Race Review: Fort Langley Historic Half Marathon

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Before I start let me say, I'd like some cheese with my whine because I'm going to whine a lot... right now.

The day started out well, I woke up, decided not to shower (I normally do to wake myself up). I just got dressed, grabbed a bite and headed out the door. I arrived with plenty of time and it was very chilly, I kept my eye out for the people from the Running Room I go to on Wednesdays/Sundays, but I didn't see anyone. I looked at the mile long bathroom line-up and decided that wasn't going to happen so I headed straight to the fire to stay warm:

I ran into someone here from my Surrey Half Marathon running clinic last summer. It was nice to have someone to chat with and of course to get a picture:

I wore my new "powered by chocolate milk" shirt, lulu swiftly long sleeve, and my 'magic pants' (CWX 3/4 compression tights)

They had 3 different starts for the half marathon (each consisting of 200 people), the girl I was standing with convinced me to start in the second corral, I was planning on the 3rd (just in case there were a bunch of elite runners) but I decided to go for it. It ended up being fine since it was up to each individual, there were people of every level in that starting group. I always get nervous especially when it's up to the individual because people often place themselves in the wrong group. I remember when I did the Sun Run, there were people with strollers in the 1:00 finish corral. I wish that all the race organizers, especially with the larger races, made you prove your finish time with a recent result from a race. 

Anyways, within a couple minutes of lining up we were on our way. I felt good for the first 5 or so kilometres... then we hit 240th, the first of the substantial hills in the race. I knew they were coming but I still wasn't ready. I pushed as much as I could but I ended up walking the last half of it. At this point, I knew I was behind where I needed to be and I sort of lost motivation, I was still running 10/1s but I was feeling pretty down. Just then, a friend from the Running Room tapped my back and ran up beside me! It was great, I totally needed that push. Tracey was on a slightly different 10/1 schedule because she started in the 3rd group, so I got on hers and we ran together. She is a faster runner than me, but that's what I needed to get me back up to a decent time. We powered through the last of the hills and down a really curvy hill (which was really rough on my knee) and then down onto river road, a good flat stretch. I told Tracey to go ahead somewhere around the 15km mark, I knew I needed to slow down just slightly as my knee was starting to give me trouble after all the up/down. I adjusted my pace and decided I needed to get this over with. I'll admit this was probably one of the most difficult races for me, besides Nevada, I can't think of a tougher one. I wanted nothing more than to be done. I chuckled slightly at these signs, there were various different sayings:

Not a great picture but I wasn't really stopping: It says "Chop down  your time!" with a picture of a man chopping wood. 

My laughter was brief, finally we were back on Glover Road, a stretch I drive almost every day. I was so close, 2km left... There was no more stopping. Finally... finally I was done, with a time of 02:20:49, not so bad considering my PR is 02:17:38. After that difficult of a course, I'll take it. Even though I live in Fort Langley and I love it, I didn't love this race. It was beautiful and the organization was all good but it was a personal struggle for me. I've never loved hill training and this pushed my limits, not as bad as Nevada but it was REALLY hard.  Thank you Tracey for helping me get through the majority of the race and thank you to all the organizers/volunteers of Try Events!

When I got home I was eager to put my CEP compression socks on, have some chocolate milk, and relax... well relax with Griffin, so I think I sat down for a minute or two...

I can't believe I've done 10 half marathons... 4/16 done for the year, I'm well on my way to completing the 13in2013 challenge! By the end of the year I'm definitely going to be out of room on my medal rack, I'll have to look for something different, perhaps when I go to the Disney Wine & Dine Expo (I remember they had some neat ones at Tinkerbell).

So now it's on to a couple of shorter distance Sunday's and then the Golden Ears Half Marathon followed by NYC!

Maybe I'd like some wine with my whine fest, yes, yes that sounds much better than cheese...

Where the Magic Happens...

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So I know it's already Friday however I never really recapped Work it Out Wednesday...

I started off with run club at the running room and we ran roughly 5km with a nice little hill mixed in. I've really been trying to push myself when I go on the group runs, using the people at the front of the pack as motivation and I think I've been doing well but I'm not sure how much more I've got in me.

Following the run, I headed over to Equilibria for my training session. We did a lot of work on the agility ladder, something I've never done before. It was definitely one of those exercises that looks a lot easier than it is. Throughout the session we did several different drills which required my feet to have a lot more coordination than I do at this point. Felipe (the trainer) promises that it will get better with time, I'm not so sure. Between each drill we did some resistance exercises. Throughout the session we talked about what my plan is for getting faster while running -- long story short, I need to get uncomfortable. Basically with all the running I've been doing I think I've found a pace where I can be comfortable for longer periods of time, well as comfortable as you can be running a half marathon. For so long I wasn't sure how far I could push myself, my goal had always been just to reach the finish line still upright. Now, 9 half marathons later, I need something more, I need to be faster. The only way to achieve that goal is to get out of my comfort zone and start pushing myself every time I run to be faster. As Felipe put it - that's where the magic happens... He was referring to this drawing:

The thing is after last Sunday I felt done, I felt like I had given it my all, some days are better than others but I look at people who are running sub 2:00 half times and I really don't know how they do it. I've been researching some speed training techniques but I'll save those for a later post. I finally got a chance to take a picture of my goals up on the wall at Equilibria:

I really love this idea, it's really motivating to see everyone's goals as you walk in the gym. For a wider shot, check out this post from my first visit to Equilibria.

I was pretty wiped after the run and the training session so I headed home to power up with some chocolate milk that I got in my Powered by Chocolate Milk prize package:

 

I think it was a successful day, I'm just starting to feel overwhelmed with everything ahead of me. On a brighter note my sister and I are headed to NYC in less than a month now, that will definitely be the trip and the race of a lifetime! I really can't wait.

I went for a run today in preparation for the Fort Langley Historic Half on Sunday. Now that it's closer I'm starting to get nervous about the hills, the route is basically outside my front door and though I've run those hills many times and whined about them many times more, I'm just not excited about this race. My CWX 3/4 compression tights arrived today and I'm thinking about wearing them to the race, all the online reviews refer to them as magic pants... maybe some of that magic will help me recover from those hills? The weather was great for my 8k run today and I finally got to run during the day when the sun was out!

It also looks nice for Sunday too, hopefully this weather sticks around.

 

I've been Powered Up for Work it Out Wednesday!

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So last week my good friend, Nikki from Slow is the New Fast nominated be to get powered up in the Powered Up By Chocolate Milk contest! I'm so honored she nominated me and SO excited that I was chosen as one of the winners!

I'm so impressed with this contest and what a great way to pay it forward to those who've helped me in reaching my running goals. I nominated 3 more people and guess what? They were all powered up too!

Today I received my powered up package just in time for Work it Out Wednesday!

In the package: water bottle, a mini cooler to transport my milk to races, a tshirt, a $50 gift card to the running room, and best of all two cartons of chocolate milk, mmm!

I love chocolate milk post-run, I always feel great after, you could say I've been powered up! I'm going to have some tonight after run club and training at Equilibria and I'll save the other one for after the Fort Langley Historic Half on Sunday! 

Chocolate milk and running are two of my favorite things so I'll definitely be keeping track of Powered by Chocolate Milk in the future. Who knows maybe they're looking for a new ambassador?!? Could chocolate milk get me through 16 marathons in one year (thought it was 13in2013, read this post)? I guess you'll have to wait and see!