1 week until Kamloops!

1 week today is my 4th race of the year! Just shy of 2 months ago, I, somewhat on a whim, registered for the half marathon race that's part of the inaugural Kamloops Marathon event weekend after meeting some wonderful people from Kamloops via Team In Training. It was one of those serendipitous moments, going for a training run with the group, and meeting someone awesome the same age as me, with very similar running goals, running pace, and who just happened to need a running route for the following day. I needed to do a run of the exact same distance, and so we connected to run together. The rest is history - now we have a race together, one week today. It's going to be real fun!

The Kamloops Marathon is a new race, to benefit the Thompson Rivers University varsity team, the Wolfpack. It is a flat and fast course in a beautiful city in a very hot region of our province. I'm thankful the race will start at 6am to help us beat the heat. But regardless, it's going to be gorgeous and sunny. The race directors are awesome people, who've been working very hard to make this event a success. They also work diligently on a trail running series in the BC Interior and they've done a great job adding on this new challenge to their plate. The race finisher medals are really beautiful, there are weekly prize draws, and it sounds like the entire event weekend will have lots going on with a 5K and 10K on the Saturday, and a marathon and half the following day - Sunday. I've only briefly visited Kamloops a couple of times, so this will be a great way to see the city and visit with a new friend. In addition to that, I'm going to spend the Saturday there representing Team In Training at the community BBQ and running expo where we'll have a booth. It's going to be so much fun!

I'm not sure what kind of time we'll be running for. I've not "tapered" at all or worked on speed much since the half marathon last month; my focus has been on improving overall fitness and getting into higher weekly mileage in my build-up to the next marathon. So if anything, I've been working harder than race effort leading up to the race. I'm kind of tired yet feeling great at the same time! I'm sure the excitement of the race atmosphere and running with a friend will make for a great race experience, regardless of finish time.

Since my last posts about my conscious effort to get stronger and less prone to injury, I've gone to see a personal trainer at the Steve Nash Fitness World in North Vancouver. Thursday was my first session, which was mainly for assessment purposes and for my trainer to get a better idea of what my current wants and needs are. That didn't stop her from working me hard though, man oh man, did I feel the burn, in a very positive way. She wanted to see how far I could go, and so over time I'll be able to track my progress by seeing how much further I can go. In the meantime, she's designing a catered strength training program for me that I can work on independently, incorporating at least 2 days a week at the gym in addition to my outdoor running. I'll be learning the program starting tomorrow at my next session. I'm excited at how this will help me be stronger, fitter, faster, able to hold better posture, be even more confident, and capable of reaching my fitness goals. Stay tuned for updates!