This post is one in a series about my personal running; training and racing. For other posts like this, click here.
2013 was my 4th year as a runner, and was by far the most fun. Including triathlon and snowshoe races, there were 16 races on my 2013 race schedule at the start of the year. However, I only ended up running 9 races in total, and that included two races in the Coast Mountain Trail Running Series which weren’t part of the original plan. But I did all the big races I wanted, set a new PR on every course I had run previously, and continued to improve as a runner.
The highlights:
1) Running a 3:02:43 at the BMO Vancouver Marathon and qualifying for Boston 2014. This was my big goal for the year (and last year) and I wasn’t really sure that I would be able to run a sub-3:05. Even once I did, I wasn’t sure that my time would be good enough to get me into Boston. Along the way, I was lucky to be one of 6 ‘official bloggers’ for the marathon (my race recap post is here). Even cooler, my friend Jeff documented my training and my race, along with Jillian Walker and Sean Martin in an amazing 6-part web-series called Running Vancouver produced by Pacer Films.
2) Running my first 50miler – I ran the Meet Your Maker 50Miler in Whistler at the end of the summer. It was a great weekend, camping with friends and then running further than I’d ever run before. The race did not go as planned and I finished considerably slower than I hoped. I basically walked the second half of the course after blowing up. I was under-trained, and I started out way too fast. Overall a great learning experience and memorable day.
3) I won a race. I won a freaking race! Ok, it was a brand-new race that was run on short notice and had a small field. But still, something I never thought I’d pull off.
4) I ran across the Grand Canyon… and back again. Aka Rim-to-rim-to-rim. One of the highlights of my life thus far, let alone my running season. Jeff put together the below video along with recap post.
5) I ran my first 50k. I had run the Knee Knacker before, which is an ultra but technically only 30miles (48.3km). The Squamish 50 kicked my ass. I nearly passed out 30 minutes after the race on the sidewalk next to a food cart waiting for my food. It REALLY kicked my ass. But another great day with friends in the mountains. I’ll be back in 2014 for this one.
6) I ran 2,144km (1,312km on the road and 832km on trail) over 226 hours. And 70,000m+ of elevation gain. This was short of my total goal of 2,500km but still slightly more than last year.
As I mentioned I ‘only’ ran 9 races this year. I didn’t do a triathlon, cyclocross race, or snowshoe race as I had planned to do at the start of the year. I think I’ve completely given up on the idea of becoming a triathlete just because of how horrible I am in the water, and I cannot commit the amount of time needed to being in a pool. As for the snowshoe races and cyclocross, I just don’t think I have the extra time to commit to these things either, as awesome as they look. These might be things to put back on my list for my 30s. For now I think I’m going to scale things back, focus on running and pick a handful of meaningful races for 2014. 2013 was one hell of year though!
