That is evidence of … not a lot of training. My longest run was a 10k in March. Yup. March. So, let’s just say my confidence wasn’t the highest.
But I woke up in the morning and watched part 8/10 of Spirit of the Marathon on Youtube and got SUPER pumped up. I was still pumped when I was dropped off near the start. Although … there was a bit of a scary moment when I was using a porta potty before the race and it kept tilting …. and tilting … and I honestly thought I would fall in and not get to run. But whew, crisis averted.
The atmosphere at the start was electric and I have to say, I didn’t believe the people who said it before, but it’s true - I made so many new friends on the course and I think that’s what made it all the better.
I was also thinking about how to pace myself, but I know I made the right choice by sticking with a pace group. Having a constant group of people to chat with and laugh with made it so much more fun, and with the 10/1 run walk method the pacers used, I never had to think about having to push myself or holding back. A+ for the Running Room pacing bunnies!
Also … the course. Guys, the course.
And this is just the last part! Needless to say, if they still have the same route next year (and I’m not sure, because they did have to do a lot of road closures because the first 10k cut straight across all the major roads in the city), I’m THERE!
Water wise, I took a cup at every station up until the half way mark, and then I took 2 cups and usually dumped a third cup on my head, because it was getting hot. Also, if my gel-intake happened away from a water station and during the pace-group walk-break, I would drink from my fuel belt, but I had to refill those bottles at least twice. And towards the end, the water stations were quite sparse and running really low on water. So next year, I’ll have to either get a bigger fuel belt or have someone on the course hand me a water bottle for the last 15km.
Nutrition wise, I had a gel every 20ish minutes starting at the 40 minute mark (so at 40 mins, 1:05hr, 1:30 and 1:50) and then a random mini clif bar that they were handing out at 2:08, right before the half-way mark (crossed the mat at 2:10, which is only 8 minutes slower than my half marathon time last year, and yet I felt SO much better!). Then Honey Stinger Waffles at 2:30 which were amazeballs. sooooooo good. They are going to be my fuel of choice FOR SURE.
My mother was spectating a bit further on (and I have to say, this is where the course got just a tad boring - after the rush of running down from UBC and the gorgeous views of the bay, running in the sun and heat and flatness was not as fun …. but you still had a view of the beach so that’s good!). She managed to get me half an orange, some Gu chomps and my iPod. The hand-off was really awkward because I had to hoof it to her on the side and she was wearing heels but she ran alongside for a bit trying to stuff the orange slices in my face, so I ended up with a face-ful of sticky orange goo. We defs need to work on our relay skills, that's for sure.
I don’t think I had any trouble until around the 3:00 mark. By that point, we were about 12 km out? I dunno. I know that once we got to the 32km mark, I let the 4:30 pace group go and ended up going at a slower jog. But I dunno, I felt good. That is, my fueling was going well, and so yes, my legs were a bit leaden, but I felt positive and happy and I was definitely smiling. At that point, I kind of switched to run/walking whenever I felt like it and taking chomps when needed. Everything was going swell until the last 5km.
I hit 23 miles and my legs starting cramping. Like my quads would seize and so I would stop and try to walk it out and it would help for a bit. Sometimes I had to sit down. But it was just SO frustrating. Because here I was, full of energy and positive-ness and my body just kept giving out on me! I power-walked basically from mile 25 to 26, even through all the spectators at the finish, but I ran it in, and I have to say, it was a pretty heady feeling of running through a crowd that’s shouting your name.
So all in all, I was extremely happy with this race and it was an amazing experience. And obviously, I’m going to be doing more and more of these in the future :)
(Finish time: 4:44:52. Feeling: AMAZING.)
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