First Time Ever Running the Half Marathon Distance (Ignore the Crazy Hair!)
The Fall has arrived and that means I have to complete my half marathon that I had committed to running. Again, our family thanks you for your generous donations!
Initially, I had not planned to participate in any organized run/marathon. As with most marathons that are organized, there is a fee that each runner needs to pay to be registered. Since we were trying to raise money for the kids' school, I thought that I would simply commit to running the distance of a half marathon on my own and donate that money to the school instead...and I am still doing that. Brother Gustavo and I and planning to do a 15 km run along the Burlington waterfront before the end of the year.
In fact, in my training, I was able to complete the half marathon distance (21.1 km), but not without great complaints from my knees! I clocked in at around 2 hrs and 11 minutes at the 21.1 km mark. My overall pace was 6'13" per km, but my last 3 kms were very painful...I actually kept a < 6'00" throughout the first 18 km, but hit a wall after 18 km. There was a point when I had real trouble passing an old man walking along the sidewalk where I was running! It was quite a hilarious scene now that I reflect upon it. But I persisted and pushed through. When I checked my route on Google Maps the night before, I was supposed to end up near home, but due to a miscalculation, I was almost 1 km from home when I finished the half marathon distance. I was not pleased to walk another 1 km home!
FLL Walk with God
Just this summer, Renee and a few other moms we've known from church got into raising Monarch butterflies (that's a story for another time). They have now formed a team to do a 5 km walk for Fountain of Love and Life (FLL) on October 22 (this coming Sunday). For those of you who are not familiar with FLL, it is a Chinese Catholic media organization, founded here in the GTA, which is doing great evangelization work. It started off making TV shows but now also has a radio program and all sorts of other good things.
They're holding this fundraiser through the Scotiabank Marathon. So, instead of doing the 5 km walk with Renee, I've signed up for the half marathon. It's killing 2 birds with 1 stone! I need to run a half marathon and FLL needs more supporters in their run!
So, here I am asking for more money! This time not for the school, but for FLL. Please hit this link to get to my page: Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Any donation $20 or greater will get you a tax receipt immediately. Thanks for your generosity!
Last Request
I was actually a little reluctant when signing up. Over the summer, each time I increased my distance on a run, my knees and ankles would complain after each run. My muscles and cardio are not the problem, but my joints are. I think this is a classic sign of age :( So, about 2 weeks ago, my left knee really started complaining, even though I had not run that week. It went away mostly, but when I did a short run just this past weekend, it became somewhat painful 1 km into the run.
Lucky for me, I have so many medical professionals in my family, Renee's sister, Rachel, who is a physiotherapist took a look and identified an injured lateral collateral ligament (LCL), a ligament on the outside of the knee. It's likely due to my inactivity (prior to starting running) and lack of muscle strength that my leg is just not built for repeated impact.
Anyway, the only thing I can really do is rest it until this Sunday. It was painful up until yesterday, but it feels pretty good this morning. I hope I'll be back to 100% by Sunday. This whole knee thing has me a bit anxious. Last night, I had a semi-nightmare that I had missed the marathon. So, my last request is simply a prayer for me that my knee will be in a good enough shape for me to complete the run.
Again, thank you so much for your generosity and for reading this (I actually can't believe the number of pageviews I get). God bless!