Where do I begin. I'm not very happy with this race, and yet I'm still pretty happy with it, if that makes sense. I was hoping for a 1:55 race today. I had my little pace band on, and life was good.
I took off pretty strong (after watching both Sann AND Joanne wipe out on a pylon right at the starting gate... set the mood early, I always say). Mile 1 I took at 8:06, which was too fast; I was supposed to hit it at about 8:28.
I tried to slow down a bit, but by 3k I was a full minute ahead of my pace, and a couple of seconds shy of that at 5k.
Then, disaster struck. Well, not disaster, but a pain-in-the-ass to be sure. I was absolutely roasting in the sun by this point, so I attempted to shed a layer on my walk break (10:1s all the way through). Long story short, this was a fiasco, and I ended up losing a full minute trying to strip here, not to mention having to double back for my touque. Should have left the blessed thing. After this, was forced to pick it up a little to make up for lost time.
10k- just about right on the money - I got there 6 seconds ahead of schedule.
After this, things get a little hazy. I was running behind some fella through the woods on a narrow path, and didn't really have room to pass, so I trailed him for a while without really realizing how much time I was giving up. The next distance marker I saw was at 14k and I saw I was over a full minute behind; also, the wind had really picked up by this point. I was starting to get a little chilly. By 16k (10 miles) I was four minutes back. Not only this, my legs were falling apart. I knew I had only 5k to go, but I couldn't convince my legs that this was a good thing.
Struggled for the next couple of kilometres... I wanted to walk desparately at one point but forced myself to wait until my 10 minutes were up. That was about as ruthless as I've ever been to myself. I had sucked back another carb-boom at about the 8 mile mark, and it was finally starting to give my legs a little bit of kick, but sadly, no where near enough.
At the 20k marker I was thinking I was homefree. Passed a few people, had a little bit of oomph back into the legs... for about 1/2 a k. Then they died again. I could bloody well SEE the finish line but was forced to walk for about 15-30 seconds. Legs just wouldn't do it. I saw John Stanton at this point (owner of the Running Room), and he gave me a good little push to get my ass moving again. Pushed it hard for the last 400 metres or so to come in around 2h00m28s.
I'm really disapointed that I didn't make my goal. I'm SUPER disapointed that I didn't break 2 hours. But when all things are said and done, I beat my last 1/2 mary time by over 30 seconds in WAY tougher conditions, so I guess I can't bitch too much. I was really happy when it was over though, and my finisher medal is quite purrty. :)
Breakfast afterwards with Sann, Joanne, and Wendi was lovely, but I don't think my legs have ever been this sore. Another reason to be happy with this run I guess, since I don't think I could have worked it much harder.
Lots of work to be done before the next one, though.

Eat. The 10:00 start time threw me off a bit. I think I ran out of fuel a little early because of it.
Ice grippers on my shoes would have been a welcome addition as well.
Dress better, or learn to shed a layer without the whole damn house falling to pieces.

Walked slowly up and down and watched the other finishers come in. Stood by a little fire for a while to keep warm. It was really cool at this point.
Once Joey got in, straight to the clubhouse for brunch! Then I really just concentrated on my eating career.


My stupid dead legs. Sorry, Kristen. I was a wussy after all.

I kind of wish I'd brought my mp3 player. Lots of people were wearing them, so I wouldn't have been out of place. My problem was that I guess I was running at a strange pace, because for a lot of the race I was all by my lonesome in the middle of no-where. It was hard to stay motivated, and some good pick-me-up tunes would have been very welcome.


I'd love to do this one again next year with a better idea of what to expect. Great volunteers, beautiful finishers medals, and a hearty meal afterwards made it all worthwhile.