So the Kelowna marathon...

On october 10 I did the Kelowna Marathon. Leading up to the race I had been sick for awhile and so in the three weeks prior to the race I had run much less than I wanted to, three road runs totalling 30 miles and I was on the treadmill a few times as well. Going into the race I thought this might be a good thing as in the walk in the park I had hurt my ankle and I seemed to be walking comfortably without pain so I hoped I could go the whole race without ankle pain.

Before the race I had put a couple water bottles full of gatorade in the course at around the 9/30 km point. But when I got to that point of the course they were gone (later I saw a homeless guy in the park with them in his backpack) so I was dependant on the course to provide with enough nutrition for the race. I did the first half in 1:39 which felt good and I thought I was pacing myself comfortably. Pretty soon after that my ankle started to bother me and I had shooting pains up my right leg from my ankle.

I had been taking two cups of water and a cup of gatorade at every aid station on the course ( think there was 6 in total for the 21 km loop) but that apparently wasn't enough. And I should have known this going into the race, when I train I definitely don't go more than 1 km without drinking from my water bottle. By the 24 km mark I was spitting solid water spit and was feeling dehydrated which meant it was too late and my water intake was too low for the day. I just couldn't keep myself running and I starting mixing in walking. Part of the course was along beach areas so I dipped into a bathroom and had a good half litre drink of water, 5 minutes later right by the next water station I had a massive cramp in my left leg, not so good.

For the rest of the day I felt like I couldn't run more than ten minutes at a time, and every opportunity I could I would fiind any water off the course I could to rehydrate but it felt like it was never enough.

The second half of the marathon I did in 2:16, total time of 3:55:42 which is the best marathon race time I've done so far but somewhat less than satisfying knowing that I've done marathon training runs in faster time, as well as I've done faster marathon times as part of longer races.

I still don't really know what is wrong with my ankle.

I've decided that in the future in any race I will assume they won't have enough water/gels for my needs. So I will be THAT guy wearing a 3 litre camelback for a marathon race.

I don't think other than the local weekly cross country races (all less than 10 km) I will be doing much running for the next while. Something definitely feels wrong in my ankle and I need to put as little pressure on it as I can for now.

Nazzer