince me that I should put my name in for the 2011 version of the race as “it’s really difficult to qualify...you did it in Chicago so you’d be crazy not to...” She is wiser than me in so many ways but after I’ve applied on the B.A.A. website, I’m not so sure. Did I really want to put my body through that amount of training again? Chicago was a blast but the commitment required is considerable; the toll quite exacting....

My first Marathon (Victoria, BC, Canada)

Certainly a life-long runner but not a true marathoner, I did my first marathon in 2000 in Victoria as a ‘celebration’ of my 42nd birthday and after that experience, vowed “I’d never run another!” At the end of that one I was struggling to walk in a straight line and was hallucinating that my lungs were oozing from my nose while the elephant on my back was screaming at me to restock the fridge he had curled in his trunk. Well, not quite but I was completely out of it and was on the verge of collapse when I crossed the finish line – looking so rough that my wife at the time, Lil, a true supporter extraordinaire, hailed over a paramedic. I assured her all I wanted was a lie down followed by a huge breakfast; the eating being a wonderful reward for thousands of footfalls. CA, a close friend who was also there cheering me on, playfully chided me at breakfast that I was all talk, and that I ran so well (other than the last 3 miles) “she knew I’d do another one someday”. It was a respectable 3h4min time but such an awful last 3 miles – never again! It was suppose to be my one and only.

The finish line (Chicago, IL, USA)

Then time goes by and even though possessing a decent memory, the pain was far enough removed that in early 2009, I started considering running another marathon. Perhaps I was inspired by the running performances at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games; or that in Spain in 2007, I’d help coach / train a friend to complete her one and only marathon in London; or I was suffering from a lack of oxygen to the brain?! An off-the-cuff comment to a running buddy, after a long Sunday run and coffee with the ‘Old Dawgs’ (informal running group associated with the Calgary Road Runners), led to me signing up on-line for the 2009 Chicago marathon. Incredible what a few clicks of the mouse will get you into!

For my second and to be my last marathon, I wanted a decent time but more importantly, I wanted to finish the race feeling good. For that I needed professional help – not the psychiatric kind but the coaching kind. Another time I’ll share how Cory at TCR Sport Lab did just that as he guided me through a demanding but well conceived training program so that my time was respectable (3h12min) and I finished well, actually feeling great. Breakfast after was even more delicious than the one nine years earlier.

But now it’s Oct 18, 2010 and Lisa has convinced me that this is a great opportunity so once again, a few simple clicks of the mouse and a whole new adventure is set for me. The next day it’s announced that all 25000 spots are filled with the race sold out in record time even though the field is larger each year and fees are now $185US. On Oct 24th, I receive an email from the BAA informing me that I’m officially registered for the 2011 Boston Marathon on April 18, they just need to verify my Chicago qualifying time. I’m not sure if the churning in my stomach that started as I was reading the official notice was excitement, or dread, but there was that sense of ‘holy crap, what now?’. Lisa’s over the moon that I’m officially registered – I’m starting to think she doesn’t really like me! Then again, with the 2010 Vancouver Games long over, what else should I do with my spare time?!