Long-distance runner Rob Watson will chase history on Sunday when he tries to become the first Vancouver man in 10 years to win the BMO Vancouver half-marathon on May 4.
Watson, 30, is ranked as the second-fastest Canadian marathoner with a personal best in the shorter, 21.1 kilometre distance of one hour, three minutes and 22 seconds, which he clocked at the New York Marathon in 2012. The 2013 half-marathon winner, Paul Kimaiyo Kimugul, won in 1:04:18.
“My goal is to get up there and try to put myself in position to go for the win,” said Watson last Wednesday. “There is some solid competition, but I will stick my nose in it an see what happens on the day.”
Kimugul, a Kenyan, “is definitely someone to keep an eye on,” said Watson.
He beat Kimugul at the Sociabank half-marathon in 2013 but was out-stepped by another runner of Kenyan heritage, Kip Kangogo. At the 2013 Vancouver half-marathon, Kangogo, who lives in Lethbridge, Alta., finished second to Kimugul.
RESULTS and PHOTOS: 2014 BMO Vancouver Marathon
Scott McClennan was the last Vancouver man to win the half-marathon in 2004, finished in 1:08:11.
Watson was the fastest Canadian at the 2013 Boston Marathon and had already crossed the finish line when two homemade bombs erupted and killed three people.
“I tend to try to think of the positives of that day because that was the worst part of my running career,” he told the Courier a year later. “The race itself was an incredible experience. It lived up to the hype. It’s a first-class organization. The stuff afterwards, it was terrible and really sad.”
He may not be in his best form of the season after several weeks with the flu, but Watson’s thrice-daily training is primarily geared for a race four weeks away, the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon on May 25. He runs twice almost every day, logging up to 200 km and 13 runs each week in addition to strength training. “I’m working on being a good Vancouverite and getting to the yoga studio, too,” he said.
His favourite run of them all is the long run, to which he penned this ode in Running Magazine:
“To run at an optimum level one must be aerobically fit, mentally sharp, bio-mechanically sound, metabolically efficient and have a solid running economy. Seems like an awful lot, eh? Well, the glory of the long run is that you can hit all these areas within that single two- to three-hour session.
"How is this possible? It’s because the human body is an amazing machine with the ability to adapt and change based on the stressors placed upon it. While you’re out there on your long run, there will come a point when you start to suffer a nice little burn. That burn is your body telling you that things are not quite working exactly as they should anymore. This is good – it’s when changes happen and you get better. The burn means you’re doing it right, folks. The burn will make you faster.”
He’s learned that one of the most important factors in successful training and racing is what he eats while he’s running.
“Proper fuelling is one of the most over-looked aspect of a marathon,” he said.
He usually eats a banana and a peanut butter Clif bar before races, along with coffee, “Black and simple.”
During the race he’ll consume gels, the strawberry banana flavour by Powerbar. “I mix that in water bottles so it’s more palatable. It’s important to have that figured out.”
He’ll run through 20 pairs of sneakers — the New Balance 890 to train and the 1400 for competition — in a year. Running is the one thing on Earth that makes him happiest and the long run is one of the pinnacles of this happiness.
“I really love running. It’s my favourite thing in the world to do, truly,” he said.
Although he’s not a born-and-raised Vancouverite, Watson is one by choice. He lives in Kitsilano after he moved west two years ago from Ontario. Dylan Wykes, an Olympian marathoner and the fastest Canadian at the 2014 Sun Run, also moved to Vancouver from Ontario and lives in Kitsilano.
Watson works at Forerunners on West Fourth Avenue in Kitsilano — “They are my running family,” he said — and praises the running community in this city.
"I run a lot and I travel a lot for running so when people ask where is the best place I’ve ever run, I say Vancouver. I love to run in Stanly Park,” said Watson, who prefers the trails and trees over the seawall and also frequents the paths at Pacific Spirit Park.
“I moved here because this place is so rad.”
In other words, it's elementary for Watson.
twitter.com/MHStewart
