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Heart And Mind Matters Inspirational Video L. Neil Thrussell

My 1/2 Marathon Experience

On Oct 1, 2016 I will be running my second 1/2 marathon raceNeil Canmore 1/2 Marathon.

Just an FYI for you, a half marathon is 21.1 km or 13 miles!

On Sept 11, 2016 I successfully ran in in my first ever 1/2 marathon race.  It was slower than I trained for.  Due to a comedy of errors on my part – self inflicted entirely.  I happily accept my time of 2:18:08.

Note:  The race winner did it in 1:24:30

Backstory – The race was in Canmore and the morning of the race we were driving to Canmore I discovered to my horror that I forgot, my water and food (fuel) for the race.  During a long distance race you need to eat to give your body the necessary energy it needs to complete the race as well as water to re-hydrate.

The race had three water stations so I was okay with using the watering stations to re-hydrate.  Food was the big issue for me, I had a couple protein bars in my running bag so I thought I was still okay.  In hindsight it would have been better to buy a couple chocolate bars with nuts.  Oh well! Live and learn.

October 1 I will be running in the Harvest Half Marathon in South West Calgary.

For Oct 1, I have created a check list:

  • Water Bottle Belt
  • Water with electrolyte drink
  • Gel packs (fuel)
  • Cellphone (Contains my running timer)
  • Hanky to wipe sweat of brow
  • Running Shoes
  • Running shorts
  • Running shirt
  • Socks
  • Running pants – in case of cold weather
  • Running coat- in case of cold weather

After race gear:

  • running shoes
  • socks
  • shirt
  • shorts or pants
  • water
  • snack

So even though I stared the race on September 11th not under the most ideal conditions.  I persevered and I completed the race.  It felt pretty darn good to do.  I was actually quiet emotional.  I was extremely proud of my accomplishment. As this was not an overnight success, most weeks I was running a minimum of three nights a week and I was riding my bike to provide my muscles with some cross training. To build up my cardio training.

When I started training in April for the race in September, I had two goals:

  1. To finish the race.
  2. Stay injury free.

I was extremely proud and exceptionally happy, because I stayed injury free throughout my entire training and I completed the race.

My three goals for the October 1 race are:

  1. Finish the race
  2. Stay injury free
  3. Beat my September time , even if it is only by 1 minute.  My goal it to beat my time!

 

L. Neil Thrussell

I am a great guy that you need to hire so that I can do great things for you

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