Pre Race Report

Thought I would take a quick break from studying for a few minutes to write a quick post. This weekend I am competing in the Run for Retina Half Marathon. Due to flooding in the area the race start was moved from Harris Park to Storybook Park. I am really hoping that the new half marathon course is certified 21.1 not 21.8 or something like that. I remember last year at the Oakville Half Marathon where the course was a whole 650 meters long. For some people this may not be a big deal but to those of us racing against our own time and not necessarily our competitors (like myself) it is a huge problem. I means about 2 minutes added onto your time. When looking back on the race it appears as though my time from the Mississauga Half in the spring last year and the oakville in september got worse. This may not seem like an issue now because I know the course was longer so it doesn't mean anything, but that's the point: that it doesn't mean anything and takes away from all the hard work you put into training and prepared for the race. When I step up to the starting line, after paying my 60 or 70 or sometimes over 125 dollars for a race I expect the race to be 100% accurate, in addition to a number of other components which make a race enjoyable and worth the price.
Just to rant for a minute or so, I feel the registration fees for road races, and triathlons is getting out of control. Just last month, I was looking for a local 5k race to tune my skills before going to the Around the Bay. I came across a race called the Achilles St. Patrick's Day 5k which was held downtown Toronto, but I chose not to sign up because it would have cost me near 60 dollars to register, plus parking and other fees. Do the math, if I was to run a 16 minute or so 5k (not really sure what my time would be since I've never ran a 5k race)  I am paying over 4$ per minute to run. Being a kine student, I am always being taught the benefits of physical activity, and about the obesity epidemic spreading across North America with more than 68% of the population being inactive and considered overweight. With childhood obesity rates skyrocketing, and the baby-boom cohort which is largely inactive one can only wonder what are we doing wrong as a society to promote physical activity. O, let me take a quick guess, maybe its because of greedy race coordinators, gym owners, and community fitness centres charging an arm and a leg to participate. One other example just this week I went to the Dufferin Clarke Commuity Centre website to see what it would cost me to have year-round access to the pool. For 50 visits it would cost a person my age 200 dollars and 300 dollars for the year (not to mention the fact that length swim is unavailable on weekends? and only available 3 days a week for 8-9:30). If we want people to get up a move for a change, how about we making physical activity a little more accessible to the  public. If I was a parent on a strict budget it would seem like a no brainer -"For 300 dollars my kid can either swim a couple times a week for a year or so, or for that same 300 dollars I could buy him (just hypothetically) a ps3 with 3 games and multiple controllers to invite his friends over a play for the next 5-10years." Wow that's a tough one.
Just to report on my pre race status a few weeks ago I was looking foward to this race to set a new PR in the half. Unfortunately, I think a PR would be a long shot as my training has hit a bit of a set back. On Sunday evening after my hockey game, I went for a easy 27k run, but over the last couple kilometers (which is all uphill) I started to feel a minor ache in my left achilles tendon. Monday morning i got up and was experiencing an excruciating pain in the tendon, and hobbled around the house. Pretty sure it nothing too serious just a resurfacing of achilles tendonitis which I got last year 2 weeks out from my STW Marathon in October. To make matters a bit worse favoring my right leg on my runs on Tues and Wed has now caused some pain in my right tibia to come back (a injury I've been dealing with on and off for the last 18 months since the 2011 STW Marathon). But to keep things positive, I know from last year's marathon that I am more than capable of running through pain (some may say I am an expert in it) and come Sunday I will line up at the starting line ready to go (and hoping the race is the right distance). If I spend the next couple of days worrying about the pain, odds are it will surface come race-day. Think positively, and as Bob Marley says, "Don'y Worry about a thing, cause every little thing is going to be alright."