My First Half-Marathon
I am still hurting all over the day after — very badly. It was pure torture to say the least. I could barely walk up stairs today, the day after doing my first Half Marathon. To tell the truth, I could not even bring myself to step up a 3″ curb on the sidewalk today. But it was great fun.
The day started early. Suanne drove me to UBC just in the nick of time. I had barely 3 minutes before the race start after having lined up for 10 minutes at the port-a-loos. Seems like everyone is waiting to make a final pee before the start.
I tried to get to near the start of the line because I figured I’ll be one of the slowest runner and I better have a head start or else I will be quite lonely towards the end.
It started off OK. I was telling myself to run at my pace. My goal was to consistently stay within the 8:00 minute/km pace and I will make it well within my goals. The starting pace was 5:30 which was good and I felt strong.
At about the 13km mark, I begin to feel slight pain developing near the ball of my feet. It was my plantar fasciitis acting up and it was acting way too soon. I knew it was a starting sign of trouble and so I eased up hoping that it will go away. At that point I could begin to see Stanley Park in the far distance across the bay. (more…)