My First Half

It is with substantial relief that I report I have successfully completed my first half marathon, the Vancouver 2012 Scotiabank Half Marathon.

I've been training since about a week after the Vancouver Sun Run (10 km). I found a training schedule posted online by Forerunners. But rather than religiously follow it to the letter (5 days out of 7 containing training sessions), I improvised somewhat and counted bicycle commutes as training seesions, as well as full days I spent walking job sites on assignments. I started jogging home from the office too, and those were definitely good workouts because it's a long gentle incline for at least half the 10 km distance. And I was carrying a backpack as well, lightly packed. I tried to accomplish 1 long run per week (usually with our ever-enthusiastic Spaniel) which ramped up consecutively from 11 km to 18 throughout May and June. And several weekend mornings my wife and I jogged from Olympic Village to Granville Island, again with our trusty canine companion.

In other words, I thought I was quite well prepared. Last Sunday all seemed to be going well. I had carefully laid out all my gear the night before so I wouldn't be in a mad scramble in the morning. I knew exactly what time the Fraser bus would arrive, and which connection would drop me off at UBC. I got to Thunderbird Arena in plenty of time to drop my backpack off at the gear-check.

Strangely enough (I blame the adrenaline), I didn't even think about my planned 10 and 1 strategy (jog 10 minutes, walk 1, repeat) until probably the 3rd kilometer. Someone told me the water stations would probably be about 10 minutes apart, so I wasn't too perturbed when I realized I'd left my stop watch at home. Long story short, I didn't adhere as closely as I should have to my 10 and 1 plan. And the other minor mis-step is that I didn't include any downhills in my training regimen as steep as the decline from UBC to Spanish Banks. My knees let me know pretty quickly on that hill that they were not amused.

The really annoying aspect of the event, in terms of personal performance, is that at no point in the whole 21 km did I feel winded. My knees were the limiting factor. Again.

This also happened about 3 years ago when I attempted to train for a half. At the time I blamed it on my knees, but I've since overcome at least one obstacle in that regard through physio therapy. My knees felt good all through this season's training. So after gritting my teeth and persevering to the finish line, and during the second 10 K of this run mentally punting back and forth the idea of whether or not this particular life experience was simply to be checked off my bucket list never to be entertained again, I allowed myself that I'd really only made 2 mistakes: not incorporating downhills into my training, and forgetting my stopwatch at home.

Oh, by the way, I finished in 2:17:01. My estimation of somewhere in the range of 2:15 to 2:30 was pretty accurate. And although I initially thought the idea of awarding every participant a medal was silly, after 2 days of aching muscles post-event, I can honestly say I think I earned it.

5 Feet High and Rising

 We're up to our ears in Elephant Ears!

As we're about 3-1/2 hours into Summer (officially) as I write this, I thought it may portend better weather to come if I posted a couple of photos showing the tremendous growth spurt of our Elephant Ears thicket this past Junuary.

I heard recently that this June has so far been the coldest in this region since weather records have been kept!  I don't know about rainfall amounts, but they don't refer to this little corner of BC as a rain forest for nothin'.

The sheer size of the plants makes for an impressive display, but I have to admit these things have kinda taken over our small backyard green space. I haven't decided yet if I'll make changes for next year.

Rhubarb Season

OK, I've really gone and done it this time.

I've been dealing with an attraction to rhubarb the last 2 or 3 seasons, and last night I gave in and...

baked a pie!

My Mom gave me some excess rhubarb on the weekend, and I decided to see if I was up to the challenge of making a fruit pie (although it's technically classified as a vegetable) all by myself.

False Creek Goslings

This morning on our (mostly) weekly jog along the south side of False Creek we had to make a rather large detour on account of our dog. She's a Cocker Spaniel, and they were historically bred to flush wood cocks from the underbrush for hunters to be able to shoot them. Of course now they're mostly house pets, but their heritage, especially Tannah's, shows up loud and clear every time she sees a bird; she instinctively charges to send the bird(s) aflight.

Upon discovery of such a large flock of geese and goslings encamped on the seawall sidewalk this morning we stopped well in advance before our dog noticed them. My wife took Tannah on a detour around the birds while I photographed them.

Monster Mushroom

I was actually only kidding about this monster mushroom taking over our front yard, but it's growing at almost 1/2" diameter per day!

Mushroom Laneway House

Upon entering our front yard yesterday I was again reminded of how cold and damp its been so far this Spring. I bet I could count on one hand the number of warm days we've had this season.

Strangely enough it was the same last year. I remember distinctly because I rode for 2 very wet days to Seattle last Father's Day weekend for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. I took a break from it this year, however, not because the weather sucked but because I decided to train for a half marathon instead, and it occurs the weekend after RTCC.

But back to this year's weather. My attention was drawn to 2 huge mushrooms growing in our flower bed. I didn't cut the grass this past weekend, but I know there was no sign of these fungi the weekend before. Today I decided to measure them, just for the record. Would you believe almost 8" across the top of the largest one? And it may not be done growing yet as the weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning is for more rain and cold temperatures (approx. 13 degree daytime high).

It this thing gets any bigger we could almost take shelter under it!

Gimme 40 Acres to Turn This Rig Around

At the risk of sounding like one that doesn't get out much, I noticed today on a drive past Spanish Banks that the freighter I saw anchored out in English Bay on Sunday has since swung right around. It must be due to the push/pull of strong tides. I doubt the boat's been escorted to and from the loading terminal  since the weekend because the hull appears to be sitting at the same height in the water.

The timber-framed shallow water warning beacon can be seen in both photos. It's no wonder they anchor those ships so far apart from each other.

Extra-low Tide

Sunday, June 3, 2012 was one of the lowest tides of the year. We took advantage of the opportunity to go to the beach! At first I thought it was unfortunate that the weather was cloudy, cold and threatening showers, but since we wanted to take our dog with us, it was actually better than going on a hot sunny day. This way we didn't have to guard against Tannah interupting someone's tanning session, or stealing food from a picnic blanket.

That actually happened once a couple of dogs ago. Shelby ran over the boundary of the off-leash beach and stole a piece of someone's pizza at Ambleside Park. I was so embarrassed I could have melted into the sand. I apologized profusely and then we bolted for the car.

It was probably a couple of kilometers out to the actual water's edge. On the walk out there we were greeted by quite a surreal scene. It looked as though the freighters in English Bay were actually beached on the sand. I've seen documentary footage of dried up lake beds (one specific lake in Russia that I can't recall the name of), and that's what I was reminded of. In the photo I posted of Tannah eyeing a crane, you can't tell since I compressed the photo, but there are people walking on the sand in front of one the  of the freighters.