BMO Marathon
I started running before the pandemic was upon us and built up to my first big race, the Vancouver BMO Marathon, which I did as a half marathon in 2019. I registered for 2020 and then everything went wrong.
The training group ended and everything stopped and I never really completed the training plan that Ellie had built out. Then my friends said, let’s do a pandemic marathon on our own, so we got to some sort of training going again and then tried it in Chilliwack. At 30km I re-aggravated an injury and had to walk it out painfully. I wouldn’t call this a success.
Then in 2021, my friends and I sort of stuck to the marathon training and did the BMO route, 2 of us for 21km then we had 3 for the last 21km. I ended up at 5h 8min for my first complete marathon, but at the end I was running and walking as I struggled.
This year was my first marathon in front of a crowd, with many other runners and an official time 🎉. The first 21km was pretty easy going and I felt confident that I could get under 5 hours, which was my target. The next 10km were ok. The last 11km or so were not as the heat and just general fatigue really started to get me.
Again, as I passed Siwash rock and passed 36km, I was walking and running. I was still keeping up with the crowd and making sure that the 5hr pace runner stayed behind me. It was painful but I was determined to finish and I did in 4h 51m.
As I came across the finish line I almost puked and fortunately a volunteer was right there with a bag. I didn’t puke, but that was hard. I still am not able to hit an average pace. Turns out I’m an above average cyclist and a below average runner. Oh well.