FLOAT ON

Thanks for the all the kind words and encouragement.

I ended up going to see the surgeon for a consultation last Thursday (6th) and went to the hospital fasted (no food since the night before) just in case there was a chance they could operate that day. Moulton drove me to St. Joe’s in Hamilton and we both thought same-day surgery was a long shot but I didn’t want a full stomach to be the limiting factor in the off-chance surgery was possible.

Dr. Moro (highly regarded surgeon I was lucky to get hooked-up with) went over my X-rays with me and told me about the different options.  Seeing that there was a 26mm gap between the two parts of my clavicle, he suggested that a plate be inserted to ensure the bone joins again. The main part of my clavicle was much higher than usual because I ripped the ligaments that hold it in place. Luckily a bed was available later that afternoon and I was able to go under the knife that evening.

When I woke up from surgery I remember coming to for a split second and trying to thank Dr. Moro (not sure if I actually said anything but I think I gave a thumbs up or a point). I was out again for a while and when I woke up in my hospital room the pain started to creep in. The nurse hooked morphine up to my IV and I waited for that to do it’s magic. 30 minutes later the nurse checked in on me and I told her the pain was only increasing. She realized she never fully hooked it up, flicked something, told me it should work now and apologized. The pain was constant all night, morphine apparently doesn’t work on everyone.

In the morning I mentioned that the morphine wasn’t working and she gave me percocet as that is what I was going to take once I left the hospital in a few hours anyways. Within 30 minutes the pain went down considerably.

My mom drove up from Michigan and took me back to Guelph. I was pretty useless and spaced for a couple days after the surgery from the painkillers. They started to make me sick so for the past 5 days I’ve only been taking Tylenol 3’s to get to sleep. My mom stayed in Guelph for the weekend and took care of the meals and the house while I vegged in a chair. She was such a big help, thanks mom!

Over the past few days I’ve seen improvement with pain although my mobility is still practically non-existent. I’ve been walking around the past two days and hope to get on the stationary bike in the next few days.

On the 20th I have an appointment with Dr. Moro to see how the healing is going. After another week of healing, more x-rays and the expert’s advice I should have a good idea on what sort of timeline I’m looking at to get back into the swing of things.

Conditions for Tuesday’s Inferno were pretty good as the meet produced many PB’s but because of the heavy rain that delayed the meet I think it scared away many spectators. I was slated to pace the 5000m through 3000m in 8:20 but once I hit 2000m I was doubting my ability to hold the same pace so I dropped out at 2200m and let the race take over.  Andrew Nixon won the race in 14:04.

Here I’m giving warning to Nixon that I’m about to drop out.

On Wednesday I went to Toronto to meet Alan Brookes and members of the media for lunch to answer questions about my fall marathon.  It was officially announced on Wednesday that I will be racing the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathonn (STWM).  I’m very excited about this as my two fastest marathons were run at STWM (2010: 2:11:23, 2011: 2:10:55).  Most of the questions, understandably, were regarding Jerome Drayton’s Canadian marathon record (2:10:09) and the $38,000 bonus offered by Scotiabank.  Simply running the marathon is not exactly newsworthy but chasing a 38 years old record for a big payday is interesting.  On one hand I’m not in a position right now to predict any sort of time in a marathon so I answered the questions conservatively noting that I need to train specifically for the marathon before I can gauge my fitness.  On the other hand, I know what people want to hear so I offered my opinions on where I believe my capabilities lie.

I contemplated other marathons but I like the idea of running at ‘home.’ STWM will cater to the pace I want to run. If I go to another country I would likely have to pick a pace group which may not be exactly what I want. The crowd support for Canadian marathoners at STWM is amazing.  Knowing the course and not having to travel is very convenient. And if I run well the Canadian prize money and record bonus doesn’t hurt either.

Here are some of the articles that came out of the press luncheon:

STWM site

Globe and Mail

Toronto Sun

Canadian Press/Mercury

I had a great weekend at the Saskatchewan marathon in Saskatoon.  The Saskatoon Road Runners Association (SRRA) invited Dylan and I out there for four days to lead some fun runs and do talks at a school, expo and pasta dinner.  We capped off the weekend by running in the 10km (moi) and the half marathon (Dylan).  The 10km course is flat (surprise!) and gave me a good tempo workout (32:13) while being a little cautious to save my legs for my pacing job at The Inferno Tuesday night (more about that later).

When the SRRA invited me a few months ago I was hoping to talk about a successful Rotterdam marathon at the pasta dinner (that didn’t go as planned).  Sometimes I’ll talk about the Olympics to a crowd but the night before a marathon I don’t like to describe the last three kilometres I battled through to finish the Olympic marathon. People don’t need to hear about a death crawl to get them pumped up the night before a race.  My Olympic qualifying was pretty simple compared to Dylan’s races around the world and getting his time at the 11th hour (that’s what he talked about). I addressed the carb loaders about my training in Kenya, which is good for me because I have a lot of pictures from my trips to Iten.

The most entertaining question of the night went to the lady who asked, “do you ever get motivation by telling yourself something like having to run to a certain point in a race under a specific time and if you don’t your mother would die?”  I often cut races or workouts into manageable sections however, nobody’s life is on the line.

When I first checked into my hotel room I thought my room was pimping because it had a separate bedroom off of the living room.  And then I went to Dylan’s suite!

Delta Bessborough, across the South Saskatchewan River:

Good timing with the horse carriage. Delta Bessborough:

View from my room at the Delta Bessborough (you can see where I took the first photo from):

Tuesday (May 28th) is The Inferno track meet here in Guelph.  A couple of weeks ago they were looking for a rabbit in the 5000m and I thought, perhaps, I could be ready by race day.  So I tried a track workout last Wednesday to see how I would feel running 2:46/km.  The main part of the session was 3 x 1000m and I managed 2:45’s with three minutes rest.  From that session I figure I have a good shot of taking the race through 3000m in 8:20 so I signed on to be the rabbit.  I made sure I didn’t go too hard in the SRRA 10km on Sunday to be prepared for Tuesday night.  It’s going to be a big ask from my body considering my training since Rotterdam, but good fun nonetheless.

Tickets are $10 and other than seeing me suffer there are some interesting races.  The women’s 5000m pits the ‘distance’ girls against the ‘steeple’ girls and ‘triathlete’ girls.  The men’s 800m has rabbit extraordinaire Matt Scherer taking the field through at a fast pace. And the men’s steeple has three Speed Riverians with World qualifying marks all racing the steeple together for the first time.

Couldn’t help myself to those Guess Who lyrics as I fly out to Saskatoon on Thursday for the Saskatchewan Marathon. I will likely run the 10km there as a tempo workout on Sunday morning.

The Inferno has a website now (www.SpeedRiverInferno.com), check it out and come watch the races if you’re in the area.

I have a couple of workouts under my belt now and my body is feeling better each day. The next phase of my training will include reconnecting with some 5km and 10km speed.  For the past few weeks I’ve had the feeling that I have so much time before my next race and now all of a sudden it’s less than 5 weeks away. I don’t feel any pressure to force my workouts but I need to get into decent shape sooner than later.  I’m really excited about my summer race schedule.  After the Scotia Vancouver 1/2 I plan on racing the Boilermaker 15km (July 14) and the Falmouth 7 mile (August 11).  These races are stacked up front!

Fan of Le Tour de France? Canadian residents can win a 5 day trip for two to watch some stages of the 2013 Tour courtesy of PowerBar. Details are here www.powerbar.ca/seeyouinfrance

Here’s a video of the 1989 OFSAA Junior Boys 1500m (courtesy of Jason Bunston).  The video features Graham Hood who would, three years later, become the youngest competitor to qualify for the men’s Olympic 1500m final.

During scheduled downtime when the weather gets nice and I’m healthy I have to force myself not to run. And just like when I force myself not to air drum when I hear In The Air Tonight, every once in a while I crack. So I ended up running twice during my two weeks “off,” no big deal. The next week I ran a little more (~100km) and last week I ran 160km, just easy running.  This week I will add in some quality (grade C quality) which I call “training to train.”

Nassagaweya road – marathon training mainstay

I have the luxury to ease into training because I’m not peaking until the fall and my first race effort will be the Scotia Vancouver Half on June 23rd. In the meantime I’m really looking forward to going to the Saskatchewan Marathon (May 26th) with Dylan Wykes to talk at the pasta dinner.  A couple of days later (May 28th) there is going to be a great track meet at the University of Guelph. Despite the ridiculously long title (The Speed River Inferno presented by New Balance), the lack of website and a satellite website to purchase tickets this will be a quality track meet.

What a week its been for Boston, the running community and, frankly, everyone.  Before I boarded my flight on Monday out of Amsterdam I was tracking the Boston marathon on Twitter. My good friend Rob Watson was in the lead 24km into the race so I waited to the last minute to board the flight in order to maximize my updates. When the plane took off I was already anxious to see the results seven and half hours later.

The second we landed I turned on my phone and my text messages popped up on my screen. There was an unusual amount of messages. One from my mom read “I’m sure you are aware of the Boston tragedy…” and others asking if I was in Boston. One from the CBC asking for comments. My first thought was that someone I knew died because when I think of a tragedy at a marathon my first thoughts are to Ryan Shay and Danny Kassap. My mind was scrambling to make sense of what was going on and as I started to scroll through Twitter it was quickly apparent that there had been bombings at the Boston Marathon. I scrolled though tons of tweets gathering all sorts of information in reverse chronology.  I couldn’t believe that actually happened.

As I held the finishing banner for yesterday’s Yonge Street 10k race and watched many runners come through the finish I thought about the Boston tragedy. The finish line is a place for celebration and as you watch people cross the line you witness lots of emotions, it’s a beautiful thing. Why would anyone want to cause harm to these people challenging themselves and to their loved ones who are there supporting them?

I’m off to Boston tomorrow for a few days for a New Balance engagement.

***

It’s been a week since Rotterdam and I’ve managed to clear my lungs (with the help of antibiotics and plenty of rest). I will take another week off of running, which will be pretty hard because the nice weather has finally graced us in Southern Ontario and my body and mind are ready to go.  Some people who have come up to me this past week to talk about the race have expected me to be pretty down about having had to drop out of Rotterdam, which is not the case. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy with the way things went but some things were out of my control and I learned a lot.  I was sick going in but I never would have known how it would have effected me unless I pushed my body really hard, so I tried.

When I walked the last 5km of the Rotterdam course I was replaying what just went down and thinking about the future. My level of excitement for a fall marathon trumped the feelings of disappointment from Rotterdam. What is to come, and the fact I am not injured, are the reasons why I’m not dwelling on the misfortune of Rotterdam. It was also a relief to be able to move on from this particular marathon build-up.

My build-up was not perfect, I was not completely happy, I was questioning a lot of things and contemplating very big changes.  My coach Dave Scott-Thomas was in Rotterdam with me and it felt like old times, productive and positive feelings. Over the race weekend I got the feeling that the changes I needed were possible without making any drastic changes.  My confidence to get back to where I want to be, the training I need to do and the support group to help me get there are in place.

My focus is on a fall marathon and the goal is to chase a fast time. The first step is to build a big base and enjoy running in the trails. I will start to race in June and I will focus on a few competitive road races over the summer.  I want to race a little more and mix it up with some guys who will take me out of my comfort zone.

A shot before the race, when I still had hopes of running well.

A big fat DNF for Rotterdam.  My first DNF in a marathon and my second DNF ever. Both DNF’s have come a few days after being quite sick. Sick to the point where a few days out I didn’t think there would be any chance of racing and then convincing myself the day before the race that I was ‘good enough.’

After being sick three weeks ago I never totally got back to 100% as my cold lingered, although my energy levels felt pretty good over the past two weeks. Perhaps it was the dry air on the airplane that caused my congestion to cloud my lungs again. By Wednesday my body was fighting pretty hard and I felt shelled. On Thursday I couldn’t even think of going for a slow jog and just laid around all day thinking about trying to get into the Hamburg Marathon a week later. On Friday there was some life coming back and decided that if I saw more improvement on Saturday then Sunday could be OK.

On Saturday night I committed to racing Rotterdam and decided I was not going to budge with my goal of sub 2:10. Up until then I hadn’t cared about weather, pacing and other stuff that I normally think about because it seemed trivial compared to feeling like complete crap.

The race went off at 10:30 under cool conditions and I quickly got into the pack which was targeting 65:00 for the first half.  The plan was to pick up the pace at 21km when the wind would be at our back. We split 15:25 for the first 5km. The next 10km was 30:24 and it felt very good.  We were heading into the wind again after 16km and we had a few slow km splits but because we were ahead of pace at 15km it was fine. Well I thought it was fine but a Dutch coach didn’t and yelled to the pacers to run faster at 19km.  They picked it up and ran 2:56 for that km which caused Koen to fall off a bit, myself a bit more and Gotcher a little behind me. Gotcher ran that km in 2:59.

I didn’t think running the second half of the race solo was going to get me the time I was shooting for so I made a big effort to catch back up to the pack.  I hitched back on but it was a lot of effort and when I rolled through halfway in 64:50 doubts started to creep in.  I fell off the pack, the ‘elastic broke,’ as they say, but I was still able to keep it honest until the bridge (uphill) just past 25km. That hill took the wind out of my sails and I started recalculating my goal to a sub 2:11 if I could get back onto a decent pace. I had some good patches and some rough ones. The rough ones started lasting longer and longer.  It also started to get pretty warm, especially relative to the recent Canadian weather.

By 30km I was feeling rough and when I saw 1:33:19 at 30km I lost my motivation and could tell by the way I was feeling it was going to get ugly. Before it got too ugly I decided to just jog back to the finish. I jogged 5km but then my SI joint was getting a little sore and I decided it was not worth injuring myself or digging a hole.

I walked the rest of the marathon, stopping to watch the race on a big screen and grabbing some drinks. I actually came by the finish line at 3:04 although I didn’t actually go over the finish line.  The Dutch guys who have PB’s of 2:09 and 2:10 ran 2:13 and 2:12 today. Brett Gotcher (PR 2:10) also stopped running around the same time as I did.

Maybe I shouldn’t have started the race, I knew it was a gamble considering how the last month had gone but sometimes you just have to see what you got. Now it’s time to take a proper break and get a full recovery.

Thanks for tuning in. And thanks to Mike Morgan for suggesting the blog a title.