Monday, July 17, 2006
Chapter 5 -- Includes the real race report.
Chapter 5 covers May 1st to May 7th
May 7th was the Vancouver Marathon, but that wasn't the biggest event of my life on that day. My time for the marathon was 3:40:43. It was a personal best by about 9 minutes over my 2003 Vancouver marathon time.
By the time the marathon came around, I had given up my goal of qualifying for Boston, and my new goal was to finish in 3:30. My training had sufferered too much through my separation, and my diet had gone to shits as a result of my depression. I was probably about 198 pounds at the marathon.
For the first half of the marathon, I was on pace to finish in 3:30. I was drinking gatorade and taking a gel every 25 minutes. By the time I got to English Bay, I was holding on for dear life. I attached myself to a group of three female runners, and told myself I wasn't going to let any of them get ahead of me. I held on until just before the turn around point at about 21 miles. I could tell from my watch that I wasn't going to make 3:30, and I didn't want 3:35 badly enough to punish myself through it.
At about 23 miles, somebody I recognized passed me. He is an older runner who I tried to keep up with for the first 2km of Diez Vista before my heart rate shot up and my race was trashed. By the Vancouver Marathon, I had been on the new crazy meds for a couple of weeks and my heart had settled back down. Mind you, I had also gained another 10 pounds. For the longest time, I could see him just a bit ahead of me. My new goal was to keep up with this guy who I knew could do the Kneeknacker in under 6.5 hours.
After about a mile, I started to pick up speed again. By the time I reached the Burrard Street Bridge, I was actually passing a lot of people. I kept the speed up all the way to the finish line, and ended up finishing about 30 feet behind the guy I had been trying to keep up with. My final time was 3:40:43.
My new girlfriend Jenn met me near the finish area and drove me back to her place in Vancouver to shower after the race.
I said before that the marathon wasn't the biggest event of my life that day. The day before the marathon, I was going to email my wife some information about where I would be along the course at certain times in case she wanted to bring the kids out to watch the race. I remembered she had told me she was having a problem with her email, so I decided to log onto telus webmail to see if her mail queue was backed up (that would mean her email still wasn't working). Her email was working just fine, but I had found an email from a woman asking my wife to go to a dance. I saw what looked like a dating site username in the email, but I had no idea what site it was.
The day of the marathon, when I got home, I checked her telus webmail account again. One comment that she made to somebody "I'll talk to you later on the sofa", lead me to do a google search that found the dating site she was on. I think I searched for 'lesbian sofa' (no quotes).
Armed with a username, I signed up for a free account on thepinksofa.com to hunt down my wife's dating profile. I think I signed up as a bull-dyke named Gertrude.
This is what I found:
May 7th was the Vancouver Marathon, but that wasn't the biggest event of my life on that day. My time for the marathon was 3:40:43. It was a personal best by about 9 minutes over my 2003 Vancouver marathon time.
By the time the marathon came around, I had given up my goal of qualifying for Boston, and my new goal was to finish in 3:30. My training had sufferered too much through my separation, and my diet had gone to shits as a result of my depression. I was probably about 198 pounds at the marathon.
For the first half of the marathon, I was on pace to finish in 3:30. I was drinking gatorade and taking a gel every 25 minutes. By the time I got to English Bay, I was holding on for dear life. I attached myself to a group of three female runners, and told myself I wasn't going to let any of them get ahead of me. I held on until just before the turn around point at about 21 miles. I could tell from my watch that I wasn't going to make 3:30, and I didn't want 3:35 badly enough to punish myself through it.
At about 23 miles, somebody I recognized passed me. He is an older runner who I tried to keep up with for the first 2km of Diez Vista before my heart rate shot up and my race was trashed. By the Vancouver Marathon, I had been on the new crazy meds for a couple of weeks and my heart had settled back down. Mind you, I had also gained another 10 pounds. For the longest time, I could see him just a bit ahead of me. My new goal was to keep up with this guy who I knew could do the Kneeknacker in under 6.5 hours.
After about a mile, I started to pick up speed again. By the time I reached the Burrard Street Bridge, I was actually passing a lot of people. I kept the speed up all the way to the finish line, and ended up finishing about 30 feet behind the guy I had been trying to keep up with. My final time was 3:40:43.
My new girlfriend Jenn met me near the finish area and drove me back to her place in Vancouver to shower after the race.
I said before that the marathon wasn't the biggest event of my life that day. The day before the marathon, I was going to email my wife some information about where I would be along the course at certain times in case she wanted to bring the kids out to watch the race. I remembered she had told me she was having a problem with her email, so I decided to log onto telus webmail to see if her mail queue was backed up (that would mean her email still wasn't working). Her email was working just fine, but I had found an email from a woman asking my wife to go to a dance. I saw what looked like a dating site username in the email, but I had no idea what site it was.
The day of the marathon, when I got home, I checked her telus webmail account again. One comment that she made to somebody "I'll talk to you later on the sofa", lead me to do a google search that found the dating site she was on. I think I searched for 'lesbian sofa' (no quotes).
Armed with a username, I signed up for a free account on thepinksofa.com to hunt down my wife's dating profile. I think I signed up as a bull-dyke named Gertrude.
This is what I found:
Comments:
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Don't look Back - Look Forward. Although it must be difficult for you - it was probably even more difficult for your ex. Wish her well and move on. You can't re-run a race and the next race is waiting to be run.
Onward.
Onward.
# posted by 
: 5:38 PM
: 5:38 PM
Keep running and get it out of your head.
Can't carry it , it will eat you alive. had a long term GF do the same and I got over it with proper food exercise and taslking with several workout buddies.
A "session" on the trails is fun and free_ unless you lose the day and have to buy lunch.
also a 300 pounder running for health andlife. 6'7 and 295 and melting...
Can't carry it , it will eat you alive. had a long term GF do the same and I got over it with proper food exercise and taslking with several workout buddies.
A "session" on the trails is fun and free_ unless you lose the day and have to buy lunch.
also a 300 pounder running for health andlife. 6'7 and 295 and melting...
posted by bigfoot:
"Keep running and get it out of your head.
Can't carry it , it will eat you alive."
It's not really something ultraclyde can put behind him, since he'll always have a connection to this woman through his kids.
But UC, I know you can move forward from this. You are strong and healthy and happier with each day. Take care. :)
-Jennifer the running friend (not Jenn!)
"Keep running and get it out of your head.
Can't carry it , it will eat you alive."
It's not really something ultraclyde can put behind him, since he'll always have a connection to this woman through his kids.
But UC, I know you can move forward from this. You are strong and healthy and happier with each day. Take care. :)
-Jennifer the running friend (not Jenn!)
# posted by : 1:54 PM
: 1:54 PM
Very happy to see you are still doing well, I've been checking in on you every once in a while and was starting to get conccerned. Keep your chin up. Robbie-T
# posted by : 2:57 PM
: 2:57 PM
Thanks for sharing Mike. Like the others are saying, stay positive and focus on your life, which is taking a turn for the better. It is unfortunate that you married a closet homosexual, but that is water under the bridge now. Move on and be confident that you were not the problem.
Was sorry to read about the changes in your life. Your blog has inspired me to get back into good physical condition. I learned about FitDay.com from you, and I was able to lose 20 pounds (a lot for me, I went from 150-130) in about 4 months thanks to that software. I would like to one day run a 50K trail run, but am not sure if I have the strength for it, but I am going to try.
Keep running, your an inspiration....
Keep running, your an inspiration....
So glad you are back and doing well. Good for you for finding someone new.
Don't know what to say about your wife's situation. Your therapist should help with that.
Keep running and staying healthy (mind and body)
Don't know what to say about your wife's situation. Your therapist should help with that.
Keep running and staying healthy (mind and body)
# posted by : 4:29 AM
: 4:29 AM
Jennifer said:
"It's not really something ultraclyde can put behind him, since he'll always have a connection to this woman through his kids."
Since there are kids involved, perhaps airing your wife's sexual identity struggles in public might not be the best course of action?
"It's not really something ultraclyde can put behind him, since he'll always have a connection to this woman through his kids."
Since there are kids involved, perhaps airing your wife's sexual identity struggles in public might not be the best course of action?
# posted by : 10:17 AM
: 10:17 AM
you look so fit one could never guess you were once almost 300 pounds. what an inspiration! good luck on qualifying for boston! you already proved you can do it, now it's just a matter of following the proper training. there will be a bunch of us blogger folks rooting for you.
~nattie.
~nattie.
Congratulations on your run!!!
It is never an easy situation for everyone during a separation. All the best!
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It is never an easy situation for everyone during a separation. All the best!
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