North Vancouver

PUTTING IT INTO PERSPECTIVE – FROM ZURICH TO VANCOUVER

I am running up prospect point hill in Stanley Park - part of the half marathon route - when from far away I can hear a voice that sounds all too familiar - Laura is standing on top of the hill all by herself cheering on EVERY single runner and being serious competition to the Wellesley girls in Boston!! We high five and she remarks that she has yet to see my race report from my last marathon - Zurich, April 11, 2010.

I had not written about my race yet because other than having my family cheer me on and my decent run I did not enjoy the Zurich Marathon due to its poor organization - from the late arrival of the bus to the almost non-existing porta potties to the post race food. But as Mike says “it is a poor workman who blames his tools” I shall not dwell on it and praise the good looking t-shirt that I came away with and the highlight of the race when my nieces ran me into the finish (one of them barefoot!).

I finished this marathon in 4:03. Off my chart of expectations. About 1km into the race my right hamstring started to hurt (which was a lingering pain from training). I knew then that my dream goal of 3:30 was out the window. I had a decision to make. Should I quit right then and there rather than having a “bad” finishing time? Or should I keep going given that my whole family was there to support me, had taken time out of their busy schedules and travelled from all corners of the country to cheer me on and finish below my expectations? I decided to keep going and follow Mike’s good wishes with “keep face of road” and “have fun”. I focused on the “keep face off road” since I couldn’t get into the fun part.

This was such a competitive crowd of runners that it had an eerie stillness around it - not many spectators and the runners kept their heads down and moved forward in a very focused manner. No one spoke. At least not at the beginning in the early hours of the morning. As I travelled mainly to visit my family I guess my focus was not as much on the marathon either - so I perhaps lacked the “mental” aspect of this race right from the start since I had no one to talk about the race in the days leading up to it. I also didn’t run as much in my training as I usually do as my focus/goal this year really is the Oliver Half Ironman in June.

Anyway, the kilometers went by and funny enough with 15km to go I felt really good and upbeat! My hamstring had warmed up nicely and my legs felt pretty good. The sun was out and it was warm. It was now also later in the day, we ran back towards the city and there was more of a crowd. And there you have it - I had successfully kept face off road and now I even started having fun. I knew that a sub four was not likely but I kept pushing on nevertheless being ok with the end result either way.

Given that only 1% of the world population runs marathons I had to put it all in perspective. We do more physical activities than most people do in a year or perhaps in a lifetime. This was my 13^th marathon. Was I getting a bit carried away with my expectations? Had I lost the humility that comes with racing and marathon running?

Laura said it perfectly - there are races when everything comes together - from the organization of the race, to the digestive system etc. But life happens and things “get in the way”. It is perhaps the lesson I have to learn this year. I had high expectations again for this half marathon in Vancouver - even though I didn’t really “train” for it, had just run a marathon three weeks ago, had the busiest two weeks at work ever, cramped in half iron man training, rode three hours the day before - and yet I really wanted a pb today!

Perhaps I have to lower my expectations and respect my body for what it is doing for me - because let’s face it - with so many hours I work out a week I am healthy doing it! What a gift. And what a gift being surrounded by so many wonderful people, having created so many profound relationships and being part of an amazing running community (NSA!) that the end result really should not matter!!

Yes, we work hard for our races and their results. Having a successful race is the icing on the cake. Having a not so good race builds character and perhaps makes us better people and keeps us humble. So whether I achieved my goal today and in Zurich or not I was out there, gave it another try and certainly gave it my best. This time below my expectations. And the best is yet to come.

Syl

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