Parveen Kaler

I ran the Vancouver Half Marathon earlier this month. The race started at 7 AM on a Sunday morning. I woke up at 5:30 AM. This is early for me. Very early. I don’t wake up this early never mind the fact that I had to actually run.

For breakfast I had a banana, an orange, an extra strong coffee and two Advils. I had been suffering from shin splints the previous month and I wasn’t able to complete any long runs. The plan was to hit the pain with a preemptive strike of ibuprofen.

I stopped lifting weights and going to yoga earlier this year. The plan was to focus on running. My body wasn’t recovering from all of the abuse quick enough. Trying to get a business off of the ground, dealing with friends and family, and traveling out of town there just wasn’t enough time in the day.

Stopping weight lifting was a bad idea. It was keeping me flexible and strong. Once I stopped lifting, the shin splints started to kick in. In the future, I would consume massive amounts of protein to help my body recover. I would try to get at least one weight workout in each week.

It was a beautiful day for a run. Conditions were almost perfect. Everyone had a smile on their face at the start line. Music was being played along the race route. My name was written on the front of my name placard. Random people cheered me on.

About an hour into the race I entered Stanley Park. For the first hour, I ran at about 10 km/h. This was my planned race plan. I finished the first 10 km of the race in 1:01:09. Then I hit the hill in Stanley Park.

This is when my feet started blistering. Really bad blistering. I’ll spare you the pictures.

I ended up running the last 11 km at about 9 km/h.

According to my Garmin ForeRunner 305, I ended up finishing in 2:15:54. According to the ChampionChip, I ended up finishing in 2:15:51.

I have full data from my GPS watch that I will post up soon. I’ll write up a review of the Garmin ForeRunner too.