They’ve fallen off of my face more than once, have tumbled many times to the hardwood floor from my nightstand while I fumbled for them in the dark, been lost in my bed covers and rolled onto during numerous occasions, and of course I’ve fallen asleep with them on more times than I can remember. Despite all of this, they not only held together, but retained much of the original lustre and remain in excellent condition.

Only one of the earpieces is starting to look worn, the nose pads are looking a little old and one of the lens screws had to be replaced when it fell out and got lost, but other than that, they’re as good as new. This was the first “thin” pair of glasses I had ever worn and I initially had some reservations about durability, so I’m more than pleased with how well they’ve held up. (I think the frames are made up of some titanium, but I can’t remember)

But this past weekend, I decided it was time to finally replace them.

We’ve had a good run, old friend, but I’m afraid it’s time to part ways.

I went down to the local Pearle Vision since it was close and seemed to have a decent selection of frames. In fact, I found there was just too many options. Many of them were easily ruled out, but I still ended up spending over an hour trying on frames with fingerprints and smudges all over the lenses in an effort to find the right pair. Or, rather, the right pairs, since they had this screwed up pricing that basically forced you to buy two pairs at once since you hardly saved anything by buying a single pair.

The problem with selecting glasses (besides my indecisiveness, aggravated by the multitude of options) is that it’s hard to know how well they’ll do or look over the long run. Durability is important to me, and certainly some frames “felt” more durable than others, but that’s not really a sound way of assessing things. I guess I’m just expecting these new frames to last as long as the previous ones did, because I find it hard to change “styles”.

The other problem is that it’s hard to tell what you look like in them if you don’t wear contacts – thankfully this isn’t a problem for me; I’d be nearly blind without corrective vision.

Eventually, if you try on enough frames and stay in the store for long enough, almost all glasses start to look acceptable. This is because style and attractiveness are both subjective and tend to be swayed one way or another by overexposure. It’s almost as if your subconscious is overriding your critical thinking in an effort to get you out of the store and on your way.

You need to know when this effect is taking a hold of you, so I suggest the following: Within five minutes of entering the store, identify and try on a pair of frames that look utterly ridiculous on you. Then, put these back; don’t worry, you definitely won’t be getting these. After you’ve been in the store for an hour or so, and you’re noticing that most frames you’re trying on are looking good, go back and try on the hideous pair.

If the hideous pair now look attractive or even slightly better than before, your judgment has already been compromised. Either leave and come back another day or take your chances with a pair that you found attractive early on during your search. This is what I did.

I should be getting the new frames within a few days. Hopefully I wasn’t judgment-impaired when I made my choice.

I took a new approach to training and really dedicated myself to it. There were many mid-week 4 AM mornings, followed by 1.5-2 hour runs in the dark, snow/rain and wind. I arrived at the starting line being as prepared for any race as I’d ever been.

However, I failed to meet my goal time of a sub-3:03 marathon, finishing in only 3:07:20. I made several mistakes early on and fell behind the pace within the first 10 km. However, I was most disappointed in myself for not pushing harder. I felt that I had mentally “checked out” after the first half, and consciously or not, believed that meeting my goal was now impossible due to the early mistakes. Because of that, I felt that I didn’t try as hard as I could and that I did not give 100% for fear of failure. It was almost as if I had sabotaged myself into thinking, “If I don’t give 100% and miss my goal, well at least then I will have an excuse.”

I fell into a pretty big slump after Boston and didn’t/couldn’t run for almost a week after. Even when I did start again, things just weren’t the same – my confidence had been shattered. I knew I had to break out of this slump, so I signed up for the Mississauga Half Marathon, which was about a month after Boston, to give me something to shoot for.

Why the half? Simply put, I didn’t think I’d be ready for another full so soon – not just physically, but mentally as well. If I were to run the full, I would have wanted to aim for a sub-3:05, in order to get in on the first week of registration for 2012. However, I didn’t feel that I would have the mental toughness required to meet that time and couldn’t deal with the heartbreak of another missed goal. So, I decided on the half, a distance I felt comfortable with.

Things turned out great – though the conditions were looking windy/rainy, things actually were not that bad, and I was able to pull of a huge PR, finishing in a time of 1:24:02 in the Mississauga Half Marathon, well ahead of any goal I’d had. This was good enough for 4th in my age group. Suffice to say, this was a huge confidence booster, something I sorely needed.

Edmonton Marathon

Coming off my performance at the Mississauga Half, I felt elated and immediately signed up for the Edmonton Marathon, which takes place on August 21st of this year. This would give me two weeks of downtime before I would have to start a 12-week training schedule for it. 12 weeks might seem a little short, but I actually think it’s pretty close to optimal considering my present situation. I felt that the 18-week program I used for Boston was perhaps a little long, and something between 14-16 weeks would have been better.

Given that I’m coming off a good base established by my Boston training (though not reflected in my performance there, but instead at the Mississauga Half), I feel that 12 weeks is more than enough to be ready for Edmonton, provided I stick to the plan, rest/recovery well and not over do things.

Edmonton will be my last chance to qualify for Boston 2012, since registration starts in early September. Technically, I’m already “qualified” for Boston 2012, but I don’t believe my time will be fast enough to actually allow my entry accepted. Complicated story aside, most runners I’ve talked to have thought that you’ll need to have at least BQ-5 (that is, your Boston Qualification time minus 5 minutes) in order to have a chance to get in, so I’ll be aiming for a sub-3:05 finish.

Running a marathon is no easy task. You train for months and basically have once chance to prove yourself. I don’t deal well with pressure, and I choked at Boston this year. I’m trying to avoid that this time in Edmonton.

Edmonton has the advantage of being a flat course, and the climate is not known for its hot summers. When I ran it back in 2009, the starting line temperature was only around 8C with a finishing temperature of 16C. This is pretty close to ideal. However, there are only so many things one can control.

Training doesn’t guarantee any performance; it can only increase the chances of reaching your desired goal. I have accepted the fact that I may give 100% this time and again fail to meet my goal – that is just part of the game. You can’t be afraid to fail if you want to achieve something.

Site updates

Yet again, I’ve fallen behind with keeping this site up to date with articles and guides. It’s not that I don’t have any ideas, it’s just that I’ve been lazy to make the time to put them together. A combination of work, training and life has yet again provided me with the excuse to not further this site with articles that may be of importance to readers.

Writing tutorials and other informational articles is as much a help to me as it is to those who read them, so I will be putting more effort towards this. I hope that you have enjoyed the few that I have written this year.

However, when I received the package from Dell, I was surprised at the size. It came in a huge 18″x13″ bubble envelope:

I thought it was just excess shipping packaging, but opening the enveloped made it clear that the packaging was only just big enough to hold the actual item:

For batteries with packaging that seems to imply they’re good for the environment, you think they would have made the packaging a little less excessive. The packaging is still 100% recyclable, but it still costs energy to make it.

At least Dell didn’t put the already-large item in a huge shipping box.

With that in mind, I thought it’d be useful to provide an update on what I’ve been up to for the past few months, to keep things in perspective.

Changing roles

During the summer, I started a new job. As with any new job, there is an adjustment period and during that time I wanted to stay focused on getting up to speed and being able to deliver in the role I was hired for. I’m always apprehensive about new environments, so I wanted to take the time to properly learn the ropes and not be too assertive, while at the same time not being too withdrawn.

I’m glad to report that things are going quite well. The new position suits me well, and most importantly, the people there are great to work with. My new team lead, and indeed many of my other team members have also been recently hired, so I was a little less intimidated as I was by no means the only “new guy”. Since then, we have all had to opportunity to learn, grow and adjust to the environment, so it’s been a great team-building exercise of sorts. (As you can tell, the company is very much in a growth phase at this point)

About the only thing I don’t like is having to drive to work, as the new workplace is out is Mississauga. It’s not a horrible commute (~30 minutes one-way), but it’s just that I don’t like driving.

Boston 2011 Training

The other big event in my life has been qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which I did last year in STWM 2010.

Luckily, I managed to get in the day registration opened, as all the spots for the 2011 Boston Marathon filled within 8 hours! The fast fill-up time can probably be attributed to a self-fulfilling prophesy, as the people who were locked out last year (when registration filled in “only” 2 months) vowed not to miss it again. This created rumours that things would fill up even faster, and likely created a “bank run” type scenario.

I quickly booked my hotel and flight down to Beantown for April this year, as I didn’t want to miss out because of something logistical. But my planning for Boston hasn’t been limited to administrative items though, as there is of course the training required.

For this next marathon, which will be my sixth, I decided that I need a new approach, one that involved following a proper training plan. Before this, my training had always been self-developed – that is, lacking structure and reason. I would basically run four times a week: One long run on the weekend, followed by three ~10 km runs during the week. All of these would be run at the fastest pace that I could sustain over the distance.

This seemed to work, at least for a while, as I managed at 3:02:50 performance in the 2009 Edmonton marathon. However, this was followed by a disastrous 3:27 finish in the 2009 Toronto GoodLife marathon, and a qualifying near-miss in the 2010 Mississauga marathon where I finished in 3:13. Having just barely qualified during the 2010 STWM with a time of 3:10:46 (and that was only due to sheer willpower during the last 2.2 km), I knew a different approach was required, one that was more regimented.

A new approach to training

So I bought a few books and began reading up online about exercise physiology. I quickly learned that I had simply been running all my training runs too fast, which seems contradictory to the goals of training. After all, to run a race fast, shouldn’t you train fast? It turns out, the truth is not so simple.

Basically, by running everything as fast as I could during training, I wasn’t giving my body time to properly recover. Strictly speaking, it isn’t the workout that improves your fitness – as after a workout, you are tired and your performance is actually decreased. It’s actually the supercompensation that happens during the recovery phase that improves your fitness. Without recovery, hard training will simply break down your body and leave you less capable.

That’s what was happening to me – I was “leaving my best race on the track”, as famed distance running coach Daniels would say. With all that hard running, each workout began to seem tougher and tougher – though the actual intensity was not getting harder. Soon, it got to the point where I could not complete my four runs per week, and had to switch to cross-training in a vain attempt to preserve my fitness. It turns out, this is a common pitfall of amateur runners as they attempt to devise their own “training plan.”

Rest and recovery

After all of this, I needed a recovery period. I took some downtime after my fall marathon, and when to physiotherapy for some issues I was having with my right knee. It turns out I had PFPS (Patello femoral pain syndrome), which is basically a kneecap-tracking problem caused by muscle imbalances and likely aggravated by all the hard running I was doing. I was given some exercises to do and also began some strength training for my quads, and during the past three months the pain progressively decreased and is now almost completely gone. During this time, I was never prevented from running.

But I also began to change how I ran. I no longer ran everything at the fastest pace possible. In fact, for two months, I reverted to a “base training” phase, where all my runs were done at < 70% HRR (Heart Rate Reserve). At first, it was painful to run this slow. But I stuck to the ideas that others had proven effective, and I was able to increase my weekly distance up to levels I’d never touched before, all while remaining injury free.

During this time, I also worked on shortening my stride and increasing my cadence, thus moving away from a heel-striking gait to more of a midfoot strike. I believe this has prevented my plantar fasciitis from returning, something I struggled with for over a year. At the end of this phase, I did a time trial on the treadmill, and I was no slower at 10 km than before. In fact, physically, I felt much more stronger and refreshed.

Marathon training

With recovery out of the way, the question of which training plan to follow came up. After consulting with the folks over at the RWOL Boston forums, it became clear that many of them were following the plan from Advanced Marathoning, by Pete Pfitzinger. Pftizinger and Daniels have very similar ideas – specific runs at specific paces to train different parts of your physiology necessary for the marathon – but Pfitzinger is a more specific with his training schedule, something I desired.

At first, things were a bit daunting – after all, the lowest-mileage plan (which I planned on following) has a maximum week of 88 km, something I’ve never done before. But the beauty of the plans is that while there’s a lot of mileage, there’s a selective use of hard running. Pfitz always places sufficient time between hard runs, filling them with slower-paced runs that keep your cardiovascular system in shape while allowing your legs to recover from the harder efforts. It’s a much more sane approach.

I’m following the 18-week plan that peaks at 88 km, (commonly referred to as “18/55″ since 55 miles is about 88 km) and have just finished the 5th week. I feel great – a lot stronger and most importantly, remain injury free. Hopefully things will remain that way.

Summing it up

Besides updates on my marathon training progress, I will aim to add a few more development/programming related guides. I have the beginnings of a few, but just need the motivation to put them together. Hopefully that will not be interrupted by laziness. But Lennon once said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”.

I’m a bit of an information pack rat. When I have an idea or something I need to keep track of, I have an immediate need to write it down or record it. In the past this has resulted in an assortment of post-it notes, notebooks or even loose papers lying around my desk, all used to document my thoughts. Eventually, I tried to move my note-taking over to the PC in an attempt to make it easier to manage, but over time the notes became spread over a variety of formats and storage mediums, from text files on my local PC to online services such as Google Calendar and Dropbox.

This sort of digital storage Balkanization was becoming a nightmare to manage and effectively neutralizing any benefit from taking notes, since finding and keeping track of what I’d written down was becoming a chore by itself. Clearly, a unified solution was needed. Ever since I got my iPhone last year, I’d been looking for an app or service that would allow me to easily keep track of todo and shopping lists (what most of my notes amounted to), while storing the the data online so that it could be synced or updated from my PC as well.

I think I’ve finally found that with Awesome Note.

What I was looking for

As mentioned, I love keeping lists. So what I needed was an app that could allow me to easily keep track of lists as well as allow me to backup or sync the underlying data in such a way that I could also work with the lists on my PC or online. The built-in Notes app didn’t meet my needs because you could only sync it with certain supported software, such as Outlook, which I didn’t use or care to use at home.

Browsing through the App Store was almost an exercise in futility. Trying to find a decent note-taking app (or any app, for that matter) is a time-consuming activity; I didn’t want to shell out any money without being able to first try the app out, so many apps were immediately ruled out.

The first one I tried was one aptly named Lists. While it was functional and had support for lists and lists-within-lists, it was buggy and the UI left a lot to be desired. The next one I tried was Evernote’s app; while Evernote is a nice service, the iPhone app left a lot to be desired. While the web application or the PC software allowed you to take all sorts of notes, only basic editing functionality was available on the app, and it was suited for a more general note-taking approach rather than one for lists and the like.

I stumbled upon the free version of Awesome Note soon after, which thankfully was fully-featured but limited you to only a few notes. Nonetheless, I was immediately impressed.

Just felt right

Right off the bat, I was impressed by how easy it was to create a list and add items. When creating an item, you can use the “quick-add” functionality that allows you to nicely add a new item while staying on the same screen; if necessary you can later add a longer description on a separate screen. Furthermore, it’s easy to sort items by date, name or priority; more importantly, there’s a robust search function as well. Swipe-to-delete functionality is also nicely handled.

You can create multiple folders, each to store separate items, for example, a shopping list and a todo list. Each folder has its own view options, either thumbnail, lists or todo view, store separately so you can sort through different lists in different ways, each remembered by the app. Furthermore, it’s easy to convert an item to a todo item; you simply tap a box next to an item to change its state from done/not done and there’s no need to navigate complicated setup screens to change this.

There’s also a “Quick Memo” feature, which gives you a notepad to quickly jot down ideas that you can later convert into a fully-fledged note or item. It basically replicates the functionality of the built-in Notes app, all while providing some other nice features such as adjustable fonts, just like the rest of the app.

Furthermore, the UI was very polished; each folder can be identified by colour and an icon of your choosing. A nice assortment of these icons/backgrounds is provided, all of them looking great. In short, everything looks very well refined and well thought out, making list and note management very easy.

But most importantly, the sync worked great out of the box. I tied it to my Evernote account, and as a result I now have the unified access to my notes that I so badly wanted. I’d previously used Dropbox or even my own SVN server to get some semblance of cloud-based storage and access to my notes, but but neither was sufficient to properly work with my iPhone. Awesome Note now provides that functionality, with a great UI/front-end making list/note management a breeze.

I strongly recommend giving it a try if you find yourself using your iPhone/iPod Touch to take notes.

Well, I finally gave in and joined the cult of iPhone. At the beginning of this month, I decided to splurge and get an iPhone through Fido, Rogers discount brand. Why? I suppose it had something to do with the extension of the 6GB/$30 “promotion” or the fact that I was able to find a 3GS for sale locally, but mostly it had to do with the fact that I needed a new toy. (Note that the iPhone is hardly a novelty item, with >21 million of them out there)

Keep in mind that I didn’t have a mobile phone until late 2007, and even then I decided to only go with a prepaid provider (Virgin Mobile) because I didn’t have much of a need for a phone, but really just wanted Internet access. However, this past summer my phone got more use than usual, especially with regard to Internet access. With Internet browsing being anemic on most non-smartphones, I decided it was time to upgrade.

I narrowed my choices down to two: Either the Palm Pre or the iPhone 3GS. However, I wasn’t very pleased with what plans Bell had to offer and wasn’t sure if the Pre developer ecosystem (and thus the applications available) would turn out to be as varied as the iPhone. So, I decided to join the cult.

Another reason that led me down this path was the fact that I already had an iPod Touch from earlier in the year, and so I was already used to the iPhone interface. (I’ve since sold the Touch) And yes, I do realize in that very article I berated the monthly cost of the iPhone only to now end up doing a complete 180 on the situation. It’s not that I’m happy with what I’m paying, but rather that I’m willing to suck it up. Such is the power of the cult, and perhaps one of the reasons for the iPod Touch’s existence – to suck users into getting an iPhone. After all, Steve Jobs did describe it as “training wheels for the iPhone”, but perhaps “gateway drug to the iPhone” would be more accurate.

Fido actually had some okay plans; okay for Canada that is. In the end, I’m paying just about $80 CAD a month. (including taxes) It’s about $50 more than I was paying for my old phone, which is quite a bit, but the iPhone has been invaluable in the intervening period after moving where I didn’t have Internet access at home. We’ll see if it doesn’t lose its appeal in the coming months.

In the meantime, however, it’s been a blast. There are literally too many apps out there to try, so I’ve only had a chance to play with the more popular ones. Some of my favourites include the AllRecipies dinner spinner, Wikipanion, Restaurantica (which I’m surprised isn’t promoted more on their website), and of course, Shazam, the accuracy of which continues to amaze me!

But the most useful features for me have been the always-available easy-to-use Internet access and the access to Google Maps overlaid with GPS. It’s been invaluable, especially after moving to a new city. Without it, I’d literally have been lost more than once.

Despite all the positive features, there are still some sore points. Firstly, battery life on the 3GS is atrocious, as reports have indicated. On a full charge, I can barely last two days with moderate data usage, some music playback and hardly any YouTube/video usage. Be prepared for the daily recharge should you get this phone.

Additionally, being an Apple product the iPhone looks very attractive but is a dirt/dust/fingerprint magnet. Even with the new oleophobic coating (fancy word for anti-fingerprint) you’ll still probably want to get a screen protector and case for this device. I’ve opted for the Speck PixelSkin, which I believe is one of the better cases out there, as it’s tough, rigid and adds a nice grip to the iPhone.

Lastly, there are no good default ringtones supplied with the iPhone! I don’t need some fancy pop-music ringtone, I just want something that sounds normal. Thankfully, a coworker directed me to the perfect iPhone ringtone, and I’ve since been happy with it.

I’ll leave you with some comparison pictures of the iPhone 3GS and the iPod Touch 2nd generation.

I have had the greatest difficulty in finding a pair of shoes that fit and feel right. I think I can remember back to a time in grade school, bugging my Mom to buy me a pair of shoes that I so badly wanted, only to rarely wear them because they just didn’t feel right. All in all, I probably have accumulated a closet’s worth of shoes during my lifetime that just didn’t get much usage because they didn’t work for me.

Thus, for me, trying on a pair of shoes at the store and walking around for few minutes just doesn’t cut it. I won’t feel comfortable until the shoes have been “battle-tested” for hours… unfortunately this sort of intense “try before you buy” approach doesn’t work for most types of footwear, because it’s not fair to the store especially if you’ve worn the shoes outside.

Shoe shopping panic

So you can understand my apprehension when searching for a new pair of shoes. However, wear and tear on my New Balance 846 shoes was literally reaching the breaking point; the shoes are long since past their prime, having served me well in the PEC Marathon last year and through to the training I’ve been doing this year. I estimate I’ve put about 1000 km on them, far more than one should; this put my urgently at need for finding a new pair of shoes.

I first went to Tri & Run Sports, a local store, to find the help I needed. They first recommended a pair of ASICS shoes that felt good on the treadmill there, but I was skeptical, but their return policy was quite liberal; so as long as you didn’t run outside with them, you were free to try them out on the treadmill and return them if they didn’t work for you. Knowing this, I felt a little more secure. It usually takes me a run of at least 10 km or so to tell whether I’ll like a shoe; unfortunately this is obviously not possible nor practical during the buying process, so I was grateful that the store would allow me a grace period to try them out for myself.

However, they turned out to be a disappointment, as they almost immediately caused soreness and pain in my feet after a few minutes of running on the treadmill; I had flashbacks of previous bad shoes I’d bought. Dismayed, I returned them within the week. However, the staff at Tri & Run was more than helpful in assisting me to find another pair that would work. We eventually settled on the Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7, a stability shoe that would be ideal for an overpronator like myself. (I use orthotics to deal with this, and without them I wouldn’t have been able to complete the marathon)

The Mizuno’s turned out to be much better, and I’m now running in them every week and feeling fine! I can wholeheartedly recommend Tri & Run sports if you live in the Belleville or Trenton area and need to find a good pair of running shoes, or anything else related to running!

The need for another pair

I typically like to have two pairs of running shoes: One for indoor running on the treadmill and one for outdoor running. Up until now, my old New Balance 846′s had been serving the role of outdoor running shoe, but as they were beginning to show their age I knew I’d need to get another pair. This weekend, SportChek was having a sale, so on a bit of a splurge I decided to pick up a pair of Adidas Supernova Glides, mainly because they looked and felt nice. I was also sure to ask of the return policy, which was thankfully also very liberal, before I committed to buying. (Also, the New Balance 769′s that I wanted, weren’t available in my size!)

I had a chance to try them out on the treadmill this morning, going for a decent 10 km run. To my surprise, they felt great and I had no initial adjustment problems! This was one of the rare times a shoe has felt this good on the first try; even the Mizuno’s took a run or two to feel “great”. What surprised me even more is that the Supernova Glide is a “neutral” cushioned shoe, not a stability or motion-control one that would be better-suited to my overpronating feet. However, I believe my orthotics help compensate for this and may be enough, but in the long term this may not be a good idea as the shoes may not offer enough stability or rigidness for my foot type. Only time will tell.

Also unique to this shoe was the FORMOTION-dubbed heel shape of the Supernova Glides. Basically, the shape of the heel is not flat, it is slightly slanted on the outside part of the heel. This was interesting because when I look at the wear pattern on the heels of my old shoes, they show the same shape, that is, the outside part of the heel is worn more than the rest. With the Supernova Glides, the heel already has this shape, so I’m guessing this will help reduce wear or extend the life of the shoes.

Anyways, I highly recommend you buy your running shoes from a place that will allow you to test them out on the treadmill for a reasonable period of time, anywhere from 2-3 weeks at least. Battle-testing or trial-by-fire is the only way to go. However, the true test of these shoes will come when I am forced to take them outside for a 20+ km run…

See more at my Zooomr Photostream

I finally bit the bullet and got an iPod Touch 16 GB, after months of telling myself I shouldn’t. And yes, I’m thoroughly enjoying my new toy. So why did I get an iPod Touch when I could have just got an iPhone for the same upfront cost? A few reasons:

• I don’t use my cellphone a lot. In fact, I’m on a pay-as-you-go plan with Virgin Mobile since my cellphone is basically for emergency situations. I still don’t like cellphones all that much.
• I don’t want to pay the exorbitant monthly fees that carriers in Canada charge to use the iPhone. Basically, the minimum monthly cost is $60, but this does not include the “System Access Fee” or essentials such as Caller ID, and adding those brings the total to over $80/month without taxes

I don’t want to turn this into a huge iPhone vs. iPod Touch debate, so let’s just say I don’t have the cash for an iPhone subscription at present. Anyway, here’s a few pictures from the unboxing. Enjoy!

The following is a somewhat long-winded first hand account of my first marathon, which I completed earlier this year, but took some time to write about.

It was a usual Friday afternoon, the time of the week that I usually can’t wait for. However, this Friday I was feeling a little bloated and slow having come back from a lunch buffet where I’d overindulged.

To work off this lethargic feeling, I decided to visit the gym after work – something that I only do infrequently on Fridays, being keen on getting home as early as possible in anticipation of the weekend. I’m fortunate enough to have a workplace that has a gym onsite – but this also means any excuses I’d have for not going would only be made weaker.

Dragging myself to the gym, I started into my routine. In between reps and trying to catch my breath, I starting making some small talk with Brian, one of my coworkers, who was on the bench beside me.

“I don’t normally see you in here this time of day,” I said.

“I usually come in at lunch,” he responded. “But a lunch meeting ran overtime today.”

“Are you working out to prepare for hockey?” I asked, referring to the recreational league that was starting in September.

“No,” he replied, slowly. “I’m in here crossing-training for the marathon.”

That last word, marathon, set off a trigger in my mind.

“Oh, that’s great,” I replied, still trying to process that word. “Which marathon is that?”

“The Prince Edward County one – it’s based out of Picton. This will be my first marathon.”

I guess in the back of my head, I’d always wondered if I’d be able to one day complete a marathon, but never had the willpower or incentive to follow through on my closet ambitions. For one thing, I didn’t have a car and thus didn’t have a means of a travel to even get to the race. And, up until this point, I hadn’t known anyone who also had the same interest.

I went back into my workout routine, but my mind continued to wander. Could this be my chance to finally run a marathon? Picton wasn’t that far away – it would be an ideal first marathon, not having to travel so far. But, I needed more details. When I got the chance, I interrogated Brian further.

“When is the PEC marathon,” I asked.

“It’s October 5th,” he replied. “Why? Are you thinking of running it?”

Today was September 12th. That put almost exactly three weeks between now and the race.

“Maybe,” I said, using that qualifier that far too often dominates my speech. “It depends,” I added, clarifying the issue no further.

“Well you can always run the half marathon, since they have both events. Just to give you an idea, my wife and I have been training for the past 18 weeks for this,” he said, matter-of-factly.

My mind was now racing. True, I could always just sign up for the half marathon, a task I was probably better suited to. The problem was that I knew that I could do the half, but I didn’t know whether I could do the full. It felt like something worth trying, but I knew I would be in for a tough time.

Before I go any further, I should indicate that I wasn’t a total newcomer to running. Though I’d not run a race since high school when I was on the cross-country team, I’d been consistently running three times a week for the past several years, working my way up to 30 km (3 x 10km) per week. So, while I was perhaps not in marathon-shape, I wasn’t completely without a chance. But these situations are always the hardest to decide on – when you’re uncertain of your abilities.

I decided to take the weekend to think about whether this was something I wanted to do.

Beginning Training – With 3 Weeks to Go

That weekend, I decided to buy a waist belt water-bottle holder for running, on the advice of Brian. He’d mentioned that typically in training for the marathon, you’d run at least two “long runs” of 30 km to prepare for the stresses of staying on your feet and moving for that duration.

For the 10 km distances that I usually ran, I usually did not need hydration. Additionally, at the time, I had a somewhat stupid and macho-like view that not “needing” water during a run made you tougher. However, for a distance of 20 or 30 km, no amount of being tough was going to get you through that distance without some form of rehydration.

As it turns out, the Sunday that weekend was unseasonably warm, peaking at 27C. Perfect, I thought, a chance to test out my new water bottle and my toughness. I planned to run at least 20 km, and maybe more if I still felt good. Looking back on my cocksure mindset, I can’t help but laugh at the outcome.

Things could not have been worse. I started feeling extremely fatigued and worn out after only 12 km and had to stop at the 15 km mark and walk back. Luckily, I had decided to run my standard 10 km loop, so I only had to walk back 5 km or so. But my initial confidence (or perhaps, exuberance) had been destroyed.

I clearly did not know what I was getting into – I was dehydrated and sore. Turns out the “drink only when you feel thirsty” rule did not work for me. If I was to have any hope of completing the marathon at this point, I’d have to learn fast exactly what my body needed. I spent the rest of day reading marathon training guides and tips, but all of them seemed to reinforce the fact that I should have been preparing for this much, much earlier.

Back at work on Monday, and still feeling a little sore, I resolved to try a long run once more on Tuesday. Feeling as if it would provide more incentive, I officially signed up for the full PEC marathon that evening. However, I still had one out: The signup page stated, Feel free to sign up for either the full or the half knowing that we can easily move you from one to the other on race day. I like having backup plans.

On Tuesday, all I could think about was the long run that I would attempt after work. Temperatures would be cooler then, and I’d have a better chance. If I can’t make 30 km, then I won’t even bother to try the full marathon, I pledged secretly to myself. Think of this as a qualification round: make it through this run and you earn the right to run the full.

Starting out at just past 5 PM, I took things very slow, since pacing was not one of my strong points. The temperature was idea, being only 16 C for most of the run. After the first 10 km, I still felt fresh, and in much better shape than on Sunday. I slowly sipped at my water bottle full of PowerAde for the next 10 km, until I noticed it was gone by the 20 km mark. By now, the sun had set, but strangely I was still feeling fairly good.

Up until this point, I had never run beyond 20 km. I made the easy choice to continue on through the final 10-k lap. As I neared the end, my confidence grew, despite the fact that I was feeling the onset of soreness in my legs. When I finally reached the “finish”, which was the entrance of my apartment, I was beaming with excitement. I actually did it, I thought.

I quickly reminded myself that this still didn’t mean I’d be able to make it through the full marathon. Though I’d gone almost three-quarters of the way, I still had over 10 km to go for a full marathon, and almost anything could happen during that last 10-k, especially given my inexperience.

Furthermore, there was only two and a half weeks left – not enough time to get any more real training in. From what little I’d read about marathon training, I’d understood that I’d have to slow things down and get rest before the race, especially in the week before.

The marathon is only half the race

Besides my lack of training, there was still one lingering problem in the back of my mind: How exactly was I going to get to the race? I still did not have a car – chalk it up to laziness, but up until this point I hadn’t really had a need for one.

In a small city like Belleville, I could pretty much get anywhere by walking, biking or taking the bus. And there were always friends that I snag rides off of. I figured that this was a better alternative to owning a car that I would have little use for and having to fork over ridiculous amounts of cash for insurance that every male driver under 25 has to.

The marathon, however, was based out of Picton, a small town about 40 km outside of Belleville. I’d definitely need motorized transportation to get there, otherwise getting there would be a (literally) a marathon itself.

My frugality had placed me in a tough situation. I originally had thought that I’d be able to get a ride from Brian, my coworker, but I realized that I didn’t want to be a burden, after I learned he was actually a lot closer to Picton than I was. If he were to pick me up and drive me to the marathon, he’d have to go way out of his way. With the 8 AM race start time, there was no way I could be so unfair to ask him to get up even earlier to drive me, knowing that he’d already be getting up before 6 AM.

I decided that I’d have to get a car. After all, I’d already passed the first test – making it through a 30 km run – and wasn’t going to let a logical problem get in my way. Besides, I had already been planning on getting a car, but like running the marathon, had never had the incentive or willpower to follow through on it. What could be a better opportunity than to have both situations provide mutual incentives for one another?

I started looking at cars that week. I quickly found myself in over my head, awash in inexperience – a feeling not to different from my current marathon-related experiences. I had no idea what to look for in a car, and didn’t even really know what kind of car I wanted. Hell, I didn’t even know where all the dealers were in Belleville.

I approached this problem with how I approach most problems nowadays – by doing a search on the Internet. I was quickly disappointed, as most of the dealers in Belleville did not have too much to offer in the way of used cars, and getting a new car was not an option – the only ones I could afford would be tiny econoboxes, not something that I’d want to pump so much money into.

I finally found a dealership out in Trenton that had decent prices, and on Friday, we headed out to the location. They had a wide variety of mostly GM cars but the Chevrolet Impalas caught my eye. I can’t say for sure what attracted me to them, but I’ve always wanted a decently-sized car that had enough power for even a subpar driver like me to merge onto the highway. The fact that it’s considered to be family sedan should be seen as coincidence – unless there’s something I subconsciously desire at this point in my life, which I’m completely unaware of.

I took a few of them for a test drive and was impressed. The ’07 models had decent fuel economy and didn’t have that many kilometers on the odometer. But, more importantly, it would get me to the start of the marathon and back from the finish safely. Never one for making rash decisions, I left, telling the dealer I’d think about it.

More concerns

On Saturday, another concern dawned upon me. Up until this point, I had been running almost exclusively in the late afternoon and evening hours, with most of my runs occurring around 5-6 PM. The marathon, however, was to begin at 8 AM sharp. I had never run any real distances that early, and from experience, I knew poorly my body responded to such drastic time changes. I resolved to get up early on Sunday (something I’d also rarely done) and go for a run.

As it happens, I was only able to get out the door by 9:30 the next morning. However, I was able to complete the 20 K distance in about 1h 40m, on track with what I was aiming for. Filled with confidence, I resolved to get a few more “early morning” runs under my belt before the big day.

I was, however, starting to get cold feet about the whole car purchase thing. Sure, it was something I’d been looking into for some time, but was I moving too quickly? I’d read that some people had spent weeks and months looking for a good used car, and here I was, rushing headfirst into the whole ordeal just as I was with the whole marathon thing. There were just so many things I didn’t know or wasn’t aware of.

There had to be a first time for everything, though.

Transitioning

On Tuesday, I managed to crawl out of bed before 6 AM in order to get a morning run in. I’d read in Runner’s World that not eating before a long distance race was a big no-no. That was not good news for me, as I never eat before running because I tend to take longer to digest food than most. The “30-minute rule” was more like a 1 or 2-hour rule. Furthermore, I was not a big breakfast person. These two habits put me at a distinct disadvantage in terms of pre-race fueling.

To remedy this, I decided that waking up, eating a substantial (for me) breakfast of cereal, eggs, yogurt and fruit before going out for a 10 K run was the solution. You’re probably beginning to see a pattern here: My way of “learning” to do things is a fairly brute-force method that consists of seeing whether I’m capable of performing the task I’m trying to learn. But hey, we learn from our mistakes, right?

Perhaps. I sure didn’t feel like I was learning while trying to complete the run that day. “Suffering” was probably a better description. Simply put, I hadn’t given myself enough time for the food to settle and I could feel it sloshing around with every step. It was uncomfortable and I almost felt sick at several points along the way, having to stop and walk for brief periods. I came back from that run exhausted, and it had still taken me far too long. I wrote a brief sentence in my log book: DO NOT EAT TOO MUCH BEFORE RACE.

That evening, I convinced my friend to drive me back to the car dealership, determined to close out the deal and come away with a car. I took a few more Impalas for a test drive and finally settled on one that was priced a bit lower than the rest, but had a few more kilometers on the odometer, to allay some of the guilt I was feeling over rushing the purchase so much. With much hesitation, I signed my name to the contract and put down the deposit – I finally had a car! Or rather, would have one very soon. My friend drove me back home and I thanked him extensively for being so kind to drive me around on my car search.

Tired after a long day, I quickly fell asleep.

Getting ready for the big day

The next two days were spent getting ready for being a first time car owner. Being a male under the age of 25 has its benefits, but car insurance is not one of them. The insurance agency offered through my company gave a discount of 10% if you chose to also get homeowners’ insurance alongside the car insurance. Amazingly enough, this resulted in the bundle costing less than just getting car insurance by itself. That should give you an idea of how much I’m currently paying.

On Thursday I again forced myself out of bed at 6 AM to go for another morning run. This time was better, though I still didn’t feel as “normal” as I did during my beloved evening runs. The marathon was feeling tougher and tougher as time went on.

On Friday I was finally able to pick up my car. Driving was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I never really liked driving all that much, which explains why I was able to hold off on getting a car for so long. However, the drive home was soothing. I vowed to only drive to work once a week, since I live unbelievably close to work, less than a 10-minute walk away from home.

My new car

I decided to take the weekend off and drive down to Kingston to meet up with a friend for Homecoming. I’m not a big party guy, but wanted to get a chance to see him before he left to go work out west. I didn’t get much sleep that weekend but it allowed me to rest my feet a little, with only a week to go before the race.

A brief taper

Most marathon training schedules, as I had now learnt, specified the three weeks before the race as a “taper” period, where training winds down and resting increases in order to properly prepare the body for the rigors of running 42.2 km. I had only learnt about the marathon three weeks before the event, so that forced me to be a little bit more than liberal with the recommended schedule.

There was now only one week left before the race and I didn’t feel fully prepared. Just the past week, I had run about 60 km, spaced out over four runs. The last week before a race you are recommended to run only short distances and stay off your feet as much as possible since training can’t do much for you this late in the game. Having not followed any real training routine thus far, I figured disobeying a few more orders couldn’t hurt much more. I decided to “keep limber” by going for two more 10 K runs, once on Tuesday and once on Thursday of that week. I came out feeling quite good and with improved confidence.

Not that I didn’t realize that there were still a lot of things that could go wrong. With what little actual training and preparation I had done, there were too many variables out of my control that could prevent me from finishing the race. I justified this by telling myself that “trying my best” would be good enough, even though I knew I wouldn’t be happy unless I could make it. Perhaps I just have an unconscious desire to make my own life difficult?

That Friday I drove to work and afterwards picked up some groceries, trying to stay off my feet as much as possible. This was the first time I had driven to the grocery store, as I’d usually relied on walking or biking. The next “first time” I experienced might not be so simple.

Race weekend

I decided that Saturday would be a monumental “day of rest” for me, even more than my usual lackadaisical approach to the weekend. But there was still one procedural thing left to do: I had to drive down to Picton to pick up my race kit before the race tomorrow. With my trusty new Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS that I’d picked up on sale (even before I had my car), I was easily able to find my way there, despite my utter lack of directional skills. The text-to-speech feature was level-headed and patiently directed me on every turn and the GPS unit easily recovered and recomputed the route after I managed to make a wrong turn.

After arriving at the Crystal Palace in Picton, which was the reception hall at the finish line, I gave myself a pat on the back for having found the place. I have a notoriously hard time accomplishing what seem to be the most trivial of tasks to most other people, so I was happy that I was getting better at these things.

I proceeded inside to pick up my race kit and sign off my name on the registration list, but ran into some unexpected trouble.

“I’m sorry, you’re not on the list,” said one of the race organizers, after I had told her my name. My heart raced and my palms started to sweat – surely I had not forgotten to register? After all, my credit card had been charged the fee, hadn’t it? I stumbled to find the words to reply, but she thankfully filled the uneasy silence.

“I’ll try downloading the latest list from the website to check again,” she reassured me. “I just have to find a Wi-Fi connection in here.”

The Crystal Palace was a nice building but one of the amenities it apparently did not possess was a proper Internet connection. Instead, the organizers had to rely on a “borrowed” wireless connection from a nearby building in the event that they required Internet access. The downside, of course, was that the connection was extremely shoddy and the organizer had to spend several minutes running around to all the different corners of the Palace in order to get decent reception. In retrospect it was an extremely comical situation, but I surely did not feel that way at the time.

After she finally managed to grab the latest copy of the registration list, she calmly explained what had happened.

“Oh,” she said, “here’s what happened: Your first and last name were reversed,” being careful and overly-polite in not pointing the finger at me. As it turned out, I had transposed my first and last names in the online registration form, resulting in my official race name being Chng PETER. I could feel myself blushing at the stupidity. (Though, in my defense, in traditional Chinese, family names are written before given names)

“Sorry about that…” I said, trailing off, not knowing what to say.

“Oh, don’t worry, this sort of thing happens all the time!” she replied, trying to soothe my battered ego with an obvious white lie. It half-worked, but only because I was relieved that the ordeal was over.

With that, I quickly left and drove home, managing to avoid any further trivial troubles.

The Waiting Game

The rest of the day was mostly a psychological waiting game, as I knew there was nothing more I could do to prepare and improve my chances of completion. On the other hand, there were many things I could do to worsen my chances of success, and I wanted to avoid them. But there were still some things that had to be done.

My mother had decided to come down tomorrow, so I’d have to go pick her up after the marathon. This meant that I’d have to clean my apartment today as having an unclean apartment when mother arrived was actually more of a concern to me than finishing the marathon. After that, I ran a short and slow 2 miles just to get into the right state of mind – everything went well.

After that, my plan was to settle into bed and begin a Dexter marathon, having recently acquired the first two seasons on the suggestion of a friend, only getting up to eat a nice big pasta dinner. It worked out mostly according to plan, (I ended up liking the show a lot), but my big pasta dinner turned out to be just a little too big. I ended up feeling bloated and worried about how this would affect my performance the next day. I went for a 15-minute walk to try to ease off some of the bloat and anxiety. It partially worked.

When I got home, I began to organize the stuff I’d need for tomorrow. Since I’d be getting up early and didn’t want to leave anything to chance (I’m notoriously forgetful in the morning), I meticulously set out the gear and items I’d planned to use. This included my favourite running shorts, shirt and socks. (Yes, I have a favourite pair of socks) I also decided to bring a thin pair of gloves in case my hands got cold, track pants and a hooded sweatshirt for staying warm before the race, since it was likely to be chilly so early in the morning.

My race gear

I also brought some water and chocolate almonds along just in case I needed to “top up” before the race. I had previously tried this combination before a long run and it seemed to have worked well.

After double checking that everything was properly prepared and triple checking my alarm clock for the right time (set to go off at 4:50 AM), I went to be just past 11 PM. I couldn’t fall asleep until sometime past midnight, though.

Race Day! (Finally)

I had planned to wake up, or be out of bed, by 5 AM. With this in mind, I had set my alarm for 10 minutes before, however the first time I remember opening my eyes when the clock was 5:06 AM. Seeing the first ‘5’ digit startled me, and I jumped out of bed.

I don’t remember turning off my alarm, but I assume that I must have “automatically” done this, since I’d consciously repeated the action so many times on so many previous days, which must have allowed me to perform it this time while in a sleep-like state. Luckily, the error was within the margin I’d prepared for.

I wasn’t hungry and perhaps was still feeling the effects of last night’s meal. So I ate my “normal” breakfast, which consists of instant coffee in a glass of milk and a smoothie made of a banana, frozen berries, yogurt and juice. I like this breakfast because it’s simple and fast to make and it always goes down easy.

I was able to go to the bathroom and maintain my proper “schedule”, something that had worried me before. I didn’t want to have to make a big “pit stop” during the middle of the marathon, even if they did have port-a-potties every few kilometers. With everything in order from the night before, I was out the door at just past 6 AM, and after a short half-hour drive to Picton, arrived at the corralling area just before 6:40 AM. It was just before the crack of dawn, not something I normally witness, since I think I can count the number of times I’ve seen a sunrise on one hand, and that has included times where I’ve stayed up through the night.

The buses began leaving the corralling area soon after, to take people to the start line. The bus ride was a daunting experience – it took nearly 30 minutes to go from the finish line to the start line, and it was taking a direct route, not the roundabout path that was the full marathon. Looking at the scenery scroll by on that ride and realizing that you’d have to cover all of that and more in order to finish puts a lot of second-guessing and anxiety into your head.

When I arrived, I noticed that there had been four port-a-potties setup at the start line – and there was already a massive lineup to get access to them! It was about 7:20 AM at this point, about 40 minutes before the start of the race. Figuring that all those people couldn’t be wrong, I quickly picked up my timing chip and entered into the lineup despite my lack of an immediate need to use the toilet.

This crucial decision proved to be the correct one as by the time I reach the front of the line, some 20 minutes later, I very much had a need to use the facilities, as standing outside in the cold morning for that long will have that effect on anyone. I also suspected that the coffee and smoothie I’d consumed earlier had also played a role.

Starting the Race

With about 10 minutes to go, I started into my pre-race routine. Well, to be precise, I did not have a “pre-race routine”, since this was my first race but instead only had a list of things I planned to do based on what I’d read about other people’s pre-race routines.

I did a few short strides to warm up and get the blood flowing and did a few basic stretches. I didn’t stretch too much, as I’d read that stretching cold muscles wasn’t good, or at the very least, didn’t help. I also munched down the few chocolate almonds I’d brought along so that I’d have a bit more energy to help stave off “the wall”, something I’d yet to experience but was not looking forward to.

With just about five minutes ago, a voice came on the loudspeaker advising us to begin moving towards the starting line to prepare. I joined the throng of my fellow runners as we began to move towards the start. I decided to stay towards the back of the pack, as I didn’t exactly know how fast I’d be going and didn’t want to get passed by a bunch of other more experienced runners. And then, almost unexpectedly, the race began. As I crossed the starting line, going at a pace that was almost forcibly slow, I thought to myself: Oh well, it’s now or never.

Making it through

Moving at an initially slower pace than I thought necessary, I gradually sped up after the start. Passing first kilometer marker, you can’t help by remind yourself: One down, 41.2 left to go! It was the sort of black humour that I reveled in.

The first 10K went by quite easily. The only “trouble” I ran into was having to take a bathroom break at the 4K mark – thankfully they had port-a-potties setup every 2K, though I definitely saw people taking breaks in the bush when one wasn’t available.

During this first quarter of the race I caught up and passed both the 3:45 and 3:30 “pace bunnies”, which gave me quite a boost in confidence, as I was aiming to finish in under 4 hours. However, this also made me wonder whether I was going too fast, so I kept at a fairly steady pace after passing the 3:30 bunny.

At the halfway point, around 1hr 43mins into the race, I still felt quite good; additionally, knowing that you’re halfway there gives you extra incentive to finish. I had set my “point of no return” at 30K. That is, if I could get to the 30K mark without too much trouble, I had decided that I would press on, no matter what the hardship, in order to finish. At this point, it was looking like I’d be able to reach this milestone without much resistance.

However, between 20K and 30K was when I started to encounter the first signs of fatigue and soreness. Thankfully, they were giving out energy gel packs at around the 20K mark, so I downed one of them, but not before making a sticky mess out of my hands. (Definitely practice eating from these awkward packages before doing it during a real race)

I didn’t think I’d need the extra energy from the gel pack, as I’d be drinking Gatorade regularly along the course, but after the 30K mark my body really started to feel fatigued and I had to consume two more of the gel packs to keep going.

Beyond the 30K mark, you have two extremely conflicting feelings. One is the realization that “victory” and completion is just over 10K away, while the other is the intense feeling of soreness and fatigue. One is telling you to stop while the other is relentlessly pushing you to keep going. It might seem a bit weird, but this is actually one of things about running that makes it so attractive, in my opinion. Of course, it may not seem that way when you’re directly experiencing it in the first person.

Finishing

The PEC Marathon was thankfully mostly a flat course, though the most challenging (or annoying) aspect of it was the fact that it starts to get hilly after the 30K mark. This gives the course that extra challenge it needs, as your body is close to depleted right at the point where things start to pick up.

The PEC Marathon Elevation Profile

During this last part of the race, the course turns into a gradual slope that while not difficult, has a definite effect in helping to wear you down. At this point, each kilometer was begin to feel markedly longer and I was soon passed by the 3:30 “pace bunny” that I’d passed earlier on, a sure sign that I was slowing down.

Then, at about the 37K mark, there is a fairly steep hill that rises close to 30m in less than a kilometer. It was this hill that nearly ended my marathon hopes.

The hill was easy to spot. Rounding a corner, it quickly comes into view and there is no missing it. You have plenty of time to prepare for it, knowing full well how difficult it’s likely to be at this stage of the race.

With an iron mindset, I approached the hill with confidence, believing this was the last hurdle to overcome before the finish. I managed to make it up to the top without stopping, but by that time my legs were feeling extremely tired and beginning to cramp. This was where my lack of training was beginning to show. If I had done more long runs, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been in such terrible shape, but as it was, cramping was a real issue that threatened to derail me.

I stopped at the top of the hill to stretch for a bit and tried to “walk it off”, but unfortunately this was only a temporary reprieve. Contrary to the course elevation profile on the website, the remainder of the race after the “Death Hill” was not all downhill, as I was beginning to painfully learn. Instead, it consisted of a series of rolling hills that by themselves were not much, but seemed like mountains in the condition I was in.

I could feel my legs on the verge of cramping up after every step I took going up those small hills. I had to stop two or three more times again, to stretch and walk for a bit in order to prevent a catastrophe. Thankfully, Picton was not much further on, and upon entering the town you realize that you are less than 2K away from the finish line.

At this point, I started feeling somewhat better, but perhaps it was just because the mental concept of completion was overcoming the physical pain of fatigue. I pushed on, with the nice citizens of Picton cheering everybody on along the way, and as I rounded the final corner, the finish line banner came into view.

It’s hard to describe the feeling as you finally bring the finish line into sight, but it is best described as a combination of joy, excitement and relief. Pressing onwards, I struggled not to look utterly exhausted as I crossed the finish, realizing that pictures were being taken.

The PEC Medal given to all finishers

I managed to finish in a time of about 3hrs 32min, a result I am more than happy with, considering I had real reservations about just being able to complete the marathon! I now hope to eventually bring my time down to 3:15, so that I might be able to quality for the Boston Marathon someday.

But more importantly, I was happy with the experience. Running has been a central part of my life for the past few years, and I always have found that running manages to give you more energy than you put into it, a seemingly contradictory outcome. Furthermore, it helps you to discover what you’re capable of and teaches you to push yourself, as every run is a new opportunity.