“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
I wrote about my first half-marathon attempt here on TRB back in 2023. I probably shouldn’t say “attempt,” since I finished the race, but my knee gave out after 10KM and I had to sort of run-walk the last seven kilometres.
That was demoralizing.
Worse was a sports medicine doctor who told me, “You should train a full year for a 5K. Then the next year, train a full year for a 10K. Then the following year, or the year after, train for the Half-Marathon.”
Sage advice for a normal human, but that advice made my head explode. There was no way I was going to wait four years to try this again.
I took seven months off from running; October of 2023 to May of 2024. I started back slowly and didn’t do more than 5KM until January of 2025.
Yeah, maybe I could have trained for the half-marathon in the fall of this year, but just look at that photo above with the cherry blossoms! It doesn’t get any better than that!
Special thanks to long-time blog reader, Sigruper, for being an unofficial running coach in my stable of people whom I pester with questions.
I texted him on the weekend and said, “I’ve done everything I can to get my knee ready. Yoga, massage treatments, foam rolling, and ice baths.”
Being an older chap, he sarcastically wrote back:
“It’s so hard being in your 40’s….”
😭
True that.
Makes me want to do better next time.
Special thanks to blog reader Anwar for providing me with some running advice and encouragement over the last few months. A little goes a long way.
And a shout out to @thebibbygroup, aka Chris Bibby, who probably holds the record for most combined real estate sales and marathons. The poor guy is probably at his in-laws for a nice family dinner when his phone goes off and it’s some real estate agent asking, “Would I be crazy to wear leggings in this weather? What’s the ideal temperature for a racerback?”
But he answered!
Full transparency: I’m writing this from my bed, with massive ice packs on both knees. My wife brought me my laptop.
“Anything else, sire?”
She deserves a shout out too, considering had a slumber party with the kids in the basement on Saturday night so I could go to bed at 8:00pm and be completely undisturbed.
Alright, thanks for indulging me.
I expect the TRREB stats to be released on Monday or Tuesday and that will be the topic of conversation when I return here on Thursday.
Actually, I partially expect that to be the topic of conversation on this thread over the next few days because I know you guys… 🙂
