The marathon part deux

If you remember the fun from just watching last fall's marathon, it should be no surprise that this spring I decided to participate. I overloaded myself on yuppie gear, expensive running shoes, heart monitor, body glide, iPod shuffle, and spent the winter training with Hal Higdon's novice half-marathon program. Marathon day arrived in the blink of an eye, and the fun began.

It was the usual Rabbits in attendance, Christian, Christine, Kathryn, Mark, myself, and guest rabbit James who inspired us all with his motto "why train?"

We fixed up the house guest bikes so we could roll down the 2.5km down the hill to the start line. It would also give us an opportunity to test our post-running endurance by climbing the steep hill on the way back to the house. Here I am teaching my apprentice James how to replace the rear derailleur cable.
The elites Christian and James took a casual approach to quad and thumb stretching.


I took the motto, "what gets measured improves", and scientifically went to gauge my flexibility:


They say it's important not to change your routine on marathon day. Mark decided to stick with his classic lucky shorts and shirt.



James and I posing for the Suunto watch catalog.


In the blink of an eye, it was all over. Christian wowed us all, placing 99th overall, with a Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3:09.50. James fell apart completely, and exhausted and wimpering quaked over the finish line in a pokey 3:39.22. Kathryn put in a solid 4:10.55, and Mark was the hero of the day, finishing his first ever marathon, running from start to finish, in 5:42.28. On the half side, Christine and I both put in personal bests of not only our longest runs, but also our fastest runs. Christine breezed to the finish line in 1:57.00, while my suffering lasted a mere 1:52.45.

We realised we'd forgotten to take our victory medal portrait after we were on our bicycles and starting for home. At this point, Mark could not get off the bike, but we could pose around him. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank McDonald's, visible in the background, a sponsor of health and fitness at the Vancouver marathon.

We had a massive hunger after the marathon, so we went to eat giant burgers.

Nature showered us in flower petals

Luckily, the marathon coincided with sing-a-long night at the Railway club, the first Monday of every month. A few beers and some mad cowbell playing, and an unbelievable weekend of fun was over.