Blog#116; STWM 3- Rob 1.
“Congratulations Rob, you continued your incredibly consistent performance of dropping out of the Toronto Marathon.” – Tim Hutchings, post race…That cheeky Brit.
So what happened? As you may already know I have had a history of Hamstring issues. These friggen things are the bane of my running existence. They have been acting up pretty good the last few weeks, lefty was causing some serious worry heading into the race…
Warming up; “Gah, left hammy is still pretty achy, hope it loosens up…”
100m into race; “Gah, left hammy, why you gotta be like that? You better loosen up…”
10km into race; “Left hammy…eff you, you friggen jerk. Well, hope we can get through this…”
16km; “Okay, the ache is not getting much worse, we can deal with this! Sweet!”
22km “Oh god, I think I just got stabbed in the leg, WFT! Stabby, is that you, you little bastard!?”
24km “Okay, your hammy is effed dude, what do you wanna do?…”umm…let’s try to pick up the pace and see what happens…” 200m later…”welp, that’s all for me today…sonofabitch.”
26km; Walking down the road in defeat, nice young women turns to me and is holding a sign that declares “Rob is our Champ.”…FML:(
So yeah, another STWM another DNF. Man, I have had such a shitty year! Sorry guys.
Don’t really have a whole lot to talk about here, so a few quick words before I head out; Congrats Eric Gillis, the most consistent runner I have ever met, what a friggen champ!
Congrats Jason Faber, my buddy from Ottawa rolled a 2:59 out there. Huge PB and a BQ, congrats dude!
Thanks STWM, another amazing race. The Canadian Running Series is top notch, Alan Brooks and his team know how to throw a party.
Huge thanks to everyone for the kind words and constant support that y’all have shown me. I have struggled, there is no doubt about that. I don’t wanna suck, and I promise that I will unsuckify myself soon. Gotta tweek a few things here and there. I’ll be back and rolling soon enough.
I guess the only good thing about being as inconsistent as I am is that I can deal with the disappointment of crappy races. Gonna brush it off and move forward. In the immortal words of one of the greatest one hit wonders of all time; Chumbawumba…
Okay, let’s never talk about this again. Onwards to better times!
-rob-
Sorry to hear that. I saw you go by on one of the early out and back sections when you were still giving it. Hope you can recover soon. Good luck with your next one!
Thanks Patrick, a mere bump in the road!
Hakuna matata, friend. Be easy and let those hamstrings heal…
ahh, what a wonderful phrase! Recovery is certainly #1 priority for now. Cheers.
You are still my fav runner! You will get that 2:10 I know it.
Thanks Emily! I appreciate the belief, I’m gonna keep givin’ it hell for sure.
I hope you’ve had somebody confirm this is not the case a chronic recurrent lumbar nerve root compression? I see it all the time in practice..
oh god. I’ve never even heard of that. I’ll make sure to get that checked! Gah!
Sorry to hear this Robbie! I can’t imagine that’s a fun time. Great attitude though, on to the next one!
Thanks Jess! such is life eh? Hope you are well.
Rest and repair – looking forward to seeing you run some great races next year!
On it Pamela. Lots of rest for sure. Thanks for the support, really appreciate it.
Sorry to hear that Rob! You’ll be back! Hang in there buddy.
Right on, thanks man.
Right on Rob. Dust yourself off and pick yourself up. We’ve all been there in one way or another.
thanks Suzanne. All you can do is keep moving forward eh? it’s all good.
Hills. That’s all I have to say.
gah, i agree, as much as I hate em’ they are miracle workers.
That hill comment was mine not Mr. Anonymous. Saw you out there a 5k. A little hitch going on. Good option to drop out. Take a page from Wykes and go out and win CIM.
Hey Rob C. I agree w/ hills. Gonna see how bad this hamstring is before I make future plans. But assuming the olympic window opens Jan 2015, probably won’t run another 42.2 until then. Cheers! Hope to see some of you guys at boxing day 10miler.
One thing about you Robbie, you seem to bounce back from extreme lows to extreme highs, so next year is gonna rock….get back with your bro in VA and kill it…we are all rooting for you!
Thanks a lot Bill. The constant encouragement and support from fine folks like you really helps with the tough times.
Love your positive nature boss. Funniest and most honest running blog goin. Keep it up brother. Big fan.
Hey Dave, right on man. Thanks so much! We’re gonna keep fighting the good fight!
I love your mindset though – on to the next one! Too many athletes think their life is over with a niggle! Next year will be your year
best wishes from Scotland 
Thanks so much DTfK. I dig the support from my Scottish friends!
Hey Rob, sorry that you did not have the day you wanted. You looked amazing when I saw you on the out-and-back by the CNE, and you gave a shout-out about hitting the turnaround – it was totally one of the highlights of my run. Thanks!
Hope you are able to heal quickly and move on. All the best.
Sorry to hear your bad luck, but stay strong and best of luck healing and kicking butt when you get back at it.
That was my first full marathon and the highlight of my race besides seeing my kids at the end was cheering you on as you passed ripping by on lake shore, in the opposite direction of course. Thanks for the inspiration and adding a little humour along the way.
All the best.