My First Half Marathon: Stouffville – Angus Glen

I completed my first half marathon. Or should I say that I joined a large group of people for an organized run together. People from all over the area came to run at the same time through the same path. A community if you will and a community of like minded people doing the same thing as me. My training is done alone, early in the morning and I decided to run a half marathon which 5 years ago was not an option at all… I simply could not have run that distance.

I entered it a little last minute but was very glad that I did. It was minus 4 Celsius and sunny. It warmed up slightly as the day went on and was great to run in. The event was well organized but could have used a little more direction once inside the race kit pick up area.

I hadn’t run 21k in over a year but had done a number of 10k runs and also a bunch of 8k marches with a 65lbs pack on my back which usually take about an hour and a half. I figured that with being on my feet with the pack for the same duration as the race and also running shorter distances that I would be prepared. Well, I was right.

Running With Gravity

I want to share what I’ve learned so far when it comes to running. The most important thing I’ve learned is that we don’t spend enough time on technique. Swimming is a HIGHLY technical sport. Cycling is also technical. When it comes to running a lot of us beginners only think of running as a pair of shoes and some miles that we’re supposed to put behind us. That’s okay perhaps on shorter runs for health and leisure say up to 5k twice a week but more than that and your asking for trouble. What kind of trouble? I’m talking about overuse injuries from going to hard too quickly. In my opinion running is the most dangerous of the three triathlon sports. It’s also the one I love the most.

Sharing what I’ve learned is one of the ways that makes me feel good. There are a number of people out there who have a thirst or in my case a strong desire for knowledge. That’s the reason I read a lot of articles, research and stories about people’s experience. Now that I’m focused on triathlon I’ve dedicated my spare time, when I’m not tending to my family, working or studying for the CFA exam in June, to learning about all things triathlon.

My approach to life is simple: Do the hard things first. Find out my weaknesses and improve them. Never accept that what I’m doing is good enough, absolute or right. Never accept that the way I do things is good enough, absolute or right. Never believe that I know everything. When I’ve started something finish it. When it comes close to the end FINISH STRONG!

As I get older I have learned a couple of lessons. One that I learned over the past year was