| | well...eventful weekend to say the least
U2 CONCERT on friday!! that was really fun...it's very different
watching them live than just listening to them on cd. i still can't
believe i managed to get tickets for them 
lucky! yah, they played quite a few songs from their new album and some
classic u2 tunes - bloody sunday, mysterious ways, where the streets
have no name, etc - it was cool
the opening act...i don't even remember their name. we went and looked
at merchandise when they started. i got a tshirt for $45 (yes, it's a
bit $$ but i guess i got caught up in the spur of the moment) and wifey
got a button for $3. i guess that's a little more reasonable 
so we got back to our seats and the opening band was still playing.
they kinda sucked - they were playing very loud with a lot of bass
(where our chests were thumping so hard that it's uncomfortable) and it
wasn't really singing but rather some sort of muffled wailing and
screaming...so that was a pain to sit through.
then u2 came on and all was good after that - a 2 hr set of u2 live was awesome - enough said
then we went home, grabbed some food, and jon and matt were waiting outside to play some poker - played til 5am...went to sleep  http://xanga.com/gizzpooh
saturday - rested
and then come sunday (yesterday) - i guess the day can be summarized into one word - MARATHON
yup, that was the day...my plan was to sleep the night before at 9pm
and wake up at 5am. slept at 10ish and woke up at 5ish - 7 hrs - not
too bad. got up, got ready, did a little stretching, ate a little, and
at 6:15, we were off. headed down to the rackets and runners in
yaletown where we met up with other runners and dropped off our
stuff. headed out to the start line for the 7am half marathon
start to accompany gizzypooh and christine_de_cricketeeeeer. i promptly left that crowd at 6:58am in fear of being trampled over 
i had a 1/2 hr to kill before my start time so i headed into bc place
stadium and stretched a bit and had my last minute pee break - not sure
why there weren't more ppl here using the washrooms instead of lining
up for the porta-potties. also, the area is heated. oh well...not my
problem at 7:20am, i made my way to
the start line. found a groove in the crowd that was actually not too
far from the front - i guess i stopped here instead of making my way
towards the middle. and 7:30 - we're off!!
for the first 30 or so km, there wasn't much happening. my goal was a 5
min per km pace for the entire race. i made sure that i wouldn't tire
myself out too quickly by going too fast at the start. so when ppl were
passing me early on, i was fine with that as long as i maintained MY
pace. my normal reaction would normally be to try and keep up if not
passing them but i think i was disciplined enough to let it be
i completed 10km in 49 mins (a little sub 5min/km) and i reached the
halfway point (21.1km) at 1:41 - still sub 5min/km. at that point i was
thinking..."hmm, if i keep this up, i can be done in 3:20". although i
think i may have slowed down a bit around the 25km mark but not too
much.
then things got interesting when the 30km mark rolled around. at around
2 hrs and 30 mins, i passed the 30km and before i could reach the 31km
mark, my greatest fear for the race of cramping up became reality. the
calves were starting to feel the twitching of impending cramping. i
kept going as best as i could hoping that it'll pass. not a chance...i
stopped to stretch them at a tree for about a minute. maybe that'll do
it...sigh - wishful thinking. a light jog and only a few minutes later,
i needed to stretch once again. started jogging even slower for the
next little while and stopping occassionally to stretch. kept that
going for a bit until i just couldn't take it and i resorted to
walking. it's quite a humbling experience, i guess, when you see all
these people passing you but yet, you cannot do anything about it.
anyways, after a while, i couldn't stretch my calves any more as my
stretching method would start cramping up my quads. so those were next
to cramp up. my quads hurt a lot more than my calves so that was the
only pain that i was able to concentrate on. i think many times, i
would think...i can go again and i would start my running and not even
a few minutes in, i would have to stop once again. the pain was
unbearable. at one point, i even thought to myself..."maybe if i ran
faster, it would hurt less since the faster i go, the less impact i
will have"...that's a good theory - if it worked!! 
at times, my triceps were slightly cramping as well as my chest. it's
amazing how many muscles are working while running. it wasn't until a
little before heading back over the burrard bridge that i was able to
run for more than a few minutes. i ended up going more than halfway up
the burrard bridge before taking another break. my legs weren't hurting
as much now but they were just simply out of strength and power from
all the cramping. then the downhill came and i think at the 40km mark,
i sucked it in and actually ran all the way to the finish line. i saw
my wife, cricket and keith with just a little over a km left. that one
last km was the toughest kilometer i have ever run. usually, i would
have sprinted that but my legs wouldn't let me. i alomst considered
taking yet another break but i pushed on and clocked in at the finish
line at 3:53:09. so i finished and under 4 hours!
i guess i'm a little disappointed at the time as i know i could/should
have done better but at least i can now say that i've completed a
marathon and that's an accomplishment in itself. if only i didn't cramp
up for 12 kms. that's a LONG distance to be cramping. 1 hr and 20+ mins
for the last 12kms...oh well - next year - yes, i am already looking to
next year. crazy! yah, i know!
so that was my first marathon experience. i'm still reeling from its
effects. all day yesterday and so far today, my legs are VERY sore 
hobbling everywhere i go and i can't do stairs very well. they are
especially bad after sitting a long time at my desk and then getting
up...man, they're stiff! eeks...i wonder how many days before the pain
will go away?
anyways..that's the end of my marathon saga for now
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| | Posted 5/2/2005 5:59 PM - 62 Views - 2 eProps - 2 comments
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