BMO Vancouver Marathon Race Review

I've been home for a week now since running the BMO Marathon, and have already laced back up my shoes twice to run!

I was in the 4th corral.  They did a countdown for each corral to start.  I had batman in mine!

Vancouver was more than expected.  Both in scenery, and also on the course.  It was a TOUGH run.  I've been trying to think about what made the course so difficult - the rolling hills? The major climb at the 8K mark, or perhaps the heat?  A friend texted me an article where an elite runner was being interviewed and he described the course as "rough".  Two other BMO finishers I saw in Calgary on Saturday said that they run it every year but saw more "carnage" this year.  

My favorite section of the course

Putting the difficulty aside, I cut a whopping 21 minutes off my Calgary finish time from not quite a year ago.  I finished in 4:27 laying out EVERYTHING I had on the course.  Physically, mentally, and emotionally.  It is the first time I hit a mental wall at only 19K and cried after crossing the finish line.  When I hit the mental wall, my calf was starting to seize up, and I could feel my hip flexor tensing.  Thankfully it came and went over the course and wasn't persistent.  Initially I was going to run without my phone but I was glad I did.  It came in very handy at 21K to start texting my girlfriend and my hubby to get some much needed mental support.  At 39K I was pretty sure the seawall would never end.  I was running without headphones (probably not a repeat at another 42K event), so I turned on the tunes on my phone.  I figured it would either also help the rest of the runners around me, or encourage them to run faster ha ha.  We rocked it out to Pat Benatars "Hit it with your best shot" to help get us to the end.

Hello ocean! 

So what brought down my time by 21 minutes?

Calgary:  Sometimes I only got in 2 runs a week
Vancouver: I ran a minimum of 3 times a week, usually 4 times a week

Calgary: All my runs were at the same pace
Vancouver: I incorporated both speed and hill training

Calgary: Some runs only saw 3.5K as a distance
Vancouver: My runs were a minimum of 5K

Calgary: No mid week long run
Vancouver: I had a mid week long run of at least 10K that I did steady, no walk breaks

Big difference heh?  This past January when I laced up my shoes to train for Van, it was the first time I actually trained for a race since 2006.  Training shows results!!!

I really went into Van wanting to see a 4:20, given my long run pace would have brought me in to that.  But race day played some different elements.  I was reading back through old posts, and saw in 2014 I wanted to run a 4:30 marathon again.  It gave me perspective (as well as LOTS of perspective graciously and lovingly given from friends and family).  A week post I'm owning my 4:27 and am looking at my training and thinking on what I can do to tick furthur minutes and seconds off.

My parents are awesome cheerleaders.  I saw them 4 times on the course!  This was marathon #6 they've cheered for me at!

Realistically I know I can't add any more runs or distance to my week, as I need to strike a balance with my family.  But what I can add in is on days I had previously taken off, add in a day of core or yoga.  Both would be good for me and might be fun for my kids to do with me.  My next Marathon is this coming fall and will also involve some rolling hills.  I'll be adding more hill repeats into rotation!

So true.

Thanks Vancouver.  It was a fun, hard, heart opening challenge.  I came away from it wanting to try it again, just to see if I can conquer some of the mental walls I faced.  One year I'll be back (and hopefully sooner than another 11 year jag!)

Yes!

A great marathon finishes at a Starbucks ;)

Tis' Almost the Season

Can you  believe that Christmas is almost around the corner?  It's hard to want to believe that given Summer only just ended, Fall has just begun, and the days here are still in the 20's.  But before we know it, Christmas carols will be on the radio!

I like to start shopping early for my family, especially since there are 7 birthdays all celebrated in December and January!  So far I've already picked up my sons 5th (holy cats!) birthday gift, and yesterday out at Costco picked up some stocking stuffers.

As a crafty person I like to make as many of the gifts as I can.  But am also realistic about the amount of time I have, and that frankly, some things are just cheaper bought.

I've had fabric since my eldest was 2, along with a pattern to make her a housecoat.  I pulled out the pattern, measured her now at the age of 7, and was determined to finally make it for her.  Until I realized yesterday the pattern is only appropriate for a toddler.  Hmmmm.  No problem, I'll make it for my littlest and get more fabric for the eldest and the right pattern, but at the back of my mind realizing that the original fabric and pattern cost me close to $50.  That's alot for a housecoat.  And you know what I found yesterday afternoon at Costco?  A purple housecoat, in size 7/8 for $15.  I may be crafty, but I'm also not dumb!  That $15 housecoat entered my cart.

There are a few handmade items on my list though that won't be bumped off.  I have:

A hat for one of my sons teachers
A capelet for my Mom that was meant for her birthday 2 years ago (wow this shows I should not commit to making things as gifts).
The housecoat for my littlest (might as well use up what I have!)
And I'm working on a Lego idea for my son

That list is pretty short, but I know at least the second item will take me quite a while to complete.  My Dad loves handmade socks so if I have time those might be added to the list as well (for either his December birthday OR Christmas!).

How about you?  Have you started planning/plotting/snooping for ideas?

Sweet Valentine Delights

Thursday mornings after dropping my big two at school, I've been taking the littlest and meeting up with a friend to visit.  It was at our visit last week that she mentioned she was making a Pinterest treat for Valentines.  I have a Pinterest account, but don't use it frequently.  The treat involved chocolate and pretzels.  With a weakness for the combination of salty and sweet, I asked her to send me the 'pin'.

These are so good I can't properly describe them.  I do know almost everytime I walk by the fridge I pop one into my mouth.  (I found at room temperature they tend to stay too soft).

To make:

First, get some little people to do the legwork for you of taking off all the wrappers from the Hershey Hugs.

While they were doing that (with their Dad's help), I assembled the pretzels on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, and heated the oven to 200F.

Put a Hugs in the center of each pretzel, bake in the oven for 3 minutes, then press a smartie down onto the centre.

I let ours sit for a couple minutes, then placed the cookie sheet into the freezer to set them.  Once set, I've stored ours in a tupperware in the fridge.

Yum and enjoy!