Yesterday I run the Calgary Marathon for a third time and it was a really good one. This is the one race I had really prepared for properly and despite a horrible shoulder and neck injury in the week leading to the race, I was in very good shape.
It was also very good seeing Nicholas Munana and his girl Mel at the finish line and later meeting Doug Driedger my long time marathon mentor. I learnt one important lesson during the last days of training and that is every part of the body is equally important.
I'd never have thought before having a neck injury that a little sharp pain up in the neck can cause one to fail to eat anything, use the bathroom, have speech trouble and yet the cause of all this misery is just a little piece of muscle that got tweaked by a simple chair. So next time you see a man trying to pull a chair with the carefulness of a surgical doctor it will be yours truly avoiding another freak-show of an injury.
The new race course is very interesting it avoids many of the steep slopes the old one had, it especially avoids the hill near the University of Calgary and the Children's' Hospital but towards the finish line it winds through a maze of concrete and bushes behind the Stampede Grounds.
At this time, I had a sense every runner was relying on their most important life batteries. The track got so dead quiet wide, all visual distractions on the sides are dry bushes, run down buildings, huge concrete blocks and nothing at all that represents life other than the runners. Themselves seemingly closer to the ambulance stretcher than a wellness parade
My hip muscles at this time were in a state of slow progressive pain that surged whenever I stopped to walk and yet the entire body was just fed up of the running. But a few minutes after these thoughts a few signs of life and motivation began to happen. Starting with the sight of the finish line and the smiling faces of people waiting for their loved ones to cross the line.
