My 1st Full Marathon-Part 1: Pre-race

With 3 sleeps until the big day, I reflect back at all the training, injuries, and sacrifices I’ve made leading up to this Sunday for the BMO Vancouver Marathon!

It’s amazing how 2 years ago this time I wasn’t running at all and now I’m looking to do 42.2km. Of course I trained properly and followed specific Kintec run clinic programs to get me on the right track to do 5k, 10k, and 2 half marathons all in 2011. And now Kintec’s 14 week full marathon program has me fully prepared for this Sunday.

There were times when I thought I wouldn’t get as far as I am now with a variety of injuries along the way. I had to take time off here and there during training to rest and recover so that I could accomplish my goals of doing a marathon. I had lots of help from my Chiropractor and Massage therapist from Impulse Sports and for that I thank them. I’ve also learned that road blocks can occur when following the road map to get to your end goals, but you have to find a detour, stay focused, and you will eventually reach the end.

All my long runs took place on Sundays after Church and family brunch and before Sunday family dinner (I work Saturdays). I have the most understanding wife who always asks me how my run went afterwards. And no matter how tired or sore I was right after these runs, I would be greeted by my 16 month old son’s beautiful smile that would make everything feel better. He is one of the reasons why I run.

The only thing left is deciding on which shoes to run in…my Nike Lunar Glide 2 or 3? Both have been great on all my long runs. I might just flip a coin to decide.

Thanks for reading my pre-race thoughts and I’ll share my post-run thought with you all in part 2 shortly after the big day!