Martinson endures rain, cold for his day in the Sun
It was a dark and stormy night. And, as usual, Geoff Martinson was out running.
When balancing a full-time university curriculum and internship, there is precious little time for much else. But that didn’t keep Martinson from sloshing through the endless puddles and low singledigit temperatures that February in Port Alberni can bring.
“You just have to deal with it,” the Prince George native said with a laugh.
“There’s nothing you can do. I think a big thing for me is to not to get too caught up in the times. There will be times when you have workouts, when you finish work for the day, it’s already getting dark and you have maybe a half-hour of light, it’s cold, it’s raining … you just can’t expect to have worldclass workouts. You just have to trust that you’re putting in the work and you’ll get the results when you need them.
“It was hard, but every day gets a bit easier. Now, the weather is warmer, you’ve got daylight, you kind of get hardened by it. At first, it’s a tough adjustment. But you get used to it, and you just put in the time.”
Martinson, as seems to be an annual occasion, is one of the favourites in the men’s elite field for Sunday ’s 10-kilometre Vancouver Sun Run. This despite a season that has been derailed — and not by injuries, for once.
His full-time studies in UBC’s pharmacology program led to two practicum placements; one in Port Alberni, and one in Oliver, where he’s spent the past two months.
He’ll depart the south Okanagan city the day before the Sun Run, and will jump headfirst into the race in which he finished second last year.
“(It’s been) pretty disruptive in terms of training. This last three months have been pretty rough,” said coach Richard Lee of the B.C. Endurance Project.
“He and I are communicating by email and google docs. It’s not the same as being in person. He’s still at a level where he’ll be pretty competitive for the win.
“If he could pick one race he could win this year, it would be the Sun Run. He’s more focused on his school right now. This is the Olympics for him.
“He’s quite experienced. He’s been to World Championships in the 1,500, and gone to big events, so he’s very good at competing at maybe a higher level than his training is showing.
“He’s able to bring out the best of himself on the day.”
Martinson will be up against two-time winner Paul Kimugul and American Brendan Gregg, but his odds got better with Kenya’s Isaac Mukundi having to pull out of the event after failing to get a visa in time.
Martinson finished fourth in the 2016 Sun Run in a time of 29:26, which was faster than his secondplace time of 29:46 last year.
A seven-time CIS all-Canadian with UVic — he was the Vikes’ athlete of the year in 2009 — he also ran the 1,500 metres for Canada at the 2011 World Track and Field Championships in Daegu, Korea.
“Last year was my best finish (in the Sun Run),” said the 32-yearold, who has two fourth-place finishes and a second.
“I still want to win it — that would be great.
“Back in the fall, and right into January, I was definitely thinking win. Not that I don’t want to now, but the challenge is much greater.
“It’s going to take a 29 minute low run, that’s what I think. I think the opportunity is definitely there, but it’s going to take a good run on the day.”
In January, he placed 33rd overall at the Houston Half-Marathon in a personal-best time of 1:03:38, earning him a spot on the Canadian team at the 2018 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships in Valencia. He ran a 1:04.34 there in March, two days after his birthday, finishing 79th.
“It was amazing. It was a bit surreal,” he said. “To be bumping shoulders with the best in the world, and so many countries represented … it was amazing. For all of 21 kilometres of the race, the streets were lined with people out cheering. It was a cool experience.”
Martinson started out his career running the shorter distances — from 800m to 5,000m — but as he got older, his races started getting longer.
Now, with the half-marathon being his marquee distance, both he and Lee are considering moving to a full marathon.
But before that happens, he still has to finish school and start his new job in the Vancouver hospital system in June.
“He’s shown that he’s good at the half-marathon distance, the next logical step is to do a full marathon. But you’ve got to get to the training load level before making that decision. We’ll see how the fall goes,” said Lee.
While the Sun Run may not have the international cachet of, say, its California counterpart — the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford, the most prestigious of the fast distance races in North America — it still has its place.
“The Sun Run always brings in really good people outside of the Canadians. It’s another opportunity to compete against good international calibre athletes,” said Lee.
“You have to travel far and wide to get that most times. It’s nice to be able to sleep in your own bed, then wake up and get a really solid international competition without all the other stresses.”