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…

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.

Yesterday, I was very anxious and somewhat nervous. Ate a decent breakfast, a small lunch and a huge pasta dinner around 5 PM. I may have overate, as I felt somewhat bloated, however I knew I had to since big breakfasts and running do not go well for me. I woke up just past 5 AM, having almost overslept (something turned off my alarm clock, well at least I don’t remember turning it off…) and ate a small breakfast. (Coffee and a smoothie) Thankfully my bathroom schedule was in order.

I had to leave my place just past 6 AM since we had to be at the assembly area by 6:30-7:00 for transportation to the start line. I brought along some chocolate almonds to eat just before starting, since they worked well on my last long run. I started very conservatively, but eventually worked my way up and passed the 3:30 pacer.

For the first 20K or so, things were fine. Between 20K and 30K I started to feel the soreness setting in but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t deal with. However things starting getting hard at about the 35K mark. I got passed by the 3:30 pacer at this point. To make matters worse, there was a substantial hill at around the 37K mark that almost killed me. I started cramping up after ascending it and had to briefly stop to stretch and walk for a bit, but by that point I had decided I was not going to give up.

There were few smaller hills after that big one, and each one brought back some feelings of cramping but I pressed on. By this time I was running quite a bit slower than 5 min/KM. The last two kilometers were awful but as you round the final corner and realize that the finish line is in sight, you manage to draw on some reserves that somehow still exist.

I finished with an “unofficial” (i.e. my own watch) time of about 3:32. I’m waiting for the official time from the timer chip that all runners wore. I had to make two stops (i.e. bathroom breaks) since it was so cold early on.

Overall, though it was tough, it was a great experience, especially seeing so many other runners and the great support staff and volunteers of the PEC Marathon. The weather was perfect, the route scenic and there were plenty of people out to cheer you on. I can wholeheartedly recommend the PEC Marathon to anyone who is looking to run their first race, as the organization was phenomenal.

I actually have not been doing any strict “marathon training” per se, but have just been running my regular schedule for most of the summer, which consists of a 10K run three times a week. I usually run it at a relatively quick pace (for me), finishing it in around 41-42 minutes.

I only learned about this marathon two weeks ago from a co-worker. Since I’d run 20K before with relative ease, I decided that I’d try the full marathon: I knew I could do a half-marathon but didn’t know if I could do a full. Plus, if I failed, I had an excuse to fall back on: I simply didn’t train hard enough. (I like making excuses )

After signing up I decided that I’d have to at least see if I could run 30K; I went for such a run (at a much slower pace than normal) last Tuesday and didn’t have too much trouble except for some expected soreness. If I wasn’t able to complete that run, I think I’d have stepped-down to the half-marathon.

I woke up early this morning and went for a 20K run. It was cool and so the run was also quite easy. I’m starting to feel pumped and upbeat for the marathon, but now I’m worried that I’m getting overconfident. I talked again to my co-worker who gave me a link to Hal Higdon’s marathon training guide, which he himself was using. I’m trying to “slip into” the “Novice 1″ schedule right now and am starting my “taper” to give my body some rest.

I still have some unknowns. First of all, I’ve never ran this distance before. Secondly, the marathon starts at 8 AM but I’ll probably have to get up around 5 AM to get ready properly – this is far earlier than I’ve gotten up on a Sunday in more time than I can remember. Lastly, if the weather is hot and humid on that day, I think I’ll have serious trouble finishing.

Nevertheless, I remain optimistic. If I can complete the marathon, that’ll be one of my life’s goals accomplished!

Heat: Everyone knows that when there’s too much of it, things can get very uncomfortable, especially if there’s an accompanying high humidity. However, a high temperature is also something that needs to be considered if you are training under these conditions. Besides the general notions to drink plenty of fluids and stay hydrated, excessive temperatures can also adversely affect your performance, so any benchmarks or goals you set for yourself need to be adjusted depending on the conditions.

Take, for example, the route that I have been running for the past several weeks. During that time, I’ve kept records of my run times along with the conditions that day. (Specifically, the temperature, dew point and relative humidity)

On days where the temperature was above 25C my run times were averaging between 45-46 minutes. On days where the temperature was 20C or lower, average times decreased to around 43 minutes. That’s roughly a 4-6% decrease in time when going from 25C to 20C, or conversely, a 4-7% increase in times when going from 20C or below to 25C or higher.

The most recent example were two runs I did this week. On Tuesday, the conditions were 26C and 51% RH, and my completion time was 45:35. Today, the temperature was only 18C and RH was 83% and my run took only 42:53. Despite being faster, today’s run also felt somewhat easier (perhaps somewhat of a placebo effect) as I was able “push” myself harder without feeling fatigued. This was despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of my runs during the past 8 weeks have taken place at temperatures 25C or higher.

My experiences tend to correlate with the studies done. Though I can’t remember the source, I remember reading that 15C was the “ideal running temperature”, with run times expected to increase the further you moved away from this point. Obviously, some of this can be mitigated with physical/mental training and depends on the individual, but these provide some good guidelines.

However, there’s a definite physical aspect to it. Just like the CPU in your computer can run at a faster speed when it’s cooler, so can your body. At higher temperatures, your cardiovascular system must work harder to rid the body of excess heat to maintain a proper core temperature. This means that less energy is “available” for movement and is the reason why you tend to fatigue faster in the heat. (At extremely high body temperatures, the chemical reactions and enzymes necessary for bodily functions are disrupted, possibly leading to death)

Conversely, at extremely low/cold temperatures your body must work harder to generate heat to maintain a proper temperature, with the same effect: less energy is available for movement. 15C is perhaps the “ideal” point where the body has the least amount of work to do to maintain proper core temperatures during running, though that value almost certainly differs amongst individuals.

Thus, during training, if you keep a record of your running times, you should also keep a record of the weather conditions so that times can be taken into context.

I’ve just launched RunTrackr. It’s a site where you can create a running route in order to track, among other things, distances. It’s designed to be a tool to aid anyone who runs/jogs a lot, either recreationally or for training. A training log is also provided so that you can easily keep track of your running records and record your progress during training or just to watch your personal improvement.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s possible with RunTrackr as well as what we have in store for the future in terms of improvements to the site.

Adding/Creating a route

Creating a route probably the main reason you’d want to use RunTrackr. By creating a running route, you can measure its distance and keep track of it in your training log every time you run it.

Plotting a route is very easy; all you need to do is enter your location (Eg. “Belleville, ON”) and then click to add points. Existing points can be dragged around to alter the route. When you’re done, just click “Save Route” to finalize! You can also choose to enter a short description, tag your route with descriptive labels or rate your route’s difficulty.

Later on, I plan to add support for uploading automatically-generated routes/plots from GPS devices like those from Garmin, et al. This will make adding routes even easier for those who have access to such devices.

Searching for routes

Searching for routes is a great way to find running routes in your area submitted by other people. Simply enter a location and click “Search”.

If any routes are found, their location will show up on the map as markers and in the sidebar listing. Clicking on one brings up a preview of what the route looks like; clicking the preview image takes you to a full-sized view where you can see other statistics about the route.

Viewing routes

Going to the full view of a route brings up all of its details, such as the distance, description and any tags. You can also choose to add a route to your “Favourites” so that you can easily keep track of it in your Training Log.

Training Log

The Training Log allows you to keep track of the routes you’ve run and provides an easy way to record your progress. Here, each time you’ve run a route you can enter how long it took along with any other comments about the run. Calories burnt are automatically calculated based on an approximation that takes into account your weight and the distance.

The training log is very basic at this point and several improvements will be forthcoming, such as weekly/monthly/cumulative totals as with as some other statistics and graphics like charts and graphs. (Because everyone, myself included, loves colourful pictures)

Summing it up

Registration is optional but takes less than a minute and allows you to use fully use the service. We’ll be rolling out more features as times goes on. I regret not being able to launch this site earlier in the year (when the weather was starting to get nicer and people starting to get out more) but sometimes that’s just how things turn out.

As always, I welcome all feedback about RunTrackr, including any suggestions you might have about how to improve the service! In the meantime, please check out the site if you’re interested and enjoy your time there.

And then not moving for the rest of the day.

If you do a lot of running, you’ll often find that you’d like to keep track of how much distance you’ve accumulated. This is especially important if you’re training for some event, or even if you’re just a casual runner looking to build up your endurance and stay in shape. However, short of running around a track endlessly, it can be hard to gauge how far you’ve gone on your running route.

Short of having a fancy device such as the Nike iPod Kit (which requires calibration), or an even more costly GPS watch (that’ll probably eat through batteries), you can still manually measure your running distance using the many free tools out there, all of which are based upon the fantastic Google Maps API. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Gmaps Pedometer

Gmaps Pedometer was one of the first distance-logging tools created using the Google Maps API. It works well for tracking running/biking routes, and includes a calorie counter based on your weight, as well as some rudimentary elevation information. However, the interface is somewhat bland, and this app doesn’t include some of the features found on some other routes, such as a central repository of user-created running routes integrated with the main app. You can save your running route, however, and users have shared their creations in their forums. No registration is required (or available) for this site. You can easily print maps from within the interface.

Overall, it’s an simple, but effective and easy way to track your distance. It’s somewhat plain though, and a little lacking on features. You also have to enter each point manually, since there’s no option to follow roads. So, if your path goes down a curved boulevard, you’ll have to click along each point to keep the distance accurate, since the path just follows straight lines between each point.

WalkJogRun

WalkJogRun is an application that has a large number of user-created running routes integrated with the map. You can find routes near your location simply by searching for your city; markers will then show up on the map indicating where these running routes are. Clicking on a marker will bring the running route onto the map as an overlay, along with distance measurements for each point along the route. Zooming the map can be done with the mouse wheel, just like in the regular Google Maps.

Times are also included, and are in hours:minutes, and are based on a speed you select. You can configure the distance/speed measurements to be in kilometers or miles (I still like miles, despite being raised metric for everything), and a calorie-counter based on your weight is also included. These options are at the bottom of the screen, and are fairly small, and could be relocated for better visibility.

You can also create your own route by double clicking to enter points. Creating running routes and saving them doesn’t require you to register, but you can, and have to, if you want to mark them as private or be able to come back and alter them later. This seems fair enough, and it’s good that they don’t force you to register to use the service. Also, it’s very nice to be able to see/search for other people’s routes right within the application. Overall, the interface of WalkJogRun seems quite refined, and is fairly easy to use. There are plenty of features, and you can even export routes to Google Earth.

However, one thing to note is that this application feels somewhat sluggish. This is no doubt due to the heavy use of the Google API and the resulting number of Ajax queries that must take place, in order to update the map with users’ routes as you reposition it. This is in stark contrast to Gmaps Pedometer, which while simple and plain, is also faster and more lightweight. I suppose it’s a trade off. And, like Gmaps, WalkJogRun doesn’t support a “follow by road” feature, so entering in paths down curved roads will take more time.

MapMyRun

MapMyRun is like WalkJogRun in that you can search for user-created running routes and also add your own to the mix, and it also has a fairly decent interface that shows information in both kilometers and miles. It has the nice feature that auto-saves your route, and restores it should you accidentally navigate away from the page. It also also gives calorie counts, and supports elevation data as well. You can save this information to a training log, but this requires that you register with the site.

When creating routes, you can specify different types of waypoints, for example water breaks, aid stations and bathrooms. Notes can be added to the waypoints, and the route can be printed out with these notes to keep them handy. This is very nice for operation in the real-world. You can export the route to a variety of sources, such as Google Earth, a Garmin Forerunner or Edge GPS device, or to your blog as some embedded Javascript. This is also very handy, as information nowadays should work across a variety of devices.

However, the best feature is that this application can automatically create paths that follow roads. This is good if your routes follow through a lot of curved roadways, as it’ll save you the headache of manually entering in the path. However, sometimes it’ll automatically create a path from one point to another that doesn’t follow the road route you’d probably run – this is a limitation of the Google Maps system, as it is probably calculating how a car would drive from one point to another. (For example, you can run either way down a one-way street, but cars obviously cannot) Another nice feature is being able to remove a point in the middle of your route without having to re-enter all the subsequent points.

While this application is feature-filled, it also suffers from some sluggish performance like WalkJogRun.

Run.com

With Run.com’s application, you can also search for user-created running routes and add your own. The application is fairly responsive, and doesn’t feel too sluggish because of the way they’ve implemented it – searching for routes shows them on one map, and when you click a route to bring it up, it loads a new page with the route map. This reduces Ajax-activity that is often the cause of poor performance in web applications.

Routes show elevations, and distances in metric or imperial. Different waypoints (water break, aid station, scenic view) can be specified, and users can enter descriptions as well as difficulty ratings for each route. Tips entered by the person who created the route are often useful. (Eg. BE CAREFUL – LOTS OF BIKES)

Though I don’t have much to say about this application, I actually think I like it the best. Even though it doesn’t provide all the data or features that WalkJogRun or MapMyRun might, it’s lightweight, fast and easy to use, all of which are important hallmarks of any application, especially web apps.

One last thing

You don’t need to use one of these tools to measure your running distance. You could easily use Google Earth’s measure tool to map out your running route, but it’s a bit tedious, and these online applications will greatly simplify the process. Personally, I liked WalkJogRun and Run.com’s offerings the best, but you should give them all a try to see which fits your style best.

Lastly, these tools are probably best for road running, such as planning training for a marathon of some sort, or for the marathon itself. If you do a lot of trail running, they won’t work that great, since most of that data isn’t available on Google Maps, the basis for all of these tools. However, these tools do a good job of highlighting the features and flexibility of the Google Maps API by showing what can be accomplished.

First was an Xbox 360 wired controller, to be used with my PC. (I don’t have a 360) I’ve always liked the feel of the smaller Xbox controllers, and the 360’s is even better to me. It’s working great with games like the Lego Star Wars series. Sure, it was more pricey than competing PC gamepads, but my experience with other PC gamepads has been somewhat lacking – they’ve always had some shortcomings, whether it was a fidgety D-pad or weird button layouts. I decided to go with something I knew would be good. Plus, it has the added bonus of being compatible with friends’ 360’s, should the need arise.

I also went down to the local MEC store to get a heart-rate monitor watch. I do a lot of running so I think it’ll get put to good use. Also, it’s neat to see how much you can make your heart rate rises when you get up from your chair. I decided to go with a Timex Ironman model, and so far it’s working pretty well. We’ll have to see if it pasts the durability test though – if something can’t last five years, it’s not worth it to me. (Though, by that measure, university would be worthless!)

MEC is a great store as well. Not only do they have a wide selection of stuff useful for almost any outdoor activity (though admittedly I’m really only interested in the running stuff), but their prices can’t be beat. Though it costs $5 to become a “member” (which allows you to buy stuff from them), that cost is negligible and you’ll easily save many times than on your first purchases. Also, many of their products are designed and made by MEC themselves, and provide a higher level of quality – all at prices that are lower than competing brands from what I’ve noticed. The downside? They only have stores in major Canadian cities, but you can always shop online from them – though it’s generally not ideal to buy stuff like clothes or backpacks without trying them out.

I also got a few nice gifts from MEC, mostly running wear, that should make me look less like a bum when I’m out for a cold-weather run.

I’ve been running ever since high school, so moving to Kingston for school didn’t change that. However, the route hasn’t always been the same, but I think I’ve settled on this one for a while. Yes, I do run this same route most of the time, and while many would find this unbearably boring, I actually do not. It’s actually useful for me as I can get an idea of how I’m improving.

I like the route because it isn’t all flat nor is it too hilly. I start off going down Albert St. (along the west edge of the Queen’s main campus) until it ends at King St.; this part is all slighly downhill and thus it’s ease is part of my warmup. Then I turn west and head down King St. until it intersects Sir John A. Macdonald Blvd. This part is probably the most uphill part so it’s good to get it out of the way at the start. Then I head north up Sir John A. Macdonald Blvd. until it hits Johnson St.; this part is a little uphill but not as much as before.

Then it’s east down Johnston St. for a bit until I turn off on to Earl St. and head all the way down until it intersects King St. This part is almost all flat except for a downhill section at the end. After that, it’s just going west again down King St. until I turn and head back up Albert St., the same way I started out, except this time I’m going uphill, which is a nice finish that makes you “push hard” at the end.

Google Earth says the path length is 4.55 miles but I think that’s an overestimate or at the very least an upper bound. I actually think it’s only 4 miles or so. I usually run it three times a week, and it’s a nice way to burn off any stress or get my mind thinking about anything creative.