Date: 2008-05-25
Event Website
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Race Results Site
For the first time in over a year all 5 of us were there at the same time for the Ottawa Race weekend. Anita and I ran the full, Sarah ran her 3rd half marathon and Josh our elusive eldest escorted lil' Cam in the 5K.
Our times
Josh and Cam - 24:37 (A PR for Cam, and 3rd place out of 72 in the 8 and under age group!)
Sarah - 1:48:07 (A PR and 5th out of 89 Females 19 and under!)
Anita ran with an barely healed pulled hamstring and only one training run in almost 2 weeks yet she was able to run easy and finish in a bonk-free 5:23 making me a very proud hubby
Me - 3:47:17 (an 8 minute personal best)
It turned out to be a pretty good weekend all around considering a few setbacks (crap hotel with no kitchenette that was supposed to be booked & a few bad restaurant choices with several meals having to be sent back!)
We were a group of about 25 that travelled from Toronto so it was nice to see familiar face at an out of town race. Most of our group ran the half, a few ran the full and a few ran the 5 or 10K.
Mistakes: Saturday, was spent getting to and from too many places on foot. Damn, I said I wouldn't make this mistake again but lo and behold we walked all around, between the 5K race (the 5 and 10K races were held on the Saturday) to lunch, shopping, to dinner, back to the race 10K race to watch friends and then to the awards area where we stood forever waiting for the age group medals to be presented only to find out that age group medals are mailed out!
My Race Report 26 miles of madness
I was hoping for a sub 3:40 but running a HM 2 weeks ago and spending all day Saturday on my feet and not really getting a decent meal on Sat. Had me bonking pretty bad.
I started out ok with and 8:30 first mile, an 8:15 second mile but then knocked off far too many sub 8's putting me on track for a 3:30 by 10'. By the half I was still on track for sub 3:40 (1:48-) but started feeling fatigued. In fact I felt better at the half marathon I ran in 1:38 2 weeks ago than I did at this point . All I could think of was 'toughen up' so I continued to average 8 minute miles until about 17 and then slowed a bit. By 20 I knew I'd overcooked this bird and hoped for the best using all of the positive thinking and mantras I know of to get me through. Extended walk breaks came into play from here on in.
Funny thing, at mile 20, the velcro strap knee tensors I have been wearing were hot and making me feel very restricted. I pulled aside ripped them off and tossed them beside a landmark I know I would remember so I could go back and get them later. I felt much better after this and wonder if I should have done this sooner as they are more of a crutch that I use on long runs only. I did the rest of the race without issue and the old knee pains have not returned. Hmmm. By the way, we drove by that landmark later on. No knee braces to be found...sharp cleanup crew!
Slowtime: Mile 21 was over 10 minutes and 24 was almost 10 minutes. I hadn't looked at my watch for a while as I assumed I wasn't even going to break 4 hours (those walk breaks felt like eternities especially because my legs didn't respond when I told them to start euuning!) At 24.5 I finally looked and realized if I toughed it out I'd get in under 3:50 so somehow I managed to run/walk it in and actually enjoyed the beautiful finishing road alongside the Rideau Canal although I couldn't oblige the spectators offering high fives as I didn't have the energy to lift my arms!
With 300 metres to go I was walking and a race director told me to get running for the finishing photo. I just looked at him, no energy to even smile and say who cares?...then I broke into stride, realized I had made it through another marathon successfully and smiled for the cameras feeling so relieved it was over and immediately looking forward to the next one.
Strange yes?
The Pros
Great City, great start-finish area, decent post race food. Medals are one of my favourites. Awesome course with some of the best fan support I have seen. The entire course, save for a few of the early miles is absolutely stunning, rolling hills, beautiful rural areas mixed will lovely old streets and picturesque downtown Ottawa areas, a lot of which runs along the canal. I highly recommend this race.
The Cons
There were limited amount of porto potties along the course although last year there were plenty. I wonder why this changed. I had no issues peeing in the bushes but I feel bad for the ladies, maybe who had to do their best squatting out of site.
Race kits were as lame as any, again unlike last year's which were one of the best.
The pace bunnies talked loudly and were very annoying causing a lot of people to run ahead or fall back to get out of their earshot.
Our group had a nice post race dinner and party and made the whole trip even better. The convoy home was nice too.
Despite the major fatigue factor I felt better afterwards and today I feel great and lloking forward to another marathon in Niagara-on-the-lake in 4 weeks!
