Once againm, I was able to take the ATB Bus/Hotel tour bus from Ottawa to Hamilton over the weekend, along with Jes and Scrummy, as well as meeting up with AndyM and Carm over the weekend .... Other than that, the trip was relatively uneventful, though an enjoyable trip ...
Having spoken with the Coach(es) at K2J Fitness this past week, the decision was to take this event as a "B" Race and race it around my marathon goal pace ... My BQ is a sub 3:30:xx for 2013, though, MacMillan Calculator has suggested that my potential to be around 3:20:xx .. Though, a 3:25:xx seem like more realistic, at this time, that would equate to about a 4:45mpk pace ... Last year, I ran this event in 2:20:38, so this was a target that I know that I am capable of achieving ....
Went out for carbo load on Saturday evening with Jes, Jess and Carm for past, which helped to take the mind off the race, and just enjoy some great company ... Headed back to the Hotel for 8pm or so, and settled in to our respective rooms .. As usual, I was up at 4:30am
ate a banana and guzzled down a bottle of gatorade, then just stayed in bed until about 7:00am, before getting up, to get ready .. We headed to Copps to meet up with a bunch of Maniacs for about 8:15am, before heading to the start line at around 9:00am or so ...Soon enough the race started, at 9:30am, and we were off .. I was quickly able to settle in to my zone, ticking off the first 5K in 23 minutes and, 10K in just under 46 minutes ...
At about the 11K mark or so, I passed Ironboy, with no sight of Mark nearby, but subsequently was informed that I had already passed him, as he was just hanging back beheind James ... I felt pretty comfortable throughout today, crossing the 20K mark in 1:32:xx and 25K at around 1:56:xx, which would put me on pace with my race plan ... In planning out my race plan, I had strategically decided to take my one and only walk/water break at 26K, approximately half way up the final hill ... to allow a bit of recovery, in order to finish up strong over the final 4K or so ... After about a 45-60 second walk break, I continued on up the hill, and hit the 26K mark in 2:02:xx, which would leave me with approximately 18 minutes to run the final 4K to the finish line at Copps ... I was feeling pretty good, holding pace and, able to close in the final 1K in about 4:30mpk .... Ironically, as it turns out, that walk/water braek at 26K may have cost me a PB, for the day, as I ended up finishing up about 38 seconds slower than last year ...
So close, and yet so far ... As a few people have commented to me, this was a B Race, and was a test run for Vancouver, in 6 weeks time. So, no regrets, quite happy with my effort today, as I did not really fade much, and my only km split over my 5 minute goal pace was my walk break at the 26K mark ...
The most interesting thing on today's course, was an unofficial Bacon Station, somewhere between the 17-20K mark, if I recall ??
Sadly, I did not stop to take advantage of this offering .... 
Unfortunately, my auto-lap on my Garmin was disabled, and did not record my split times,
though, the Sportstats did have some at the 10k, 15K and 20K mark ... My actual chip time was about 1:10 lower than the clock time ....624 Vincent_andy FONG Kanata, ON, CAN 2330 2:22:27.4 2:21:15.8 4:43 M45-49 92/546 525/3139 0:47:21.7 1:10:11.0 1:33:44.7
