Ron Melnichuk 1/2 Marathon - Run

Came in to this race with a defeated attitude. I've only been training again for about a week and a half, so I was just thinking: finish and don't embarrass yourself. I hoped I could run a deuce, but anything close to two hours I would have been happy with.

I ran into my friend Jamie at the starting line, we chatted for a couple of minutes before the gun went off, then we bolted. It took me about 3 seconds to remember the problems I had last time when I started off running someone else's pace, so I dropped back right away and took it easy. My semi-cooked plan was to run the first 5k relatively easy, then pick it up a bit and try to run a negative split.

The first 5k were brutal, really. I ran at about 9s, but my legs were tired and sore. At least my wind was good. Thank god for some of my marathon base being left.
I was running 10 and 1s, and I kept seeing a gal slightly ahead of me who was taking her walk breaks at roughly the same time as me, so I picked it up a bit and fell into pace with her at about the 6k marker. We (Nicole and I) ended up running the rest of the race together.

Chatting with someone makes the miles go by so much better for me. I may not be able to go as fast, but it sure makes it easier mentally. I'll have to get over that if I ever hope to make it near the front of the m.o.p..

The run was pretty tough for the next 6 miles. It's a little bit hilly there, and I certainly haven't been training hills, so my legs were really feeling it. I might have slowed down even more if I didn't have Nicole running by my side. I took a power gel at around 50 minutes in, but it didn't give me much of a kick.

With about 6k to go, I took another powergel and started drinking gatorade at the water stations instead of water. With 5k to go, I felt great. I was really ready to go and blow through the rest of the race. Unfortunately, Nicole was pushing herself pretty hard, and couldn't push any harder. Her pb was a 2:05 in June. I decided to stick with her. She wanted to make 2, and I told her I'd get her there.

So on we ran... the last hill felt great for me, and all I wanted to do was take off. Instead, I just kept telling Nic how great she was doing, how she was going to shatter her pb, etc etc. I picked up our pace a little bit without her knowing, and just kept telling her the end was just up around the next bend as we picked off a few dozen people.

When what would have been our last walk break came around, I talked her into running through it. "Dig deep!" were my brilliant words of encouragement and cheese. It worked, despite myself and we came down the chute side by side. I tried to get her to sprint it in, but she said NO WAY, so we just trotted through the line in 1:54, 11 minutes off her pb! That was awesome! Big hugs all around, then off to the tent for bagel pieces and orange slices.

The coolest part? She ended up winning the Silver medal for her age category (25-29). She was stunned, and her gratitude to me was touching, if not a little misplaced. All I did was berate her into going a little further, a little faster. She was aglow, anyways.

Nothing.
I could definitely have shaved a pile of minutes off my time, but I really enjoyed running with company this time around. After this race, I'll get back to 'competing' in races, but I think I really just needed to enjoy myself in this one, and I did once I got thru the dead legs. I can work on my own pb next time.

Brutal. Stood around eating the post-race food and catching up with Jamie and his tales of his trip to Scotland. Before I knew it, my legs were right cramped up and I was hobbling around like I was made of leggo. Oh well, ended up winning a door prize in the medal ceremonies, and was wiht Nicole when she won her hardware. Lots of fun!


Lack of training, gift of gab, misplaced sense of responsibility.


Great race, but the awards ceremonies afterwards took forever to kick off, and ran until just after the end of forever.
Other than that, great race and great course.