My friend Laura and I registered for this race back in October after receiving a brochure for it at the Toronto Marathon Expo. It’s a good thing we did because the half filled up months ago with a cap of only 1,500 runners. My plan for this race was to run with Laura, have a blast and help her finish in the best time possible. We made the agreement that she was allowed to hate me during the last 5km if I tired to push her.

The days leading up to the race had been relatively hot and unfortunately the heat did not break before the race. It was sunny and around 20C at the start of the race and rose maybe 5C while we were running. Although the course was shaded and breezy in parts we were predominantly running in full sun. The heat started affecting us around the 5km mark and once we got to 10km it was clear the the goal of the day was just to finish the race. At about 14km we switched from a 9/1 run/walk ratio to 4/1.

I have never had more to drink during a half marathon. I carried 600mL of water with me and I took at least one cup or gatorade and/or water at each of the six water stations plus I had my bottle refiled once. I also consumed two gels and a Cadbury 100 calorie chocolate bar. That’s right, I ate a chocolate bar during the race! Hey, if they’re going to put out a chocolate station (I loved the sign “Attention Chocolate Ahead”) I am going to partake.

In the end we finished in 2:42:14, a time which was severely influenced by the heat. It’s a minor miracle that neither of us ended up dehydrated or sunburnt. I seemed to bounce back quite well from this race which I consider to be a positive sign for the Goofy challenge. I’m not saying I felt ready to run a full marathon when I woke up on Monday morning but I did feel like I could have gone for a run had it been on my schedule.

Pre Race

Laura and I picked up our race bibs on Saturday morning and spent a few hours jetting around the city doing some shopping. We took things easy in the afternoon, had a delicious dinner of homemade (although not by us) pasta and then spent the evening watching a movie. On Sunday morning we woke up at 5:45am, ate breakfast and took the TTC to Yonge and Eglington. We walked up past the start line to drop off our bag, did a short warm-up jog and then parted ways at the entrance to our corrals.

The weather reports had been calling for thunderstorms and a 90% POP. It was a warm 18C and humid but mercilessly the rain held off for the most part.

My primary goal for this race was to set a new personal best. That meant running faster than 54:02, my time from my only pervious 10k: the 2006 Dawg Dash. My pie-in-the-sky goal was to go sub 50:00. Just before the race started I decided to throw caution to the wind and try to run 5:00 min/km for as long as I could and see what would happen.

The Race

Despite the fact that the race has a large net downhill (87m or 285ft) there are sill several uphill sections particularly in the first half. I had to do a bit of jockeying for position during the first kilometer but eventually settled into my goal pace. Actually I threw down some ridiculously consistent splits during the first 5k. The were all between 4:55 and 5:03. I hit the 5k in 24:57. I was feeling good but not great at this point and knew I had no room to slow down if I wanted to break 50:00.

During the second half of the race I had to really concentrate on running the kilometer I was in and not worrying about how far it was to the finish. I held things together through the seventh kilometer and then I started to fade. The eighth and ninth kilometers came in at 5:11 and 5:09, respectively. I figured that put me about 20 seconds behind and I’d have to try and make it up in the last kilometer. I turned on the jets with about 750m to go and then really sprinted the last 200m. I knew I had to give it everything I had left because I would be upset if I barely missed making my goal. I hit my watch after crossing the timing mats and felt like I might fall over. When I looked at my watch it read 50:00.21 so I was pretty certain I’d broken 50:00 by chip time. Yippee!

Post Race

I got my medal, some food and drink and then picked up my checked bag. Laura and I met up at our appointed meeting spot and then made the trek up her her condo via TTC. It was sort of cool that even though we kept getting further away from the finish line we kept seeing people on the streets with their medals around their necks.

Data

==================================================
                 Cumulative    Cumulative    5Km
Km     Split        Time         Pace       Split
==================================================
 1    04:58.5    0:04:58.5     04:58.5
 2    04:58.8    0:09:57.4     04:58.7
 3    05:02.3    0:14:59.7     04:59.9
 4    04:54.5    0:19:54.1     04:58.5
 5    05:02.5    0:24:56.6     04:59.3     24:56.6
 6    04:58.0    0:29:54.6     04:59.1
 7    05:01.1    0:34:55.7     04:59.4
 8    05:11.3    0:40:07.0     05:00.9
 9    05:09.4    0:45:16.3     05:01.8
10    04:39.8    0:49:56.1     04:59.6     24:59.5
      49:56.1
==================================================
Overall place:  2670/11913 (77th percentile)
Gender place:   648/6684   (90th percentile)
Division place: 138/1221   (88th percentile)

Pre Race

My parents were visiting for the weekend so I spent most of Saturday sewing curtains for my living room with my Mother. On Sunday I woke up at about 6:20am and my Dad and I arrived at Betchel Park at around 7:10am. It was drizzling rain when we arrived and by the time I’d picked up my bib and timing chip, made a final wardrobe selection and made it through the bathroom line up it was about 8:10 and absolutely pouring rain. Thankfully all the pre race stuff was at an indoor soccer facility and since there were only 365 people in the half marathon we didn’t have to walk out to the start line until the last moment.

The Race

Because of the torrential downpour I started the race wearing a garbage bag (see photo below). I knew the general route but I didn’t really know where the hills would be so everything was a surprise. My plan was to keep my kilometer splits between 5:27 and 5:42 (i.e. between a 1:55 and 2:00 finish time). I started out way too fast covering the first two two kilometers in 10:24 (I missed the first kilometer sign). I think I was just excited by the crowd, the fact that this was my first race of 2010 and I was keen to warm up. By the third kilometer I’d pretty much settled into my own pace. This was the first races I’ve done on open roads. The first few kilometers were closed to traffic but after we turned onto Bloomingdale Rd the road was open and we were supposed to run on the shoulder for the rest of the way. This could have been bad but it wasn’t really a problem. The roads mostly had generous shoulders and the cars gave the runners a wide berth when driving by. It seemed like a St John Ambulance or police car drove by about every five minutes monitoring the course.

I came through the first five kilometers in 27:09 and was feeling pretty good. The course was reputed as hilly but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. There were a couple long inclines but nothing that made me think of walking like other hills I’ve run on. In particular, kilometer eight had a big hill which slowed me down to a 5:50 split. I just kept on trucking and enjoyed a few downhill kilometers after that. My split for the second five kilometers was 28:03 giving me a 10 kilometer split of 55:12. Around this time the rain had returned to a drizzle and I finally took off the garbage bag I’d been running in. I had never intended to keep it on for this long but it served its purpose.

There were a few more hills in the next few kilometers and I was starting to feel myself slow. Whereas before I’d been hitting the low 5:30’s now I was clocking high 5:30’s and some 5:40’s. I took a gel coming out of Conestogo and then faced down the wind and rolling hills of Northfield drive. My third five kilometer split was 28:39. As I made the turn onto University Ave I knew I was getting close to home. I had hopped to turn on the engines in the last five kilometers but I didn’t quite have much to give. It was the usual story, my legs were the limiting factor not my lungs. I managed to pick up the pace in kilometer 20 and then hit my fourth five kilometer split in 28:05.

I did find a little something at the end of the race and pulled off the last 1.1 kilometers in 5:42 which is a 5:11 pace. I crossed the finish line in 1:57:39 (chip time) with a smile on my face. Actually I had a smile plastered on my face for most of the run. Despite the crazy weather I was just happy to be out and racing. I always new that it wasn’t a day for a PB but I was happy to finish almost right smack in the middle of my goal range of a 1:55 – 2:00 finish time.

Post Race

Dad met me at the finish line and we headed back into the soccer facility so I could pick up my medal (a handmade clay medallion, nice touch), a drink (Timmy’s hot chocolate, really hit the spot) and some food. I changed into dry clothes and then we headed out. We decided to try and leave quickly because we were afraid that once the marathon finishers started coming in we’d be trapped in the parking lot. Back at home we had blueberry pancakes for brunch and then my parents headed home to Ottawa leaving me to spend the rest of the day lying on the couch recovering!

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed the Waterloo half marathon, it’s a great small hometown race. Despite there only being 365 half marathon finishers I was never alone on the course. I also never felt in danger while running on open roads. My one and only complaint is that I really disliked the last kilometer of the half marathon course that ran through the parking lot. We were running on uneven gravel and I felt like we were trapping the cars in. I wonder if we could somehow do this loop at the start of the course next year? I know it’s a bigger pack then but at least it would open up the parking lot at the finish. In any case, I expect that I’ll run this race again next year and possibly for many more years to come.

Data

==================================================
                Cumulative    Cumulative    5Km
Km    Split        Time         Pace       Split
==================================================
 2   10:24.1     0:10:24.1     05:12.1
 3   05:36.7     0:16:00.9     05:20.3
 4   05:32.1     0:21:33.0     05:23.2
 5   05:36.1     0:27:09.1     05:25.8     27:09.1
 6   05:30.5     0:32:39.6     05:26.6
 7   05:36.1     0:38:15.7     05:28.0
 8   05:50.1     0:44:05.8     05:30.7
 9   05:33.5     0:49:39.3     05:31.0
10   05:33.1     0:55:12.4     05:31.2     28:03.3
11   05:37.0     1:00:49.4     05:31.8
12   05:52.3     1:06:41.7     05:33.5
13   05:43.7     1:12:25.3     05:34.3
14   05:37.2     1:18:02.5     05:34.5
15   05:49.0     1:23:51.5     05:35.4     28:39.1
16   05:40.2     1:29:31.7     05:35.7
17   05:38.5     1:35:10.2     05:35.9
18   05:33.5     1:40:43.7     05:35.8
19   05:39.4     1:46:23.1     05:36.0
20   05:33.8     1:51:56.9     05:35.8     28:05.4
21.1 05:42.1     1:57:39.0     05:34.6
   1:57:39.0
===================================================
Overall place: 146/365 (60th percentile)
Gender place:  41/201  (79th percentile)
Division place: 19/55  (65th percentile)

I have decided to take a fairly low key approach to Sunday’s half marathon. My main goal will be in finish in under 2:00. On a good day I think I could get closer to 1:55 but I’m not fussed about it. I want to save something for the Sporting Life 10K I’m running next weekend because I’m definitely going to make a PB attempt there. My 10K PB of 54:02 is from 2006 and is the weakest of my PBs so its just asking to be broken. The other issue is that I’ve actually never seen 80% of the Waterloo course and I know there are some hills. The race director sent out an elevation chart (below). There’s a total of 109m (358 ft) of climbing which isn’t too bad but it’s definitely not flat.

So my plan is to start slow and try and settle into a groove somewhere between 5:27 min/km and 5:42 min/km. Tune back in on Sunday or Monday for a race report!

On Saturday I did an easy run with my friend Alice. Alice has taken up running this year after giving birth to her beautiful daughter Lillian last October. She’s been kicking some serious butt and will also be doing the Waterloo half marathon next weekend. You can read all about her running (and mothering) journey on her blog. So on Saturday I biked out to Alice’s house and then we did a 10.6km run from there. We had a great time chatting about family, nutrition, work and everything in between. Oh and it snowed/hailed during our run! We ran on country roads which is a real treat. One of the things I like about living in Waterloo is how quickly you can be out of town and in the countryside.

The Waterloo Half Marathon is now 7 days away. Currently the forecast is for rain, a low of 9 overnight and a high of 16 for Sunday. I’m not too bothered by this. Of course I would prefer 10C and sunny but I’ll run in any weather. I think the biggest problem would be wind not rain anyway. I’m going to spend the next few days reflecting on my current fitness and coming up with a plan for the race. Of course, I’ve been known to race the best when I have no plan so maybe I shouldn’t bother!

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In other news, on Wednesday I found out that I did not get into the NYC marathon via the lottery this year. Although I can’t find any data to support this I had estimated the chance of getting in to be approximately 25%. I plan to enter the lottery again next year. At the very latest I’d be able to run NYC in 2013 as long as they let you in during year four if you’ve been rejected through the lottery for three consecutive years. My current tentative plan is now to run the Road2Hope Hamilton Marathon in November as my fall marathon. It’s fast, small, close and late in the fall allowing for maximal training. Then in January 2011 a few friends and I have signed up to do the Walt Disney World Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge. That’s a half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday. Crazy.

First, let me summarize February. I ran a total of 82.0 miles (132.0 km) during the month of February. This is a fairly low number for me but actually it was composed of three fairly solid weeks of 25+27+30 miles and then one week totally off while I was on vacation in Whistler (at the Olympics!).

I had intended to jump right into Half Marathon training with the Ryan Hall program during the first week of March but it just didn’t happen. The combination of jet lag and poor weather conditions meant I couldn’t get the speed work and tempo run sessions in during the work week. Frankly, the program just seemed overwhelming. I’d been feeling a bit lethargic and I was having some pain and tightness on my right side. Not really the best place to be starting into a hard core training program.

So moved on to Plan B. I’m now doing a more conservative Smart Coach training program for the Waterloo Half Marathon at the end of April. I’m not making any big goals for this race but three weeks in to the program I can say that while I’m far from PB shape I’m feeling a lot better than I did in February.

Week 1

Wednesday’s tempo run was the first hard run I’d done in months. In the past I’ve done tempo runs at around 8:30 pace. Given I was coming off months of slow running I was just happy that all the tempo miles came in under 9:00. Over the next few months I’d like to see my tempo pace drop but I’m going to be patient and trust it will happen eventually.

During January and February I did most of my runs on the same stretch of bike path and sidewalks that were cleared of snow. By Saturday warm temperatures had gotten rid of most of the snow around here I decided to revisit some local paths/trails that I hadn’t run on since the fall. There were some very muddy sections and also some icy sections so I walked when I needed to. I didn’t look at my watch once during the run because I wanted to run by feel. I felt really good until about the last 1.5 miles at which point I started to tire. I probably should have taken a gel or something to keep my energy up.

Week 2

We had glorious spring like weather during this week. We also went onto Daylight Savings Time which meant I moved my runs from early morning to late afternoon to avoid running in the dark. On Tuesday it was 15C and sunny so I ran in shorts for the first time this year! I might have been a bit overexcited for my speedwork on Wednesday because I went out way too hard during the first mile. I have no business running sub 8:00 quite yet! I was in Ottawa for the weekend so I did my long run on one of my favorite all time running routes along the Rideau Canal. Once again I avoided looking at my watch and took a few walk breaks. This time I consumed about 100 calories during the run which I think helped me finish much stronger than the previous week’s nine miler.

Week 3

By this week I was starting to feel like I was definitely back in a groove. Wednesday’s tempo run was a good challenge. I managed to average an 8:33 min/mile pace over the four miles which is faster than I expected to be able to pull off. There was a fair bit of variation in my splits because I ran two laps of a two mile course which meant some miles had a headwind and some had a tailwind. Saturday’s long run was tough. I just didn’t feel like myself for the first half of the run. I think it was a combination of and indulgent dinner on friday night and a lack of sleep. Things improved eventually and I got the 10 miles done. My hip flexors were tight on Sunday so I took things easy for my recovery run.

I’m feeling much more positive about the Waterloo half now that I’m through these first three weeks of training. Next week will be a recovery week  and after that there will only be three more weeks of training before the taper week and the race!

I’ve mapped out my running plans and goals for the first half of 2010 below.

• January: Base training, get long run distance up to 10 miles (check)
• February: Two more weeks of  base training, one week off while in Whistler, then start spring training program
• March: Work through the Ryan Hall half marathon training plan
• April: Continue training plan, run Waterloo half marathon (race-simulation long run)
• May: Sporting Life 10K (go for a PB if recovered from Waterloo half), Toronto Women’s half marathon (going for a PB and sub 1:50:00)
• June: Recover recover recover, possibly run a half in NOTL at the end of the month for fun

That’s the plan.

While 2009 was very much a year of change for me, running was a reassuring constant in my life. I ran a total of 1255.3 miles or 2020.2 km last year which just a bit more than I ran in 2008. Part of me wishes I’d taken a break in December and hit 2009 km right on the dot!

Highlights of the year included bidding farewell to Seattle with a personal best in the Rock n Roll half marathon and then showing Ontario I was back by running a personal best in the Toronto Marathon alongside my good friend Douglas. All told I set four personal bests and won my first ever age group award. That will be a record that’s hard to repeat.

As for 2010, I’ve already committed to two half marathons and a 10K in the spring. I’m also looking forward to another fall marathon where I hope to finally come in on the short side of four hours. Finally I’m toying with the idea of running a 25K trail race in the fall. There’s lots to look forward to and many miles more to run!