From 5K Runners To Ultramarathoners

I was browsing on the internet my past race results when I came across one of my more memorable runs, a 5k race, the Whitby 5000 of July 2007. It was the graduation run for the Markham Runningroom Learn to Run and 5k clinics. I was from the 5k clinic, while my runner friends Francois, Sylvia, Sonia, Greg and Jason were from the Learn to Run. Another friend, Eileen was from the 5k Women Only clinic. I was quite surprised to see our individual finishing times with Francois, Sonia and Sylvia finishing in 28 minutes and change, while most of us followed within a minute or two behind. It was particularly amusing to know that Greg beat me by only 25 seconds and I crossed the finish line 45 seconds faster than Eileen.

After running this race, we all then moved up to the 10k clinic where we were very fortunate to have one of the best running clinic instructors in the Markham Runningroom in the person of Isaac, who in his early 60s had completed more than 15 marathons and just recently an ultramarathon. It was in this clinic that I met Nav, another new runner and Nette, my training run buddy. For around 5 months of sun, heat, rain, snow, hale, cold most of us ran together in Isaac's clinic, my clinic mates showing improvement in their speed and endurance as the days went by while, I struggled to keep up, always trying to belong and be as fast and strong.

Fast forward to today, Francois and Nav both have ran races as long as half marathons but are more into triathlons (they've completed a few). Sylvia, Sonia, and Jason have likewise done as far as half marathons. Nette and I did one 30 miler in addition to shorter races and are both running our first marathon in September.

If I mentioned earlier that my friends Eileen, Greg and I were so close in our Whitby 5000 finishing times, look at where they are now. On Saturday, June 20, 2009 Eileen and Greg finished their first ultramarathon at the Niagara 50k Ultramarathon Race together with our mentor, friend and former 10k clinic teacher, Isaac. Both of them were also the only ones from our batch of 2007 to have completed full marathons. So, from 5k runners to ultramarathoners.

I am happy for Eileen and Greg for this great achievement. I am extremely proud of them too, like all of us in our run club. At the same time I am a little envious :).

We're into the 5th week of our marathon training program but I am nursing a minor (I hope it's nothing serious) calf muscle strain. Have been icing and babying it for the last few days. I am gonna give the leg a try tomorrow evening on an 8k group tempo run. The total mileage we're supposed to do this week is 46k, but with this injury, have no choice but to reduce the mileage and slow down. What else can I do?