UBC REC Tri Du – My First Tri Blog

I joined a Monday night running clinic with a friend through LadySport and decided that instead of doing the 10k training like most of the women in the clinic, I’d do the half marathon training. Apparently I’m slightly masochistic but running the BMO half marathon in May has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while so I thought I’d combine the training.

Last night was our second clinic and my motivation level to go for a run was at negative 5. It was cold, it was raining, and I had about ten other excuses as well. But, I realized that if I didn’t go for a run I wouldn’t have anything to post about today. So, begrudgingly, I went and ran 9km.

As we were going up a gradual but looong hill (I’d take a short and steep hill any day) early in our run, I noticed that one of the women who I would guess is in her mid to late 60s started to pass me. Granted she is a marathon runner, but there is still no better motivation to run faster than eating the dust of a senior citizen.  Had I just been running on my own, I probably would’ve given up on that hill, but thanks to that woman I picked up speed. Also, if it weren’t for the rest of the group I probably would’ve ducked into my apartment when we passed it on the route. If you’re like me and lack the motivation to run, join a clinic or running club (lots of places have one: Running Room, Forerunners, and of course UBC). Yeah, you’ll have to pay for it, but you’ll be much more likely to do it if you’ve spent money on it. Plus, the group support is awesome.

My lesson learned the hard way for the day: wear proper socks especially when it’s raining. Your feet are going to get wet and if you’re wearing basic cotton socks you’ll regret it. I now have a pretty painful blister on my foot. (Sorry for the TMI, but hey, you can learn from my mistakes) My next purchase will be performance socks.

One last thing, there is an incredible website you need to check out if you’re going to be running outside: www.mapmyrun.com .  It’s a mapping tool that uses Google maps so you can create a route. It tells you how many kilometres the route is and its elevation. There are also premade routes made by other users and there are plenty in the UBC area. I highly recommend checking it out!

Map your own routes at www.mapmyrun.com