My 1st Marathon Completed!

Finally the day arrived Sunday May 10 was Mother's day and also my marathon day. I set the alarm for 5:30am. Sun was supposed to rise at 5:35ish. So I wanted to start my run around 6am. My goal was not to stop. I didn' t have a set time of finishing or a pace but I was guessing around 5 hours for my run and a pace of 5:30-6:30. The day before I celebrated mother's day a day earlier so I can rest after my marathon. Mother's day prep consisted of me waking up at 6:45am and then prepping, cleaning, cooking and socializing till 4pm. So I had a very long day and I didn't really eat as well. So that wasn't a good start for my "carb intake" for my marathon. Bf bought pizza home for dinner so I had 3 slices. But overall, I definitely did not eat enough before my run and my sleeping hasn't been very good as well. So I started off the race pretty low energy. It hit me around 8k. Sleepy ness settled in and I was conserving my energy during this time. My goal was to run from 6am-11am. I wasn't sure if the lake was busy too because it was Mother's day but we had a back up plan to head to the urban trail if it became too busy to run/social distance. The plan was to run burnaby lake 4 times which is about 10k each loop. I started off slow to start then speeding it up till 8k. I started my morning taking a vitamin c drink plus an iron pill. Then during my run it was gel packs at every 7k. After the 2nd gel pack around 14K I was already looking forward to taking another one since my energy was low. Since we didn't have booths to grab water at, we also had to carry water packs. I had half a litre with me during this time with a 1 nuun tablet dissolved into the water and a few ice cubes to keep my water cold. The temperature started around 11 degrees and then it shot up to 18 degrees around 9am. Thank goodness the lake is mostly covered and shaded by trees. So the areas that were open, the sun will be pretty hot. After about the 2nd lap more ppl will show up. More runners. My bf suggested heading to urban trail after our 2nd lap but due to the sun being so hot and urban trail not being shaded at all I told him we should continue on to the 3rd lap at the lake. It was only some parts of the trail that was a gridlock with ppl (not sure why there was a 10 ppl running group happening during this time but it did). Anyways we continued our run. At 8k being tired I was worried because the last long run I did was a 35k and I wasn't tired till I hit 25. So I was very worried. So I kept drinking my water till the 3rd gel pack. We had 5 in total per person for the run. Everything went well. I tripped but my shoe rebounded fast so I didn't sprain my ankle. I'm glad I didn't have to pee or poo during my run. Bf had 2 washroom breaks. At about 38k my pace dropped till around 8. My legs and knees were tired. But I slowed my pace to conserve my energy. We had to do up to 42.5k because the file wouldn't read properly if we only did a 42.2. So I ran slower but at 41k I decided to give all I got. I was running around 5:30 pace. When bf announced that the race was done I quickly grabbed my phone and realized that my tracking time was off and I had another 1.5 to do. So I kept running till I hit 42.5. Overall, a great run. Not as hard as I thought. I wished it was the real thing because it felt like another training session to me. But it is a great accomplishment and I can finally say I had run a marathon. In the back of my head I wanted to do a triathlon. I really have to brush up my swimming skills to do 50 laps in the pool and I need to get a bike to practice cycling 40k but I got the running all good to go for a 10k run. Not sure how to train for the swimming part during this time but it will be a good accomplishment to finish a triathlon.

Training for the Marathon 2020

During this epidemic: Covid-19 most of the marathons/runs are cancelled. So my marathon is coming up in May and it is announced that it will be a virtual run. So you basically run anywhere you like but there will be a tracker to track your pace, time and speed. I'm 8 weeks into my training. The training takes about 12 weeks. The run is on Sunday May 3rd. I've decided to run early in the morning when the sun rises to avoid crowds probably around 6-7am. My goal is to run the marathon within 5-6 hours time. My pace will be at 5:30-6:30. My running route will probably either be 4 times around Burnaby Lake which is about 10K each time depends how busy it is. I might have to improvise and go along the urban trail. Training hasn't been super hard. Weekends usually consists of my long runs 20K+. I find it easy to run long runs that are less than 25K. Weekdays consists of interval training, hills and 8K runs. Last December I misplaced my Brooks Adrenaline Gts 19 running shoes so I purchased some Adidas Ultraboost 19 shoes and I'm still running with my Adidas Terrex Cmtk Gtx Hiking Shoes for when it rains or is muddy outside. I've noticed during this training period that I have less bruised, black toes compared to training for my half marathon. I'm not sure if its because of the shoes or if my feet is getting stronger and more resilient. But this is a huge change for me. My calves are definitely tighter after my runs and my thighs are getting more defined. I've also been taking gel packs for my long runs of 20K+. I'm currently taking Clif Shot energy gels which consists of no caffeine just 12g of sugar, 90 mg of sodium, 55 mg of potassium, 24g of carbohydrates and it is 100 calories per serving. I usually take 2. 1 per 10k. My favourite flavour is the raspberry one. I like the tartness of it, makes it less sweet. I usually take it when I reach 8K and the next one around 20K. I bought my Ultraboost around January and I still haven't gotten use to the bounce back of the shoe. I run mostly in my trail runners because its still winter here and early spring. So wet weather continues to be the factor of my choice of shoes to wear. I also usually run on the treadmill on the weekdays at the gym and on the weekends I usually run at the lake on gravel. Its a great way to train on different paths/foundation. But after the Covid hit, gyms were closed so the rest of my training is mainly on trails and city running. The issue with city running that I find is there is more ppl to dodge and its much busier. And also traffic lights slow down my pacing. So I prefer running on trails. Week day training also includes meditation which is seriously the hardest thing for me to do. To sit down, concentrate on myself and my breathing. And also yoga is also implemented once a week. I realized also during my longer runs that chaffing is an issue I need to address. I've been wearing long pants to run but started to wear shorts and the chaffing is pretty annoying. So my next few runs I'll be testing out vaseline or baby powder. If that doesn't work I might need to get a big bandaid to cover up that area. Eating has been the same for me. Nothing really changed. I usually just eat more or carb up more the day before my long runs. But I haven't really eaten more or less, its pretty much standard. No dieting just the usual.

Japan 2020

So off to the new year we left on Jan 9th to Japan. We flew JAL for the very first time in my opinion Air China (owned by Taiwan) is far better in regards to service and the food. But, overall a safe journey to our layover in Tokyo and our first destination, Osaka. The last couple of times I travelled I had issues with pressures around my knee area so I decided to purchase some compression tights which helped a lot during this trip. I highly recommend them if you have similar issues. I purchased the 2XU flight compression tights. I also had compression socks which I purchased from amazon. But the tights work well on its own. My only complaint is the material is very absorbent so after your flight it really stinks the material just fyi. The flight went smoothly. We arrived in Osaka without any data so we got quite lost about an hour and a half of searching for our hotel. We stayed at the APA hotel near the highway. I didn't know it was that close to the highway and our room was facing the highway so there was a lot of noise. I wasn't aware of this so make sure you check thoroughly the location of your stay. The rooms were small typical of japan but the anemities was there. We were about a 15-20 min walk from Dontonburi "eat street" of Osaka. Which wasn't to bad. I loved Osaka, it felt safe, the streets were clean and everyone there just biked everywhere. It wasn't busy at all, relax, chill environment even the main street area wasn't too busy which I prefer. Osaka is known for their takoyaki, okonomiyaki pancake, grilled meats and deep fried veggies and meat. Some of my favourite food items there was the melon pan with ice cream, fresh mochi from the stall near the Osaka Aquarium. And my very first ramen was from Ichiran. This was a fast food chain and it tasted just like the instant noodle package. The soup was the same and the noodles were the same but I finally go to try the egg (perfectly marinated) and the pork (thinly sliced, marinated to perfection).  I really enjoyed my stay in Osaka even though it was only 2 days.
            Next up, Hokkaido: we flew from New Chitose to Sapporo, my bf had a snowboarding trip with his friends at Kikoro resort for 5 days. New Chitose airport is my favourite airport so far, lots of places to eat, places to see ie. fish market, ramen street etc. Lots of good souvenirs to get for family and friends. You can spend a whole day there just eating and shopping. And the iso cream was definitely the best of all. Creamy, delicate, milky just the best. Kikoro resort is owned by Thai ppl because there was a popular film that got filmed in the area so they bought it. We stayed at the Marriott and it was super comfy, bed was amazing, huge space in the room, the only thing was the limited amount of things to do there and the food was just terrible and expensive. The all you can eat buffet was $67 cdn per person. Other restaurants available were poor quality. Thank goodness for our good friend who drove us into town to Otaru to have delicious food. I rather go to a Lawson's or 7-eleven then to eat at the resort. I spent most of my time: walking around, going to the onsen, reading a book, and working out. It was really a down time for me during this time. Best thing I ate on this part of the trip was the Ebi Ramen from the airport, ice cream from Jersey Cream at the airport, the egg sandwich from Lawsons.
               Lets talk about the hotel we stayed at near the New Chitose airport: Its called the Hotel Wing International New Chitose. The walls were pink, the tv selection manual had porn on it. So it was literally a one night stand kind of hotel. My bf said the walls and floors was sticky. OMG worse hotel ever! Thank goodness it was only for a night stay.
               One thing to note is that I have high cholesterol and every since then I restricted myself from eating fatty foods because my gallstones will react and then I will have acid reflex. I also cut eggs from my diet. But, I heard from many that eggs in Japan was just too delicious not to try so I did. And I felt fine.
               For my birthday everyone decided to go into town with me to Sapporo to partake of the round about sushi. My bf mentioned this place before and we waited about 30 mins before we got in. The seafood was amazingly fresh. The best was the toro, mackerel, flounder. We did karaoke and had Italian food to end of the night.
               After 6 days in Hokkaido we were on our way to Tokyo, Tokyo what can I say its a version of Netflix. So many choices, too many choices to shop, eat and look around. My least favourite place to be to be honest. It was just too busy for me. The hustle and bustle, the ppl just was overwhelming.
We decided to run around tokyo for one of the days we stayed. And the stop lights were unreal: super long, super busy. The metro station makes the one in Vancouver look super weak sauce. But, I'm glad our metro system is simple. I was just overwhelmed. And the heating must I say...you go outside its cold you go inside its super warm. Everything is super warm: the malls, the trains, the toilet seats. OMG! The back and forth of the temperature is just so vast. The best thing I ate in Tokyo must be the ramen, ramen, ramen, the baked goods is amazing, coco curry, tempura. We vistied: Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Roppongi, Akihabara, Asakusa. We visited the Senso-ji Temple, Imperial Palace and Meiji Jingu, Odaiba for the Aquarium, Rainbow Bridge, Ghibli Museum, Piss Alley, Teamlab Light Show, Tokyo Lounge for a burlesque show.
              Off to Kyoto we go. We decided to stay 3 days in Kyoto and we explored the temples around the area. We went to Arashiyama to do a 30 min hike, checked out the bamboo forest, had delicious green tea ice cream, had some soba noodles, went to Gion to see the geishas, visited the Nijo Castle, went to Nishiki Market to eat soy donuts, sesame ice cream and mochi,
              Last stop was Kobe, we fulfilled our dreams of eating kobe beef. We started off eating at Steakland which was about $150 cdn for 2 ppl and we topped it off the next day with eating Kobe beef ramen which was unbelievable! Went their twice. First for the ramen noodles next up the kobe beef rice bowls. And we ended it up with a bang and went for a $400 cdn meal at Tanryu Sannomiya Kobe for a one in a life time experience. Set menu which consisted of: sliced raw kobe beef, salad, kobe beef grilled to perfection, veggies, fried rice and fruit and custard to end off the night. We had a personal experience cause it was just two of us with the chef but that melt in your mouth meat was super beefy, super tender and just out of this world! We will be back again!
               Overall, a great trip would I do it again? Yes but I would skip Tokyo and just go to Osaka, Sapporo and Kobe. It wasn't a relaxing trip because we went to see and be in so many places in 21 days. And the weather was alright not too cold not to hot so it was a great time to be in Japan.

Tokyo Tower

Tempura Soba Noodles

Arashiyama Gardens

Donkihote in Kobe