NCM

Friday I had a long 6 hour drive up to Ottawa and spent the night with my Granny in Kanata. I love her On Saturday morning I went for a short (very short < 2 miles) run, and relaxed for a bit.

Then off to the race expo picking up EWL on the way. It was really well organized and it was easy to get my race kit, bib etc., unfortunately it was HOT! Like sweaty-I-wish-I-was-wearing-nothing-hot. Met up with EK at one of the booths and saw a number of people from my clinic there. Oh, and I got a pair of my NB 765s (the 766s were no good for me) at the expo for $120 no Tax :)

Saturday night, we went out to EKs farm outside of ottawa and had a nice pasta dinner. Unfortunately my picky eating habits kept me from eating some of the meal, but I still had lots of pasta and bread.

Sunday morning woke up bright and early. And ate my breakfast and got myself organized. It was currently 12C with a forcasted high of 22C (but there was a very good chance of rain), so I went with the lighter weight, darker colour shirt praying for overcast skies, and we were off to see the finish of the marathon. The winner in both the men's and women's race looked awesome! They were so strong crossing the finish!

Then into line for 10 minutes for a porta-potty and off to the corrals to line up. There were ~7000 runners, so it was pretty busy. We found the 2 hour pace bunny, but it was so packed that we couldn't stand very close. As the movement started she was able to move foreward much quicker than we were, so we spent the first km catching up to her weaving though the people. The first km was way too slow for the 2 hour pace (6:05 when what we needed were 5:41ish), so she really picked it up over the next two kms, and by the time we passed the 3 km mark, we were not only back on schedule, but actually 20-30 seconds ahead of goal time!

The first 8 kms, we seemed to hold that 30 seconds ahead of goal pace (2 hours) that we had been training for. Then things really started falling apart. By the time we got to km 10 we were down to 57:34 which means we lost close to a minute in 2 kms. The heat and hills (not too many hills on this route, but all of them were between the 7th and 12th km) started to get to us. I didn't feel exhausted or sore, but I was beat.

I was too hot and couldn't cool down no matter how much water I took on (drinking or pouring over head). At the 13th km, we switched water bottles with EWL who met up with us and biked along with us for the next 5-6 kms. We stopped to walk to get EKs new bottle open. I lost it there and couldn't start back up. We probably walked for a good 3 minutes, and I used water from my EWLs bottle to help cool down and that kept me going. I was seriously ready to quit. I felt like vomitting and didn't want to be one of those people who continued running when they should have quit.

I made it through that horrible section and was okay for most of the rest of the race, but we fell quite a bit off our goal pace. The rest of the time I was HOT, but kept on getting shivers, I tried as hard as possible to take on as much fluid as possible and made sure to run in the shade where possible. When we got to one km left, EK picked up the pace, and I wanted to walk, so she went a head (finished in 2:08:39), and I stayed back and walked a bit to be able to put in a strong finish.

Starting at the 750 m mark, they started counting down... 750 m, 500 m, 400 m, 200 m, 120m... I kept on picking up the pace with every sign I passed. I was passing everyone around me, I kept on getting little cramps in my calves, but I said, "Not now! I'm finishing this race". In the last 500 m of the course, no one passed me, and I was blowing through everyone. My finish line photo had to have me RUNNING, not walking, not shuffling, dammit!. I made it through, and my last km was in the 5:15 range despite leg cramping and the heat and everything else.

I finished in 2:09:15. Am I disappointed? Nope. Not at all. My original goal for this race was to beat my time from the last time I did it (2:13:07) and then to beat 2:10. And I did that, so I am happy with that. I didn't get my PR, and I didn't get my 2:00, but I'm attributing that due to my sub-steller runs during my field school, and the weather. I'm already planning for my next half (going to do one in the fall during full marathon training). I'm going to blow that 2:00 time out of the water.

Other things to note that didn't seem to fit in anywhere else - everyone that I saw from my clinic was off of their goal time betwen 4 minutes for the small compact people, to up to 17 minutes for some of the people that were carrying around a little extra weight (height and muscle). I also had someone faint right beside me. Luckily the support friend was there, and she stopped and running partner and I ran ahead to get a medic. In the final 6 kms, saw at least 6 people on the side of the course that had to pull out. The results today show 100 walkers and runners DNFd in the marathon.