The Vancouver Marathon in a Snapshot
This is my Polar S625X chart for the entire Vancouver Marathon. What an incredible peice of technology to help you break down a race.
As you can see my heart rate trends upwards for the first two hours and forty minutes. It is at about mile 18 that I get my first cramp. I grit my teeth and bear it for a bit, but from three hours on I am clearly struggling. The last 10K was heart breaking. I seriously thought of dropping out, but it wasn't a choice I could defend to either myself or the kind of example I wanted to set for the people in the marathon clinic.
You have to respect the distance. You have to respect the race. That is what makes the marathon so compelling. As in life, not every day can be your day. Some days you have to take the cards that life and the race deals you and make the best hand of it that you can.
It was a beautiful day in a wonderful city and I was surrounded by friends and people I love. A spoonful of sugar can help make even the most bitter medicine go down a little easier.
There will be other marathons and other opportunities to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
posted by Vince Hemingson at 4:51 PM
14 Comments:
Vince,
I'm sorry to hear that you did not make it. I too had a difficult day, but in my case, the goal was attained. On a rain soaked course, in a race marred by the need to "hit the woods" at 18+, I PRed by about 10 minutes, got a 3:29:22 and my BQ. I chose not to wear my HRM and just listen to my body. I think I was wearing earplugs. After a reasonable first mile, I started banging out 7:30's or so for most of the first 8 miles or so, then started latching onto people to try to get pace under control. By 15, I was 5 minutes up on the Boston pace, and about 2.5 up on taget. It turned out that that cushion made the difference when I needed the pit stop and struggled a bit between 21 and 24.
The legs are pretty beat up and I have a lot of those bizarre little injuries that marathoners get...underarm chafing, shorts liner chafing, thighs that whine (not whinge!) on stairs.
The marathon is the most unforgiving of races. As (I think) Don Kardong said, "Why couldn't Phidippides (sp?) have died at 20 (miles)? As you say, there will be another day. I think the process of grinding it out helps you to understand the issues involved. My hat's off to you.
Vince, you are a magnificient runner. Most humans on the planet could not do what you did today.
Congratulations, sincere congratulations.
Congrats on sticking it out Vince, I can't imagine what it's like
running for 10k with horrible cramps.
Well done.
You have a great outlook. Although you were disappointed with your marathon, you handled yourself with grace, dignity and class. The sign of a true champion!
I have done a lot of competitions in cross country skiing. The most important lessons I have learnt was when I did not meet my personal expectations. What it taught me was how to become stronger. I have no doubts with your determination and ability you will do very well and achieve your goals.
Continue to keep the faith. Your commitment and enthusiasm is an inspiration to all of us.
Congrats of your finish and under 4hr achievement, life is not always what the desired end result is in our minds, however, it is just the challenge in others.
You are getting closer and closer. I missed qualifying by 1 min, but luckily this was not the objective of Vancouver for me.
Hey Vince,
Congrats on a great race ! I spoke to several runners after the race and they too found it challenging, but perservered through the last couple of miles in the warm sun. Thanks again for getting us motivated and trained, especially during the add-ons..... Talk to you soon.
You gotta reach for the stars if you want to land on the moon!
We all know that I went out to qualify for Boston and I was on the edge of not finishing at all...
But one thing was even more important than time: Going out and be the best I can be.
That's why I'm very proud of Vince because, in my opinion, he was living the 'Steve Prefontaine Dream': Go out as hard as you can and hold it for as long as you can.
Vince, awesome job!!!! You work harder than anybody else I know
- you are a f*cking freak!
Hey Vince
Well my time sucked, but I made it to the start line & then I made it to the finish line. And most of that I owe to you. Thanks !!
I am off to buy a book on nutrition and (once I can walk again) I'm going to the gym. I still think I have a 3:45 marathon in me, but I have a lot of work and maybe a few more races before I get there. Hell, I'm young,
I've got time.
I'll catch up soon for a glass of wine or two.
Keep running (as if you could stop) I firmly believe you will qualify for Boston !
Vince, I was never more proud of you as a friend than I was yesterday.
I know you were terribly disappointed with your time (but I never would have known from the way you acted after the marathon!) and yet you stuck it out to the finish line. You never quit.
It meant a lot to me and to other people that you stuck around the finish line for over half an hour and welcomed us in with a smile and a hug. You made us all feel like champions.
At the pub afterwards you made everyone feel great, those who did well, those who didn't and those who were there just to cheer. You have a big heart and a bigger spirit.
I love the fact that you care about and treat everyone the same, whether they are three hour marathoners or four hour marathoners or five hour marathoners.
This was the best clinic I ever took part in and you were a big reason why. You and Paul and Seymour and Anthony are all very special people and we all appreciate all that you do. I will miss all of you! What will I do now?
And Vince, I KNOW you will qualify for Boston. You are my definition of tenacity and determination.
But please don't get rid of your red fuzzy jacket because you will still be a huggable teddy bear!
Dude, nothing to feel bad about!
An ambitious goal, and merely trying is the victory.
You'll do it next year, and will appreciate the success all the more.
As for the last 4 months being wasted, you've never looked better.
It's spring. And you're still fast enough to run down some hot tail!
Vince,
Look at you, so sarcastic. I am not the best runner but I was competing a lot as a figure skater and I know how you feel. Totally, because at that time my life was all about skating.
My ice dancing partner and I failed 7 times an exam. Each time for different reason. And after each test, we were practicing what the judges mentioned to us and test after test they found something else to improve.
I cried so many time and poor Bruno, he did not know what to do. (man does not know what to do when a woman cries)
One day Bruno and I were crying together and we decided that it was fine:
To be mad
To be sad
To be frustrated
To cry
To scream
To hit a punching bag
To do anything you can thing about to let the bad energy goes.
You should have seen us in that room. We were throwing a tennis ball against the wall, we were screaming, we were crying, I made a huge hole in my dress, Bruno broke one skate, we fought and tried to tell each other it was the other's fault. Yes, figure skater couples are sometimes like old couple...
And after few days, we laughed at each other, calmed down and tried again.
I will always remembered this f... dance. It was a tango. We had to pass this dance in order to compete in the next category. We were stuck for 2 years. We were so discouraged.
And one day, Bruno and I went on the ice again. We were nervous but we knew we could make it. And we danced like we have never danced before.
It was the strongest, the fastest and the sexiest tango I had never danced in my life.
We were so beautiful that our parents almost wanted us to get
married. We finally succeeded.
And you know what? We kicked ass in the next category!!!
So all this story Vince is to tell you that it is fine to be frustrated, mad, sad, disappointed, jealous, envious, want to kill somebody, cry, fight, get drunk, eat, whatever.
But don't forget, when It will be your day, you will know it and you will kick ass...
You know Vince. You will make it and run the f... Boston marathon.
Take care Vince
Mr. Hemingson,
If you never qualify for Boston.
If you never run another marathon.
If you never run another race.
You will still have accomplished more at your age than most people, make that three people, ever do in their entire lives.
You did your best. That's all you can do. Don't ask more of yourself, or expect more from yourself than you do of others.
If it is any consolation, I think you are the best pace leader I ever had.
Did Vince go on a drinking binge to drown his sorrow after the difficult marathon? Did he snap and is he currently tied to a bed in a padded room? Do his legs hurt too d&*^$d much to walk over to the computer and bang out a few lines? Only time will tell - though I suspect he's uncomfortable with the "pity party" tone of some of these posts. And if he's tied to a bed somewhere, will one of the attendants please bring him a glass of wine (with a straw or he won't be able to drink it). How are the legs?
Vince,
I have to say that never in my life have I met or read about a person so utterly self centred. I find it absolutely unbelievable that you call John Stanton a "Jeff Galloway wannabe" or a "grossly overweight salesman" when you should be talking about yourself. Have you seen your self in the mirror? Ummmmm, let me think about this, John Stanton is a self made millionaire who has completed many marathons under 3:30 and you are an unemployed, wannabe competetive marathoner who wishes he could beat the people that he preaches to.
It seems to me that you spend every single marathon clinic yapping on about how much knowledge you have and what everybody should and shouldn't be doing and then you painfully fail when your ideas are put to the test. Why don't you do us all a favour and keep your obviously useless ideas to yourself so that people in the clinic can actually get a good time. You have no real knowlege of athletics, regardless of how many "books" you have read, get out and train, lose some weight and listen to other people, then you may improve.
Hey Vince, I have an idea, why don't you sit back, keep your mouth shut and take in some ideas from other people who have experience running under the goals you are constantly bragging about but never reaching.
Post a Comment
<< Home