Tough Steps Are The Ones That Count

When I was running my 1km intervals the other night with my friend John Carson I noticed something. At interval pace (4:25/km) everything is tougher, specially when you are doing hill intervals! What hit me was that at this speed the slightest incline was noticeable in the feet and the legs.

I hadn't thought about it again until on my long run today. You see I was set to run with the Run for Life group Saturday morning when my wife was rescheduled to work. So as we runners do, I zigged. 25km all by my lonesome. Out came the iPod and away I went. First up on the iPod was my Free The Beagle audio book. This book always brings me something new every time I read/listen to it. As I got into chapter 11 there it was:

"Yesterday the lawyer had felt the forest floor begin to rise and had allowed the slight incline to guide his footsteps in the darkness. If a step seemed easy, he knew it was leading him downward. It was only the more difficult steps that would take him higher"

You see this book has helped guide me in business, in life and now was making sense in my running. These words hung heavy in my ears. I have just recently taken some difficult steps in my business and have been taking many difficult steps in running. Difficult steps lead you to higher ground.

"Having resolved to take only the difficult steps, he sat now in bright sunlight, high upon a hilltop, scanning a panoramic forest."

I often wonder why I see runners not pushing, not improving, not going to the next level. It's that simple, when the difficult steps come they take the easy ones. They walk up the hill, ease through the down hill, run as fast on the on minute as they do in the off minute, settle for 6.8km and not push on to 7km, or decide to not run because it's snowing, raining, cold, hot, foggy, or icy.

Figure what you want. Do you want to get to hang out in the village of compromise or climb the purple mountains on your way to Destinae?

Well That Was F&%king Hard!

So I had done all the training. Lost a toenail, twisted an ankle, even struggled with summer schedules (including vacations). All in all I logged 614kms training over the 16 weeks leading up to my marathon. I felt more ready for this than I did for the half I ran last year.

Stayed downtown with the family last night so I didn't have to get up at some ungodly hour to make it in. Relaxed mostly, hung out at the pool and the hot tub with the kids after our "carb load" at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Slept like crap with the anticipation of the race...I hate being so worried about missing the alarm that you wake up every 90 min to make sure you haven't. GRRRR

The morning came and I was up before the alarm and got ready in the dark so as to not disturb the family too much. Had everything ready the night before so it didn't take me long. Kissed Yvette and the kids and away I went. It was a 1.4km walk to the start so it was a nice way to get things stretched and loose.

Kudos to the organizers for the efficiency at the bag check. Ran into fellow Run for Lifers so we made our way to the start together.

Started well and ran with a Robb, who was doing the half, for the first 5km. Was feeling great and was hitting my marks (4 hour goal required 5:41/km). My 10km split was 56:54. At the halfway point I was 1:59:45, still right on for the 4 hour mark! My knees (IT Band issues) started hurting around the 22km mark but I pushed pass. met a lovely lady from Winnipeg who was also running for 4:00 hours. We kept each other company and on pace for the next 15km or so. Our time at the at the 30km mark was 2:50:49 so just off pace at 5:42/km. This took us into the Beaches out and back. This was a tough 5 km. Crowds were great but it just seemed to go on and on. Came out of the Beaches section with the 4 hour pace bunny on our tail and just off pace with 3:19:58 (5:43/km). This is where the wheels started to fall off. I let Leslie go on as my hips started to tighten up. My pace slowed as we turned onto Eastern Ave. Getting worse and worse as I pushed I knew the minute I stopped I was toast. Then I saw my demise. The hill was slight by any standard but it was at the 39km mark!! I took my own advice and put my head down and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. This got me over the hill but I didn't get much further. My hips were so tight I just couldn't keep the pace up so I did the unthinkable...I started to walk. It actually hurt more but I could actually continue. Got to the 40km mark and my split was 3:54:32 (5:52/km). I knew once I started walking 4 hours was done. I also knew that I would finish this race. I kept walking and made my way onto Front St. I tried a few times to run, to no avail. The further I went the tougher it got. I had to stop and rest a few times and after I passed Church I almost sat down. I knew that would be the death of me so I pressed on. Across Young St looking at the Hockey Hall of Fame and Union Station I knew I was close. My head was saying go and my body was saying stop. As I approached Bay St I said regardless I was running the final 750m. Turned the corner and started to "run". I am not sure if it was the pain of starting but I started to gasp for air. I almost couldn't breath. I settled down and put it out of my head and focused on Old City Hall at the end of Bay. As I approached Queen St I almost sprinted to get to the finish line.

4:18. All in all happy to have finished and proud to call myself a Marathoner!!

Tonight's Hills

It was snowing lightly most of the afternoon which led to a slippery run tonight. Other than it being a little slippery it was a great run. Large group and some strong runners. I did 5 repeats on the top of Gordon St which added on some extra distance as I was only planning on doing 4. All in all a little over 10km.

Afterwards it was home, a quick stretch and change and then off to the Run For Life board meeting. Great meeting with some input from new members. Looking forward to the new iteration of the website due this week and to see how the "Footprints" idea comes to fruition. It would seem that they are lining up some great minds.