Well the half-marathon is behind me now. I had some struggles but I made it to the finish line and I'm so happy to be as fit as I am at this time of the year.

I would say that the first 3/4 of the race went really well. My pace was fairly even, I was focused on the present and I felt really good. The only thing I'd say that I could have done better was to drink more. I was so focused on running that at one point I realized that I had forgotten to drink on my usual long run schedule.

Ally volunteered to come to the race so after the first loop, it was warming up a bit so I stopped and took a minute to remove a layer and ditch my gloves. It was great to be able to do that.

So off I went for the second loop. Again things were going well except that I was noticing that my calves were getting a little tight. Quads felt great though. I had a bit of a mental downturn at the turnaround by Dow's lake because I didn't realize that the 2nd turnaround was quite a bit farther than the first one. But I refocused and kept on plugging along. I will admit to walking a few steps at the water station there but nothing much.

Then, the fun began...just before the17 km point, I started to realize that my calves were getting really tight. Just a hair away from a cramp. So I stopped and stretched them out. That helped for a while and I was able to run normally. But the calves soon deteriorated and started to cramp and spasm. The last 3km were spent run/walking. I would run until the spasm started, then walk to the next light pole, then run etc. It worked out to about 1 3/4 light poles running and then 1 light pole walking. I tried to walk as fast as I could. The last km was really bad as the spasms in my left calf started to make my left foot numb and useless. But still I moved with a purpose. Oddly enough, I wasn't upset at all by this at the time. I mean what can you do but keep on going, the best you can.

I was able to run the last 25m so I got to run over the finish line at least. I was the last one to finish with a time of about 2:55.

So mentally, I feel like I did really well. I handled all that goes with being the last one in the race pretty well. I am a bit disappointed with the cramping scenario but to be realistic, I only got up to a max time of 2:10 in training so perhaps it is not surprising. The small bit of disappointment that I have is far less than if I had had mental issues because that is when I beat myself up because it makes me feel like I let myself down. I didn't let myself down today.

Oh and just to add a little bit of info, in the middle of the night last night, I was up a couple of times with "intestinal disturbances" to put it delicately. There was a milder episode this morning so all in all, I really felt fortunate that nothing like that happened on the race course. That was one of the positive things I was reminding myself of during the race.


Drink more in the early part of the race.

Drank gatorade, ate fruit and stretched before I got into the van for the 45 min ride home. I was really stiff.


Calf cramping!