Just Half and We're Baked

Several weeks ago, James and I completed the Royal Victoria Half Marathon. Please refer to photo of us at left, looking happy and exhausted. The distance was a first for both of us, something we love because you always set a personal record the first time around! Though the day was cold and rainy, it was a fun experience to take on the challenge with so many other people, and it was an important stepping stone on our way to the Seattle Marathon.

Since our last race, we have upped our mileage as well as our time in the pool. Because we continue to be plagued by overuse injuries, presumably caused by missing too many key runs throughout the summer and early fall, the mandate from our coach is essentially to spend as much time pool running as possible. All of our long runs are long run/walks, and we are focused on injury prevention and our long-term Ironman goal. While it's not particularly fun to aqua jog, get poked by the chiropractor, and roll around on a big piece of foam (okay, that part is kind of fun), I'm glad we're having these complications now instead of the middle of next summer. The point of a fall marathon was to introduce us to endurance training and help us work out the kinks, and it's done exactly that.

And now, as we prepare to slog through a long, wet winter of training, let us review exactly how we ended up here.

First, James and I went to spectate at Ironman Canada in Penticton BC. We met up with a bunch of our friends from Victoria. Some were racing, some were just spectating like us, but all were confirmed tri-geeks.




We watched the swim.


We watched the bike.


We watched the run. (Yes, that is Lisa Bentley.)


And somehow, even after seeing all of this, we still waited in line.


And we signed ourselves up for 2007.


And then we went to Hawaii and forgot all about it.


Don't you wish you were in Hawaii right now? ;)