Intro and Background

So I started this running thing about a year ago, largely because I felt guilty seeing my wife getting in runs and improving her fitness level. A year and 45 or so fewer pounds later, I have completed my second half marathon.


Before a brief race report of my Fredericton half marathon, I’ll provide a short history of my “racing” career to date. I have done two 10k races; the first race (my first race ever) was the 2008 Fall Classic in Fredericton, clocking in with a time of 57:26. Truthfully, I was thrilled just to finish in less than an hour. Five weeks later, I ran another 10k, at the Legs for Literacy in Moncton. I managed a 54:49 there, and I was happy with the improvement from my first race.


The cold days of winter followed, and I did my best to keep running regularly, mixing in both treadmill and outdoor runs. This was also the period in which I started adding long runs (10 miles+), and doing some speed and tempo work. At some point (perhaps shortly before Christmas?) my wife and I thought we would tackle a half marathon in someplace that had relatively warm weather during January and February. We settled on the Tallahassee half for this reason, and also because it was a very flat course. I finished this in 1:56 and change. It was a wonderful experience, and I again was very happy with my time. I would recommend the Tallahassee marathon; as I mentioned, it is a flat course, the size is reasonable (about a thousand participants), the race is well organized, and it finishes in the FSU track.


I continued with regular running following this race, and my next race was my first 5k, a fundraiser in Lincoln for the IWK. This race was on March 15th, just as the weather was starting to get slightly warmer. I pushed hard to finish in under 25 minutes. A near puking experience with about 50 meters remaining almost dashed my chances, but I squeezed in a 24:57.


As I said earlier, I'll provide a brief - likely very brief - note on the most recent race, the Fredericton half marathon, later. I plan to keep the blog updated on a regular basis until after I complete my first marathon, planned for October 18th in PEI. After that .... well, we'll see. My wife and I are planning on running the half or full marathon in Houston in January, so it's possible I'll keep blogging beyond October. However, I expect like so many other thousands of bloggers, I may find it starting to become tedious after the initial 'euphoria' ... but one can never be certain.