Way back when, we decided to go international with our half marathoning so we signed up for the Historic Half half marathon in Fort Langley, British Columbia. What we didn’t know at the time was that there was some medium sized sporting event taking place in Vancouver, BC at the same time. We realized it when we tried to make hotel reservations and all rooms cost an arm and a leg. We eventually secured a room in Abbotsford, about 30 minutes from the race start. Not as bad as finding a place in Bellingham or even making the trip from Seattle. Then, one day in January, Morrie received a notice that her film shoot was moved to the same day as the race so she had to drop out.
So Susan and I headed out to the great white north on Saturday. We had to go to Fort Langley to pick up our packets first then go to the hotel. We had to wait at the border for about 45 minutes. Security was extra tight apparently. 
Once we got to the booth it was a breeze and we were out of there in 2 minutes. We were getting hungry but packet pickup was going to close at 5pm so we went right to Fort Langley. I picked up Morrie’s packet since she paid for the shirt and all. We even got timing chips! Off we went to the hotel.
By this time I was getting a headache from not eating and I was getting a little cranky. While checking in at the front desk, we asked if we could come back after the run to take a shower. Jim, the fella checking us in, called housekeeping just to make sure and they said yes. Yay! We wouldn’t stink on the drive back to Seattle. Then we asked Jim about the wing place up the street. He said it was good but that he liked the place next door better. Susan and I dropped off our bags in our room and went to the place next door which turns out to be Sammy J. Peppers. Turns out we’d have been better off going to the wing place. Our waitress barely gave us the time of day and the food was sub-par. Also, she didn’t know what Kettle One vodka was. We left as soon as we could and headed to the wing place.
The wing place was what my brother would call a sausage fest. Lots of young men, very few ladies. We sat in the lounge and ordered drinks. The waitress here also had never heard of Kettle One so Susan settled for Grey Goose. I chose the Fiji Blond. There were about 4-5 televisions around the lounge, all showing a couple Olympic events. But at 7pm they switched all but one over to the UFC fight. That was just about more than we could take so we high-tailed it out of there. We went to the gas station to get water and chips then Susan made a pit stop at Tim Hortons.
We crawled into bed and I set the alarm. Soon, I was sawing logs. But it didn’t last long. About 2am I heard the people in the next room talking. Then I heard someone stomping around above us. Except we were on the top floor. And I kept waking up thinking that even though I was pretty sure I set the alarm correctly what if the time wasn’t correct? About 6am the alarm went off and Susan hopped into the shower. I was dreading the run. It was cold out and running is hard. We both got showered and dressed and went over to Tim Hortons for something to eat. We both had the Everything bagel with cream cheese and I had a coffee. Then we hit the road.
We arrived at the visitors centre at Fort Langley and went in to see how long the bathroom lines were. Pretty long. We decided to go back to the car and leave our sweatshirts and pants there, go to the bathroom and head out to the start line. As Susan went to get out of the car I noticed her timing chip. “Oh god dammit!” I said. I forgot my timing chip. And I forgot Morrie’s too. Oh well, I had a watch and could keep track of my time that way. Susan suggested that we track someone down and see if I could get another one. We found a guy and he set me up but I had to change my bib number as well. Then, maybe because of the cold weather, I had cognitive difficulty getting the timing chip onto my shoelaces. This was doing nothing to help my mood for this run. I finally got it on just in time for them to announce that everyone should come to the start line. So much for warming up. There was someone on a microphone who may have been speaking English (though it could just as well have been French because I couldn’t understand a word of it). I suspect he was giving instructions on the route. It didn’t matter since there were so many people running this race and every turn was well marked and staffed. A rather sickly sounding buzzer went off and everyone cheered as they started the run.
We ran down a little street out to the main drag. Past the golf course. We turned left and wound our way down the street. I noticed that all the distance markers were in kilometers. I couldn’t quite manage to run and do the math so I hung in there for the 5k, 10k, 15k and 20k markers figuring each 5k was 3.1 miles. A mini hill was approaching and some annoying volunteer was cheering people on. I thought I was hallucinating because off in a field it looked like a couple buffalo were standing there. It was foggy and I couldn’t see very well as they were in shadow. I figured they were some sculpture or something so I trodded along. Down a little hill and back up the other side. Soon we took a right onto a trail. I wasn’t expecting this. I hadn’t paid much attention to the run at all so I didn’t know that it was mostly uphill and I didn’t realize that we would run through the Mountain View Conservation & Breeding Centre. I ran past zebra and some llama-like things and either emu’s or ostriches (I don’t know the difference) and some painted hunting dogs. It was neat. But the park wasn’t that big so I was soon back out on the road running past the annoying volunteer who made me “high five” a blow up giraffe.
Soon I was heading back uphill. I managed to pass an old guy but I had a hard time keeping him behind me. I finally reached the halfway point and pulled out my Gu. I tried to run and eat it at the same time but nearly choked a few times so I walked. I chugged some water and got a cup of Gatorade at the aid station then started to run again. I tried to push myself out of my comfort zone on this run and I can confidently say I was not comfortable. I wasn’t tired but I was hot and I was breathing hard. Someone came up from behind me and commented on my shirt. I was wearing my Half Fanatics shirt, as usual. I eventually caught up to her and passed her on the downhill. I pushed myself there too as I figured it was a good way to make up some time. The hill was quite long with a plateau here and there. Unfortunately it meant that I had to come back up. I had turned left onto a long, flat road and went about 1k or less then turned left. I was greeted by the sight of a long uphill. *groan* I plodded away and soon I was nearing the crest. And then I was at the top. Or so I thought. It was actually just another plateau with another long uphill. It was about this time that I was passed by the lead runner who started at 9am. Great.
I finally reached the top of the second uphill. The route took a left turn and I totally expected another uphill. But it was a downhill! Actually, I’d call it a plunge. It was hard to run down because it was so steep and I was a bit tired. I hoped the legs would hold me up and they did. We had converged with the 10k runners at this point and they all flew by me. Almost felt like I was standing still. About half way down the hill some other runner passed me and said he liked my shirt. I made it to the bottom of the hill and we were at 19k. Only 2k left! I wasn’t looking forward to the long flat stretch of road that lay ahead of me but it soon past and I only had 1k left. We were running on the side streets now and soon I could hear the announcer at the finish line. I looked at my watch and I couldn’t believe it: just under 2 1/2 hours. I figured something went wrong with the watch since the entire route felt like it was uphill and there’s no way I could shave that much time off my personal record.
There were a bunch of people standing outside the fort. Some were clapping and cheering, others were ringing cowbells. I passed an old guy and entered the finish chute. I crossed the line at 2:30:15….a personal record by a full 15 minutes! I stumbled over to the volunteers so they could take my timing chip off. Then off to the volunteer handing out medals. Apparently if it is your first time running that race you get a different medal than the people who’ve done it before. 
Susan was right there at the finish and we high-fived each other for our good times then we tottered over to the bananas and oranges. They had coffee there so I grabbed a cup. We sat on a bench and ate and chatted. When we finished we went to the car and headed back to the hotel. Because there were still a bunch of people out on the course the roads were blocked so we couldn’t go back the way we had come. The detour took us a long time to figure out. We started off going in the opposite direction that we wanted so I turned up some street and we eventually found our way back to the highway.
We got back to the hotel where the front desk didn’t know anything about our late checkout but she didn’t put up a fight. We showered, changed and hit the road. We decided that we would eat when we got to Bellingham. Getting through the border crossing was a snap. No lines entering the U.S. We chatted with the border guard about running and then he let us through.
Once in Bellingham we called a restaurant that was recommended to us. They gave us directions and we found the place no problem. The restaurant was Casa Que Pasa and they have awesome potato burritos and a darn tasty fish taco. We shared both and I was so hungry that when I was finished I wasn’t uncomfortable. 
We hit the road again for the two hour drive back to Seattle. First, we had to pick up the dogs. We turned off at the exit and I asked Susan to call Morrie’s mom for a heads up. She told me that I had two voice messages. At first I said I didn’t want to listen to them but then I figured it might be Morrie saying that she had already picked them up. Sure enough, it was Morrie telling me that she was picking them up. I pulled over to turn around but then I listened to the second message. She had locked the keys in the truck so we turned around again. Susan had a spare key on her so we were in luck.
