Achievement Unlocked – Ran a Full Marathon

Everything went well today. My fuelling strategy with homemade gels worked well, I kept hydrated, and I ran a good, consistent pace, and I finished faster than 3:30 (my goal).

Special thanks to Emily, Joy, Erica, and Marsha for cheering me on at multiple spots along the course. Having friends in the crowd gave me energy boosts when I needed it most. The crowd in general was awesome. Lots of encouraging words, funny signs, and good music. Some guys on Cornwall even started a “No Meat Athlete” chant for me.

It was a hard race. I felt really good for the first 19 km, but after the UBC downhill my feet started to ache. The uphill around km 24 up to 4th Avenue was surprisingly hard (harder than the big Camosun hill at km 10). But the absolute hardest section was the last 10 km around Stanley Park at the end of the race, even though it was completely flat. It was lonely and my legs were mush. I saw a lot of people stop to walk. I ran my slowest km splits in there, but I managed to get through it. I felt better when I passed the 9 o’clock gun and there were big crowds to cheer me on and push me through the last 2 km.

The heat really did a lot of people in, but it didn’t bother me too much. There was more shade along the course than I expected.

I was impressed by the number of people running in Vibram FiveFingers, but the most spectacular sight was the guy running completely barefoot. I was close to him for a long stretch in UBC. I think he was trying to run along the white lines in the middle of the road to avoid the hot pavement. Crazy.

My shirt said “Powered by Plants” but it really should have said “Powered by Dates”. My breakfast and energy gels were mostly dates, with some banana, coconut oil and other goodies mixed in. It did the trick and got me through the race. I thought I was drinking enough on course, but I was dehydrated enough at the finish line to drink over a litre of water and coconut water without thinking about it.



The race splits are available on Strava and the the official results are on Sportstats.ca.
Place: 310 / 4959
Gender: 262 / 2813
Category: 69 / 426
1st Half: 01:41:21
2nd Half: 01:45:45
Total Time: 3:27:06

Slowest Sections:
– Camosun Hill (KM 10 @ 5:36)
– Burrard Bridge (KM 30 @ 5:24)
– Stanley Park (KM 39 @ 5:19)
– Locarno Park Hill (KM 24 @ 5:13)
Fastest Sections:
– 16th Avenue Downhill in UBC (KM 16 @4:35)
– Finishing Stretch (KM 42 @ 4:36)
– Marine Drive Downhill (KM 19-23 @ 4:38)
– 4th Avenue Downhill (KM 25 @4:38)
– 49th Avenue Downhill (KM 5-6 @ 4:38)