-PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian
I survived another 21.1k yesterday. It was nothing short of a small miracle that I even made it to the start. I spent all last week completely unable to keep food inside of me. I was hoping to add an extra 200kcal to my diet for five days leading up to my race, and I didn't even hit my minimum calorie count on any of those days. I think over the course of the week I managed to keep down about 1300kcal, which is the amount of fuel my body needs in one day. Pretty brutal.
On the bright side, I felt nice and light for my race! All the other runners were complaining about bloating from carb-loading, and I've never felt more trim.
I'm actually much less sore than I was after my 10k. I didn't get any blisters and I kept great form.
Let's move on to a proper race report now.
GoodLife Fitness Half-Marathon
I let myself sleep in until 4:30 and then had to pack. I stupidly did not pack the night before, and because of this I forgot to pack my watch.
Getting to my shuttle bus was fairly hassle-free, as was the shuttle up to the starting line. I ran into someone I knew at the start which was really nice. My plan was to pee as often as I could before the race started, as I executed this flawlessly. The trick is to get to the start really early and get into the washrooms before anyone else does. This way you can avoid lines.
The weather was miserable. It was drizzly and cold . I decided to take my old running sweatshirt with me, since I wouldn't be upset if I had to ditch it. I was also rocking a recycling bag to keep dry.
I waited inside until about 5 minutes before 8:00, the official start time. It can take awhile just to cross the starting mats. In fact, it took me over 4 minutes this time. I think everyone was taking it easy because of the weather.
Now, because I didn't have my watch, I was worried about pace. I decided to find the 2:30 pace group, and stay in front of them.
I knew I was running on empty, so I made sure to drink as much Gatorade as possible. This time there was a variety of flavours, and they were all properly watered down. No horrible stomach cramps this time!
There is a monster of a hill between the 4k and 5k flags. "Hogg's Hollow". It seemed longer this time, but I just kept running. A lot of other runners decided to walk it, but hills are something I'm decent at, plus it's a nice boost to make it to the top of a hill.
Running past Mount Pleasant I paid my respects to Danny Kassap. I need to go for a run there sometime.
The next 10k was a bit of a blur. I really hit my stride around the 8k flag.
In Rosedale Valley, I was running near these two girls who were just having a blast. They were skipping, running around pretending to fly, and singing. It was hilarious, and a great way to break up the loneliness of running in such a secluded area.
Turning onto front I saw a runner up ahead in VFFs. I had to catch him, so I took off and had a small chat about them before he peeled away.
At the 17k flag a race volunteer wiped out on his bike. I ran over and helped him, and ended up breaking my flow and losing some time, but race volunteers are the most amazing people ever so I wanted to help. He was thankfully only clipped in to his one pedal, and he wasn't hurt too bad, just shakey and embarrased. Helping him was the best decision I made in that whole race. There have been so many times during races where I was starting to feel worn down, and a race volunteer biked by and cheered me on.
This when the lead Marathoner passed me. I was confused a bit, since last time they passed me around the 15k flag, so either I was running faster or they were running slower.
Turning the corner onto University filled me with dread. You don't think this is a hill, but it is. Especially after 19k. I was clammy and hot up until that point. University has this horrible wind tunnel that just rapes you with ice-cold wind coming off the lake. I have seriously never felt colder in my life. My feet were soaked through and freezing. I was sweaty, clammy, my hair was dripping. I have never been more thankful for my running sweatshirt. I still had it tied around my hips. For some reason I never thought to ditch it. I pulled it on at the 19k flag.
I looked up and saw a digital clock on the side of a building. It looked like it said "10:10". I was beside myself at this point. What was going on? Did I really run 19k in less than 2:10? I didn't have my watch so I had no idea. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
Started picking up the pace coming around the parliament building. This time I knew exactly where the finish was, so I timed my kick just right. As I cross the finish line I look up at the race clock.
3:00:00
What. The. Fuck.
I was utterly confused at this point. Did it take me 50 minutes to run 2k? That didn't even seem possible. Plus the 5k was still in full swing, and that started at 10. I got my medal, watched a 5k Elite runner puke his guts out while his buddy laughed, grabbed some food, found my bag, and was off home!
Somewhere along the race course I lost one of my housekeys. The one that opens the door I keep locked. I had to break into my own apartment. If I hadn't have lost 30lbs this winter, I would have been very fucked.
Once inside I got online and checked out my official chip time.
2:26:40
That's a 12-minute improvement over last time! Not too shabby at all! Sure, I started out my training hoping for a sub 2:00 half-marathon, but after a concussion and the stomach flu, I'm pretty impressed with myself.
I'll take some pictures of my bib/medal later tonight. Now I have to decide if I want to eat, sleep, or terrorize small children.
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