Tina Graham | Photographer

I did it! Pure elation!

I ran (and finished) the BMO Vancouver Marathon today!  What an AMAZING feeling that is to accomplish something so masochistic! I mean really…  4 months of daily training, long runs on Sundays in the driving rain, thick snowfall, hail!, blowing wind and sub-zero temperatures JUST so one can run 42 gruelling kilometres?  For what?!

The reason lies deep within one’s core - it’s a true testament of life in general and how you approach it.  How much is one willing to sacrifice to accomplish something that only a small percentage of the population has achieved?  But it’s even more than that.  It’s about perserverence, setting goals, stamina, patience, trusting one’s self (big one) and knowing one can do ANYTHING when one puts one’s mind to it.  All of these can be placed neatly in front of ALL of life’s situations: work, relationships, you name it.  If you want something badly enough, and are willing to work extra hard, there will come a time when all that’s left is keeping an easy, steady pace and knowing that all the training has prepared you for this ‘big event’.

It definitely has given me more strength, fortitude and the desire to achieve more, not only in my personal and professional life, but to offer that strength and fortitude to others.  Also worth mentioning is how much this process has given me a greater trust in myself.  Knowing I have what it takes to get through anything is so liberating!

As elated as I am, however, my quads and glutes aren’t so happy.  They’re wondering ‘what the hell just happened?!’  But they did a great job and carried me the last 5km at a much faster pace than I normally run.  As soon as the finish line was in site, they picked it up even more and had me SPRINTING to the finish line!  It was incredible!

I have to say though…  I started the day out kinda shaky.  First of all, I slept through my alarm!  I woke up with a start and when I saw bright light shining through my window.  I panicked!  It was almost 6:45am (race started at 7:30) and I had to drive all the way from Richmond into town.  I threw on my clothes, quickly made a hot, steaming bowl of oatmeal, grabbed all my gear and ran out the door!  I ate my oatmeal (from the bowl) as I raced down Granville.  It was a comedy of errors. But it all ended well…

WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

These were taken by a friend at the 36km mark:

You’d be making faces at this point too…

My, how time flies when one is having fun!  I can’t believe it has been a month since the last time I ventured into the virtual world of personal history.  But there it is, in black and white, the last date I posted.

Marathon training has been going VERY well!  No major injuries (or minor, for that matter).  Two Sundays ago I ran 32km in the driving wind and rain only to get a chill and end up with a nasty cough and squeaky voice.  I still have it!  Now I’m on the downward spiral in my training in order to ‘rest up’ for the actual race on May 3 (gulp) – only 2 weeks (minus 2 days) to go!  I’m very interested to see what becomes of me that day….

Hockey playoffs also have my attention at this time.  It’s pretty amazing what signing up for a Hockey Pool can do for one’s sporting enthusiasm.    Not that I never watched the sport before, but my pure, unadulterated love for the game of hockey had been put into ‘receivership’ at the height of the strike several years back and it has taken me this long to recover.   It has been a slow process to say the least…

At the same time, I also have my Ducati motorcycle back on the road!  Oh what a feeling!  Although it’s still too chilly early in the morning, afternoon rides have been phenomenal!  So far I’ve ridden along the windy lower roads of West Van to Horseshoe Bay and back over to Deep Cove as well as into Steveston.  The longer rides will have to wait when the weather is much warmer.

I’ve also made a point of getting out of my ‘personal confines’ and exploring beyond the boundaries I’ve inadvertently set up for myself as a result of patterned beliefs and the notion of having to keep ‘doing’ for the sake of ‘doing’.  Simply put, I’ve taken some “me” time to do the things I didn’t think I had time for.  I’m meeting new people.  What a concept!  Socializing beyond the scope of work.  Killer!

All that being said, business is still pretty steady and building up rapidly for the warm days of summer ahead.  I have so many images to post and I’m so far behind in posting them… BUT… I’ve also been working on another surprise (and man, has it taken a lot of time!)… this I’ll save for later…  ;-p

I had the flu and I’m already 2 weeks behind in my training.  While all my peers were running 32km this past Sunday, I was only up to 30km.  Although a difference of 2km at this point, it really does make a difference (to me anyway). 

All in all, however, my 30k run this past weekend went quite well.  My knees held up, my muscles weren’t any more sore than my last long run.  BUT my hips were VERY ANGRY.  That’s the best way I can describe that kind of “pain”. 

A ‘running acquaintance’ told me a good thing for my muscles after a long run is soaking my legs in ice cold water to reduce the swelling and strain.  Just the prospect of that alone made me shiver but actually trying to do it took not only my breathe away but took every ounce of rational thought out of my head.  After 2 seconds of submersion I was out of that water like a rocket and filling the tub with hot, sudsy, bubble bath water.  That may not have been a good thing for my muscles but it was a heck of a lot more soothing!!!

Next week is another 30k run, the week after that is finally my last, longest run of 32km and then it goes back down to 23k… just in time for the marathon… aaaarrgghhh….  I hope I’ll be ready….. (gulp).

Well, here I go again!  I’m around so many people that I’ve caught yet another cold.  This one had me reeling!  I missed out on a few runs and haven’t been able to get back to all my fabulous clients and couples so I apologize profusely to everyone who has tried to reach me this weekend.  Although, today I was able to catch up on all my emails and calls and have been quite productive.  I even had a chance to catch up some extra editing of my most recent images.

Thank you to all my clients for the well-wishes and for making me laugh!